Suede Signup

---
name: suede-signup
description: "Suede-owned signup conversion discipline. Use when auditing or redesigning account creation, registration, or trial-start flows, including field friction, progressive profiling, identity options, mobile behavior, abandonment, and measurement. NOT FOR: post-signup activation (use suede-onboarding), lead-capture forms (use suede-site-alchemy), or deploying auth and compliance changes without review."
metadata:
  version: 2.0.0
---

# Suede Signup Conversion

Suede Signup identifies measurable friction between intent and completed account
creation, then turns it into accessible, security-preserving experiments. It
optimizes only the registration boundary and hands post-account activation to
the Suede onboarding lane.

## Initial Assessment

**Check for product marketing context first:**
If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before providing recommendations, understand:

1. **Flow Type**
   - Free trial signup
   - Freemium account creation
   - Paid account creation
   - Waitlist/early access signup
   - B2B vs B2C

2. **Current State**
   - How many steps/screens?
   - What fields are required?
   - What's the current completion rate?
   - Where do users drop off?
   - Is there field-level analytics on drop-off, or only funnel totals?

3. **Business Constraints**
   - What data is genuinely needed at signup?
   - Are there compliance requirements?
   - What happens immediately after signup?

---

## Core Principles

### 1. Minimize Required Fields
Every field reduces conversion. For each field, ask:
- Do we absolutely need this before they can use the product?
- Can we collect this later through progressive profiling?
- Can we infer this from other data?

**Typical field priority:**
- Essential: Email (or phone), Password
- Often needed: Name
- Usually deferrable: Company, Role, Team size, Phone, Address

### 2. Show Value Before Asking for Commitment
- What can you show/give before requiring signup?
- Can they experience the product before creating an account?
- Reverse the order: value first, signup second

### 3. Reduce Perceived Effort
- Show progress if multi-step
- Group related fields
- Use smart defaults
- Pre-fill when possible

### 4. Remove Uncertainty
- Clear expectations ("Takes 30 seconds")
- Show what happens after signup
- No surprises (hidden requirements, unexpected steps)

---

## Field-by-Field Optimization

### Email Field
- Single field (no email confirmation field)
- Inline validation for format
- Check for common typos (gmial.com → gmail.com)
- Clear error messages

### Password Field
- Show password toggle (eye icon)
- Show requirements upfront, not after failure
- Consider passphrase hints for strength
- Update requirement indicators in real-time

**Better password UX:**
- Allow paste (don't disable)
- Show strength meter instead of rigid rules
- Consider passwordless options

### Name Field
- Single "Full name" field vs. First/Last split (test this)
- Only require if immediately used (personalization)
- Consider making optional

### Social Auth Options
- Place prominently (often higher conversion than email)
- Show most relevant options for your audience
  - B2C: Google, Apple, Facebook
  - B2B: Google, Microsoft, SSO
- Clear visual separation from email signup
- Consider "Sign up with Google" as primary

### Phone Number
- Defer unless essential (SMS verification, calling leads)
- If required, explain why
- Use proper input type with country code handling
- Format as they type

### Company/Organization
- Defer if possible
- Auto-suggest as they type
- Infer from email domain when possible

### Use Case / Role Questions
- Defer to `suede-onboarding` if possible
- If needed at signup, keep to one question
- Use progressive disclosure (don't show all options at once)

---

## Single-Step vs. Multi-Step

### Single-Step Works When:
- 3 or fewer fields
- Simple B2C products
- High-intent visitors (from ads, waitlist)

### Multi-Step Works When:
- More than 3-4 fields needed
- Complex B2B products needing segmentation
- You need to collect different types of info

### Multi-Step Best Practices
- Show progress indicator
- Lead with easy questions (name, email)
- Put harder questions later (after psychological commitment)
- Each step should feel completable in seconds
- Allow back navigation
- Save progress (don't lose data on refresh)

**Progressive commitment pattern:**
1. Email only (lowest barrier)
2. Password + name
3. Customization questions (optional)

