Hacker News Reader

This is also (from the data that I have seen) by far the best approach to maximise ecommerce revenue.

Don't force buyers into an account, just ask their details (the browser will autocomplete anyway). Send an email afterwards with a link to check their order status. Next order, ask for their email again.

Any extra friction costs more in lost revenue than the benefits of having "signed up" users.

View on HN

Wouldn't the best approach be not to ask for an email at all (or only optionally for receipt)?

I would imagine that plenty of users these days wouldn't bother to save their order details on the grounds that "oh, I'll get a notification with those".

Personally, I appreciate getting an email with details and a link for tracking. It does get annoying when it turns into low-grade spam, though.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com