Over the last couple of months, we’ve conducted several experiments surrounding some changes to the sign-up flow on Stack Overflow, all of which we’ve successfully graduated in some fashion on Stack Overflow. The goal of these experiments was to optimize our current sign-up flow and encourage more users onto the platform. We’re now planning on rolling these changes out to the rest of the Stack Exchange network. This post highlights the upcoming changes that we’re planning on rolling out around mid-April, as well as some other changes we’re currently working on and are likely to roll out at some point after that.
Sign-up entry points will open a modal instead of directing users to the /users/signup page
This change essentially makes it so that we no longer have a /users/signup page as a part of the sign-up flow, and instead show the sign-up prompt as a modal on the same page the user was navigating.
Replace existing modal with an updated modal
When logged-out users try to take actions that require registration on a site, we currently show them a modal prompting them to register/log-in. Given the changes to the sign-up flow shown above, we’re updating that modal to match the new one too.
Header prompt replaced with Google one-tap
We’ll be removing the top banner currently shown to unregistered users on all sites. Instead, we will show a quick sign-up option as a smaller modal near the upper-right corner of the page, that allows users to sign-up using a Google account with a single click (assuming they’re logged in to that account on that browser). This is usually referred to as “Google one-tap.”
An exception to this is made for users navigating the site in private/incognito browser sessions, who’ll see a sign-up banner at the bottom of the page.
Removing some sign-up options
Additionally, and as you may have noticed from the new modal mock-ups, we’ll be removing some of the sign-up options that are currently available, given their low usage. The most notable removal here is the Facebook option, which will be removed from all sites. Essentially, from now on every site will allow for signing up using an email/password pair, as well as using a Google account. Stack Overflow and the international Stack Overflow sites will also allow for signing up using the GitHub option. All other options will be removed.
We’ve already communicated this change with the moderation teams from sites that have any other specific options, to let them know about this change. These moderators might notify those specific communities on their respective Meta sites about these changes as well.
To clarify: this change only applies to new accounts being created. Accounts that currently use any other options for logging in will still be able to do so, and we’re not planning on making any changes to that in the near future. If that’s ever on the table, we’ll be sure to communicate with you and the broader community well in advance.
Other future changes
OAuth modal
Currently, when users use a third-party log-in option, the sign-up/log-in process takes over the whole page, and once the log-in to the third-party provider is concluded, the page gets redirected to where the user started the sign-up/log-in process. We’re looking at making changes to that, so that that part of the process instead triggers a smaller, modal-like window to show up for the user to complete the process:
Profile setup prompt
Sometimes users just want to perform some action on the site, and a convoluted sign-up process may cause unnecessary friction for them. As such, and as a way to make sure the actual profile creation is as quick as possible, we’re also looking at removing some steps from it, and then prompting the user to complete them at a later stage, at their convenience. The main goal there is to ensure the user can get back to what prompted them to create an account as soon as possible, instead of making them jump through several hoops that might disrupt their flow. Clicking the prompt to complete the profile at a later time will take them to a screen that is similar to the one they would currently have to go through to complete the sign-up process.
As we experimented with some of these on Stack Overflow, as mentioned above, we gave the mods there a heads-up in their chat room, but didn’t give the wider community notice of these. These are only likely to impact unregistered users, but after posting a similar notice to the Stack Moderators Team, we’re following the recommendation that the notice also be posted here on Meta Stack Exchange for transparency.
If you have any suggestions for further sign-up optimization work we haven’t covered here, please let us know in an answer below.
