Ask HN: Reduce sign-up hesitation by offering account deletion?

#1

Post by kfei » Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 9:09 AM UTC

I have some sort of mysophobia of digital footprint, and it often stops me from signing up for new products/services. IMO, a product/service offering account deletion can really increase my intention to sign up.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

Re: Ask HN: Reduce sign-up hesitation by offering account deletion?

#2

Post by arkitaip » Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 9:24 AM UTC

Maybe if you're targeting techies. Most other people won't care. Personally I like the idea and imagine something like "We provide easy and complete account deletion (not just account archival)".

Re: Ask HN: Reduce sign-up hesitation by offering account deletion?

#3

Post by middle1 » Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 9:34 AM UTC

You started a great topic. As a customer, I also want VISIBLE option to delete my account anytime, not just after request and writing to particular support. Being in a role as a service provider I offer this option directly in the dashboard as I believe if users don't need an account, they must have the option to delete their data completely.

Re: Ask HN: Reduce sign-up hesitation by offering account deletion?

#4

Post by brudgers » Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 3:31 PM UTC

This is a feature that might create some value for people who are not your intended market. They are not your intended market in several ways:

  + They are high demand.
  + They are predisposed to delete their accounts.
  + They have low interest in what you offer.

Signups only matter if the person is retained. It is not the best place to optimize. Making a product good enough to overcome that reluctance is harder and being easy to implement is why account deletion is attractive.

If people can try out the product/service without an account, then there's no friction for people with a reluctance to sign up. Not requiring an account may mean directly interacting with users on a one on one basis. That's a good thing at the point when signups by people who demand account deletion move the needle on the size of the user base.