Impact of email verification hurdle on rate of acquiring new users

Question

Hi, I'm considering to add "hard" email verification to my website(s).

I.e. require users visit a link with a verification key sent by email before they can post content.

This will add an extra step in the registration procedure and I'm concerned that it may keep some users away.

In practice how does this affect the rate of new people joining the site?
Could anyone share real life numbers?

Update: thank you for the thoughtful replies.

• there were no responses yet with real tested numbers - if you have them - please post.

So far the consensus sounds like:

Validation makes sure that email address has no typos, that claiming user has access to the account, which is functional and that your messages don't end up in the spam filters.

• do email validation only when working email communication is key for the service
• if you do it - send validation email fast - within 5 minutes
• make most features of the site available without validation check, if possible
• consider financial impact of email validation if your site provides commercial services

Answer 1

This is unscientific, but I think it would reduce the number of users to your site by 50% or more. I've seen this sort of hyperactive "security" measure before, and it ends up annoying users more than it's worth, at least in my experience.

Answer 2

That will depend how useful the Website would be for the users. If the site has low value to the potential users requiring this extra step will turn away some members.

The only way to find out is be doing it. You could trial it for a small time period (perhaps a week) with a strategy to quickly back out the change if it doesn't work out.

Answer 3

This isn't uncommon and, though slightly annoying, if the service is useful entering an email address to register and then clicking a link on a subsequent email is not very time consuming. For me the issue is always whether I'm willing to give an email address to the site or not.

Answer 4

I have a "trash-email" address for that purposes. If I extremely want something from site, I perform the validation, get the information I need then go away forever forgetting the password and the site name.

Email validation requirement will only increase the number of phantom accounts in your system. Unless you absolutely need to know the email of users, go easy on that.

Answer 5

I guess you need to give a value to each lost customer, say a customer is typically worth £300 per year and by adding the extra validation you turn away 20 users, is the extra validation worth £6000 a year?

I like the option where my email needs validating, but I can keep using almost all of the sites features. The only ones that are restricted are where I must have an email address. For instance the last phase of checkout won't let me complete until I've validated my address.

The overhead you have there is that you need to ensure a user can change their email address in case they've made a typo.

If you decided that you must validate emails, make sure you get them sent fast. If I have to wait for 5 mins for an email, I'll go somewhere else.

Answer 6

If the funcitonality I'm signing up for actually requires email (for forum replies, checkout confirmation, etc.) I have no problem verifying an email for the obvious reasons of avoiding typo and making sure there are no spam filter issues, etc. If the site is simply being annoying, or plans to send me "helpful" newsletters or other crap, I immediately flee.

Adding this extra step provides absolutely no security or true authentication since if someone really wants in, as noted by Mastermind, they'll just sign up for [email protected]. Only require it if the site's functionality really requires email to work and the user gets an obvious benefit.