Ask HN: Should I force users to validate their email address after signing up?

[aderaynal]

I develop browser extensions that require people to create an account on my website in order to customize the extensions' behavior.

A while back, someone told me I should simplify the registration process in order to improve the number of signups. So I only ask for an email address, first name, last name, and password. And there's no email validation.

Turns out that about 50% of the account created are never used. So I email people a few times: - after one week to ask them if there was a problem - after two weeks to offer a free trial of the paid upgrade - after one month with a short user survey

It appears that less than 5% of these emails generate an action from the inactive users. Is this normal ? Are most people entering fake email addresses ? Are most of my emails blocked by spam filters ?

Should I force user to click a link sent to their mailbox right after registering ? Would that help my future emails go through their spam filter ?

I would love to have your opinion on this... Thanks!

[idle_processor]

Email registration won't always fix retention problems.

In general, if a site forces me to register, and I either (a) don't trust the site ownership/security, or (b) don't yet intend to become a long-term user, I will fall back to using a http://bugmenot.com/ login or sign up with a disposable email address obtained via a service like http://mailinator.com or http://10minutemail.com. In general, I find having to verify email addresses tedious and annoying, but it's not generally a deal-breaker.

In another post, you mentioned "i do not allow for email address change." That could be a problem for impulsive users considering making the switch from short- to long-term use. Churning email addresses out isn't that hard, if one is so inclined. Ironically, one of the places I think confirmation email might be helpful, is when changing email address. If you force the user to confirm from both addresses, you run less risk that they make a typo in their new address.

That's all personal, though. You may want to search for existing conversion/retention research or just conduct some A/B tests.

If spammer sign-up is a big concern, and you want to prevent them from mucking up your data, consider something like http://www.google.com/recaptcha to deter bots.

[aderaynal]

Thanks for the pointers.

spammer sign up is not a concern.

I will try some A/B tests. I was ust hoping to get similar data from fellow HNers...

[andrewjshults]

Do you have open/click tracking on the emails? If not you should either roll your own or use someone like sendgrid who can automate the process for you (depending on how many emails you send out, even the free tier of sendgrid might be enough). Open tracking isn't perfect but it'll help you narrow down where in the process the drop off happens (sendgrid also does spam report tracking and bounces). They also put a lot of effort into making sure that your email get through (not affiliated, just a happy customer).

[aderaynal]

Thanks for the suggestions. The free tier would not be enough for me, but I don't mind spending $9.95 per month.

Does anyone have experience integrating SendGrid with a Google AppEngine Java application ?

[alain94040]

Spam filters are a major issue, but it wouldn't explain why only 5% of people you ask reply.

On the other hand, these are people who signed up, probably curious to know what your site was about, and then they saw and decided it wasn't for them. Not much you can do at that point.

Have you been receiving complains from people you email?

[aderaynal]

Very few complains, In fact I wish I had more ;) My product is not spammy, It provides a great service, but I know I need to do a better at educating new users. It tough to do when my emails do not seem to reach them...

[danoc]

It's not unusual to see emails go ignored. According to MailChimp, the industry average open rate is 19.1% while the industry average action (click) rate is 4.0% I'm not quite sure where they get these numbers from, but it appears that your figures are normal.

[calbear81]

Do you enforce unique email addresses in your system? What would happen if someone has already added my email to their account? What if I click on "Recover password", would I then be able to take over their account by resetting their password?

[aderaynal]

yes, I enforce unique email addresses. You cannot take over an account. i do not allow for email address change.

[pbreit]

If you don't need to confirm email addresses then don't. In many cases it's really not necessary.

[aderaynal]

I don't really need to confirm them.

I was just wondering if it would help future emails find their way to the user's inbox...