I’m getting tired of having to bring this up. (See here and here for prior scoldings.)
Software and service providers, listen to me: it’s a bad user experience to prevent the use of “plus” email addressing when capturing visitor emails. But it’s not about us, it’s really about you: preventing plus addressing is almost definitely depressing several of your key performance indicators. Why? Because it lowers conversion, and when conversion falls, your other KPI‘s fall like dominos.
Here’s the latest offender:
The web team at Starbucks needs to understand that when they prevent the visitor from using plus addressing, they not only create a negative user experience, they also increase abandonment, a.k.a the anti-conversion. And isn’t conversion the whole point (OK, a major point) of having a web presence?
So I strongly suggest to Starbucks – and any other organization that captures emails – that you consider changing this policy. Plus addressing is perfectly acceptable according to the RFC gods, and it allows some of your (more organized, meticulous, and/or obsessive-compulsive) potential customers to better manage their email flow.
Don’t prevent us from managing the flood of communications in a manner that makes our lives easier. If you make signing up easier, more people will sign up.
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I didn't even know about “plus addressing”. Thanks for this. And I'm relieved that our sites allow it – although our own mail server rejects mail addressed as such. Thank goodness for gmail.
Wait a sec, does this mean I taught you a geek trick? Cool… :)
You did! Apparently your long nights poring over RFCs have paid off.
I don't completely understand this article. I've just checked hotmail signup and the + sign isn't a valid character. So why would you allow this in a form? Is this actually a valid character in some emails?
It's just bad validation algorithms.
Here's a great validation algorithm for PHP.
http://www.dominicsayers.com/isemail
It actually *is* a valid part of an email address, and some people use it so they can more efficiently manage their email. See this article for more:
http://bit.ly/bni67A
Thanks for bringing this up. love this blog -> you know what – you should make a list of all the “How to ensure users stay away from your site ” list followed by such examples as you do come up with..
I have one too – that I posted on my blog -> its the CAPTCHA .. add that to your list as well..
everyone from guy Kawasaki to your average Jane and John Doe and who knows who else has suffered from that – unreadable Captcha.. its funny it says ” are you human” -> well, its precisely because i am human, i missed the captcha the 7th time – and hence am quitting.. Try Yahoo and even Harvard business Review blog
i am not joking.. or maybe you guys have some secret sauce?
regards
olga-lednichenko-shulman
nesher rocks
Good point. I'll have to check on some of my client sites to ensure they do as well. Thanks for the reminder.
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