tech-company, website, softwareImportant websites like the old Tuenti, Dribbble use “private signup”.
Is that a good idea? I mean, users are prone to ask a signup invitation moved by curiosity? Or is a dangerous decision?
What I mean with signup via invitation is that users can’t create an account in the application unless another registered user sends them an invitation for join to the web application (or maybe them could create an account BUT they wouldn’t have privileges in some actions -Dribbble is an example of this).
Your question is legit. There is two different mechanisms going on here that you would like to fully understand.
On one side we create an inner circle of exclusivity. This is gamification at its early shape. It works in both way, users that are already inside the circle become ambassadors, users that are not inside the platform yet generate buzz in order to get in.
On the other side we have a basic traction/action situation. Who is inside the inner circle already? Why is being inside so important? This is what you need to figure it out.
If you can answer yes to at least one of the following questions, you may want to consider the invitation system as registration booster strategy.
Those above are rule of thumb, so take it as it is.
+1 to Snick’s answer. Also you want to consider whether or not you could lose customers to the competition. For example, Gmail used invitations in the early days and people were happy to wait for a Gmail account because there was nothing else quite like it.
On the other hand, Pownce used invitations for the perceived exclusivity but also to let them ramp up their backend so they could avoid the downtime problems that Twitter was having. But Twitter was the competition, and people who couldn’t get on Pownce joined Twitter, and we know how that turned out. I talked about the Pownce case study in this video: https://youtu.be/U-Te8az3dAg
Dribbble also uses the invitation mechanic to regulate content. Only people hand-selected by current members get in, improving the quality of the content. Likewise, StackExchange requires a certain level of points to access site functions (commenting, upvoteing, etc.), providing a similar level of “exclusiveness.”
The benefit of this mechanic is that it pushes better content, requiring users to be active and produce quality content to gain access. The downside is that this can disengage users who feel like they can’t properly use the site/product. What’s best really depends on the application.
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