This is from Tom Kuhr, a member of the OleOle startup team. He blogs over at Kuhr Strategies. This is his list of tips on what kills it, and also what improves site conversion.

Things that kill conversion are few, the biggest issue is creating a need for registration.

What Kills Site Conversion

• There’s more than one page for registration
• The site asks for data during the initial registration that isn’t crucial for setting up an account
• There’s an initial asking for any sort of payment method, even if not charged at the time

What Improves Site Conversion

• The use of an in-situation registration (not taking user to new page) using AJAX or lightboxes
• Pre-populating data fields based on known user attributes, like location
• An SSL-secured registration page for ecommerce sitee
• Stating clearly the benefits of registration i.e. if you register, you will be able to access more areas of the site
• A clear reason to convert, which should be spelled out in the context of a page for a new user. “If you want to this, just sign up here. You’ll also be able to other features”. The initial request should have a clear benefit to the user.