---

## Trust and Friction Reduction

### At the Form Level
- "No credit card required" (if true)
- "Free forever" or "14-day free trial"
- Privacy note: "We'll never share your email"
- Security badges if relevant
- Testimonial near signup form

### Error Handling
- Inline validation (not just on submit)
- Specific error messages ("Email already registered" + recovery path)
- Don't clear the form on error
- Focus on the problem field

### Microcopy
- Placeholder text: Use for examples, not labels
- Labels: Keep visible (not just placeholders) — placeholders disappear when typing, leaving users unsure what they're filling in
- Help text: Only when needed, placed close to field

---

## Mobile Signup Optimization

- Larger touch targets (44px+ height)
- Appropriate keyboard types (email, tel, etc.)
- Autofill support
- Reduce typing (social auth, pre-fill)
- Single column layout
- Sticky CTA button
- Test with actual devices

---

## Post-Submit Experience

### Success State
- Clear confirmation
- Immediate next step
- If email verification required:
  - Explain what to do
  - Easy resend option
  - Check spam reminder
  - Option to change email if wrong

### Verification Flows
- Consider delaying verification until necessary
- Magic link as alternative to password
- Let users explore while awaiting verification
- Clear re-engagement if verification stalls

---

## Measurement

### Key Metrics
- Form start rate (landed → started filling)
- Form completion rate (started → submitted)
- Field-level drop-off (which fields lose people)
- Time to complete
- Error rate by field
- Mobile vs. desktop completion

### What to Track
- Each field interaction (focus, blur, error)
- Step progression in multi-step
- Social auth vs. email signup ratio
- Time between steps

---

## Output Format

Do not open with what the flow does well. If no finding clears the bar, say so in
one sentence and name the single measurement that is missing and would change the
verdict.

Rank every finding by its effect on completion rate and return the top 8. If more
survive, list the remainder by name in one line so nothing is dropped silently.
Cap test hypotheses at 3.

### Audit Findings
For each issue found:
- **Issue**: What's wrong
- **Impact**: The mechanism and the funnel step it affects (form start, field
  completion, submit, verification). Give a number only when it is labeled
  modeled and carries the assumption and the measured baseline it was applied to;
  otherwise omit the number.
- **Fix**: Specific recommendation
- **Priority**: High/Medium/Low

### Recommended Changes
Organized by:
1. Quick wins (same-day fixes)
2. High-impact changes (week-level effort)
3. Test hypotheses (things to A/B test, at most 3)

### Form Redesign (if requested)
- Recommended field set with rationale
- Field order
- Copy for labels, placeholders, buttons, errors
- Visual layout suggestions

---

## Common Signup Flow Patterns

### B2B SaaS Trial
1. Email + Password (or Google auth)
2. Name + Company (optional: role)
3. → Onboarding flow

### B2C App
1. Google/Apple auth OR Email
2. → Product experience
3. Profile completion later

### Waitlist/Early Access
1. Email only
2. Optional: Role/use case question
3. → Waitlist confirmation

### E-commerce Account
1. Guest checkout as default
2. Account creation optional post-purchase
3. OR Social auth with single click

---

## Experiment Ideas

When producing test hypotheses, draw them from four families:
- Form design (step count, field set, layout, auth options)
- Copy and messaging (headline, CTA text, microcopy, trust elements)
- Trial and commitment (card requirement, trial length, verification friction)
- Post-submit (next-step messaging, instant access, auto-login)

**For the full candidate menu inside each family**, read
[references/experiments.md](references/experiments.md) before writing the test
hypotheses in Output Format.

---

## Boundaries

- Do not deploy signup or authentication changes, remove security, consent, age,
  identity, or legal controls, or alter stored user data without owner review.
- Do not use deceptive defaults, forced consent, hidden costs, or inaccessible
  friction reduction.
- Do not claim conversion lift without a current baseline and completed
  experiment; keep personal data out of examples and diagnostic output.

## Routing

- Use `suede-onboarding` for activation after account creation.
- Use `suede-site-alchemy` for lead-capture and non-account forms.
- Use `suede-ab-testing` to design and evaluate signup experiments.
- Use `suede-analytics` to instrument funnel stages and read outcomes.