What is Progressive Registration?

Heya,

Progressive registration is the idea that you don’t need to ask for all of the information from an end user when they initially use or register for your application.

There are a few ways to do progressive registration, but the end goal is the same: helping you the developer decrease initial registration friction so the user gets into your application as fast as possible.

Once they are in the application, offer up functionality and data to that user. By doing so, you prove the benefits of your application and earn the right to ask more of the user. They may come across functionality or data that you gate.

Offer them the value, but ask for another piece of information. It could be converting an anonymous account to a real account with a username. It could be proof of ownership of an email address via verification, making that account more valuable. It could be asking for more profile data such as demographic data or preferences. It could also be asking for payment information even if you don’t charge, or it could be actually requiring payment after asking for payment information.

Then do it again and again through your application.

When combined with your business logic and analytics, these combine to build a glide path for your end user. It is easier for your user to sign up for your application and engage with it. As they get more and more value from it, they offer you more and more information which you can use to better tune the application, charge for it, or increase the value of their account for you.

What Are the Four Kinds of Progressive Registration?

There are four kinds of progressive registration.