15 Tips for Better Signup / Login UX

When it comes to the user experience, most people are focused on the first interaction that users have with your app. For example, if you're building a mobile app, then it's all about how users interact with your app when they first open it up. However, what happens once they've signed up and logged in? We often forget about this key point in our UX design process but in reality it's just as important!

While the signup and login processes can't be fully eliminated, they can be improved.

A user's first experience with your website or app should be an easy one. They're likely to have a lot of questions at this stage, so it's important to provide clear answers in a way that they understand. This means providing helpful tips on what information you need from them, how to best answer those questions and what happens next.

Below are 8 tips on how you can improve the user experience of your signup/login process.

1. Maintain visual consistency throughout the process

One of the most important things you can do for your signup process is maintain consistency across all screens. This means keeping the same look and feel, using similar colors and styles, providing a clear path from one screen to another, and making sure any prompts are clear and easy to follow.

If you have multiple screens in the process of signing up for an account or logging into an existing account, it’s critical that you present them in order so that users don't get confused about which step they're on. Don't ask them too many questions at once; instead, break down each question into its own page so they can think through their answers before moving on to the next page. Finally, make sure not too much text appears on any one page — these pages should be easy enough to scan quickly while still conveying all of their necessary information effectively

2. Use a well-known third party platform when possible (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google+) so that users don't need to remember another password.

For example, if you have a website that offers online banking services, using Facebook or Google+ authentication is much easier for users than forcing them to create yet another username and password. A user who has an account on one of these social media platforms has already signed up for many other websites with their Facebook or Google+ accounts, so they likely won't mind using it again to log in to your site.

The benefits of this approach are two-fold: firstly, it's easier on the user because they don't have to remember another password (they're already logged in elsewhere); secondly, it's more secure because you're using a third party platform in place of your own server (which could be hacked)

3. Make sure password requirements are clear and give users feedback regarding confirmation on whether their password is secure enough or not as they are typing it out or pasting it over.

One of the most important things you can do to enhance your signup and login UX is make sure that users know exactly what's going on as they enter their passwords. You'll want to use a password strength meter that provides feedback regarding whether or not the password is strong enough, so that users don't waste time trying to guess if what they're entering is good enough or not. You should also have some sort of indicator for when the user has entered a weak password (such as an asterisk) and when their new password is strong enough (such as green dots). Additionally, it's helpful to let people know when their old password was too weak and needs updating.

4. Let users see their password

It's best to let users see their password and correct it if they notice an error. If they can't see their password, they have to type it blindly, which increases the risk of typos.

5. Validate fields immediately

Make your signup flow as fast and frictionless as possible. Validate fields immediately, so that users can move on if they’ve filled out something incorrectly. If there are any errors, show them in the same field where they made the mistake. This way, people don’t have to go back and forth between different screens to correct their issue.

6. Log in with email, not username

Use email instead of username to log in. If you use email for login, the user doesn’t have to remember their username or password. They can simply type their email address and get into your site without having to think about it.

This also makes signup easier since you only need one field (email) instead of two (username and password).

It’s more secure than using username because your email isn't something that could be hacked or forgotten easily if someone wants access to your account.

7. Use different terms for “sign in” and “sign up”

The two most common ways to create an account on a website are sign up and registration. These terms are used interchangeably, but they mean different things.

Sign up is used when you want to create a new account on the site (e.g., Gmail, Dropbox).

Registration is used when you want to log into an existing account (e.g., Facebook).

There’s a reason many sites use different terminology for their signup pages: it helps users understand what they need to do before starting the process. If you ask someone if they want to register or sign up without explaining what those words mean, they may not know which one applies in your case and take longer than necessary completing the form because of confusion over language choice.

8. The “reset password” screen should remember which email you already entered

The “reset password” screen should remember which email you already entered, so that users don't have to re-enter it again.

Conclusion

A lot of these tips may seem like common sense, but it’s important to remember that users don't always know what they want until they see it. Take the time to make your signup/login process as convenient as possible and you will find that your users will appreciate it.