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Getting to the Meat

January 15, 2010 9:26:18.420

I have a question - you can either email me, or leave comments if you want to answer it :) When you go to a site, and see an an offer to watch a video, or read a document (assume for the sake of argument that it's about something of interest to you) - how do you react to a mandatory form? Do you:

  • Bail on the content, even though it sounds interesting
  • Fill in the form, but with bogus information
  • Fill in the form

I know how I react, but I'm curious as to how other people see this.

posted by James Robertson

Comments

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Bob Nemec] January 15, 2010 9:49:09.920

Bail on the content, even though it sounds interesting

Re: Getting to the Meat

[smalltalkhacker] January 15, 2010 9:50:40.970

First option if I'm only marginally interested. Second option if I'm really interested, unless it is an organisation I'm happy giving details to anyway. Also depends on how much detail they want. If it's just an email address I'll supply a throwaway or a sacrificial email account.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Joachim] January 15, 2010 10:03:03.633

If I'm not dying to see it, I just leave and hope to see it on some other source within a few days. Most of the time, this happens anyways... ;-)

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Alex Schenkman] January 15, 2010 10:03:57.093

First I get irritated, then, depending on how interested I am, I might fill in my details. So, 1 or 3.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[anonymous] January 15, 2010 10:14:21.593

Bail, unless it is something REALLY important.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Steven Fenger] January 15, 2010 10:35:28.863

If the information is really interesting and the form isn't too long I fill it in with bogus information. Otherwise I bail.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Troy] January 15, 2010 11:08:05.594

Bail 95% of the time almost automatically. Sometimes a mood comes upon me and I actually consider filling out the form, but that usually doesn't happen.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Gordon Weakliem] January 15, 2010 11:14:19.464

Usually bail out.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Henry] January 15, 2010 11:53:21.055

If it's something I need for work, #2, then #3 if #2 didn't work and I can't find another way to get it in 15 minutes.

f not, #1.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[David Mitchell] January 15, 2010 11:58:01.285

Depends. But I use mailinator heavily, so I guess I go bogus often.

ttp://www.withaguide.com

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Dennis] January 15, 2010 11:59:04.845

Unless it is something I really, really want to see, I will bail, and not bother. The Mandatory forms are a real P.I.T.A. :-)

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Todd Edwin King] January 15, 2010 12:30:25.786

If I'm truly interested I'll fill a form with bogus info - maybe you'll get my 14 year-old hotmail address that i don't even check anymore. If I get failed submits for required fields too many times I'll bail completely.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Tom Sattler] January 15, 2010 12:57:57.606

Depends on how badly I want to see the content - but I never give them my actual email address, because I know there's no way they can verify it before I access the content.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[murphee] January 15, 2010 13:14:30.907

If it's _really_ interesting I fill in bogus data.

nd if it's _really, really_ interesting I might even deal with a site that requires a valid email address (mytrashmail.com is your friend...).

Either way - the provider gets rubbish data.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Travis Griggs] January 15, 2010 14:01:12.379

Mandatory forms are so 90's. :)

Re: Getting to the Meat

[herby] January 15, 2010 14:12:45.199

1 or 2, with appx 90%/10% ratio

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Carl Gundel] January 15, 2010 14:42:57.679

I usually bail as soon as they want my email address.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Thierry] January 15, 2010 14:43:33.659

It is a trade-off between content value, time spent and spam risk.

I have used all the #1, #2 and #3 options depending on the sites.

For #2, I use a special, never checked, valid email address when I think that the risk for annoying follow-ups (spam) is too high. This email address is just used to pass email verification if needed.

If the form is very short and the (short) privacy statement is convincing, and the site is well known, I will tend to fill it. If not, #1 or #2...

Re: Getting to the Meat

[W^L+] January 15, 2010 14:51:11.659

I almost always bail. I also stop considering that company in my decision process. If they don't understand no-bugging product research, what else might they not understand about customers' needs.

If the product / service would meet my needs, the company would not need a marketer to "follow up". I consider it a sign of company incompetence.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Tom K] January 15, 2010 17:25:24.945

I bail on the content.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Thierry] January 16, 2010 0:07:47.445

I see some strong positions on some other comments... But try getting VMWare Server for example. There is a form to fill to get access to a quite good piece of software. It would not make sense for me to bail in this case.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[anonymous] January 16, 2010 16:55:03.488

Thierry's point is true except when the visitor to your site doesn't yet know if the software has value.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[James Robertson] January 16, 2010 17:15:19.371

Just to be clear, note that my question is about forms that guard things like white papers, video presentations, etc. I think the "understood rules" for those differ from the ones for downloading working software.

Re: Getting to the Meat

[Jeff Hallman] January 17, 2010 10:42:49.485

I almost always bail, but occasionally fill out the form as one "Nacho Bizness".

Re: Getting to the Meat

[HKN] January 18, 2010 9:18:44.505

I make this always a conscious decision:

1 does the thing offered really seem to be of interest to me?

2 does the offering organization seem to be really trustworthy?

f both answers are "yes", I fill in the form with real data, but as least as possible. If one of the answers are "no" I bail out.

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