Search Advisory

The needle was on empty in the minivan this morning, so I pulled into the closest gas station. I swiped my card as usual and then the message on the screen read: Enter your zip code. I was immediately irked that Citgo had decided to insert this extra self-serving step in the checkout process while I’m standing in the heat inhaling other people’s gas fumes. I was annoyed enough that the last thing I would do is give them my zip, so to get past the screen, I typed 00000. It did not accept my attempt to bypass their request and insisted again that I enter my zip. This time I typed 12345. I was met with this message: See attendant.

Are you kidding me, Citgo? If I don’t give you my personal information, I am denied your product and summoned into the gas station? There, I presume I would be asked to give up the information again or make the personal request for the attendant to override the system, thus wasting more of my time. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Instead I took the gas nozzle back out of my van, hung it up, pushed cancel three times on the pump until I got the confirmation that the transaction was cancelled, got back in my van, summarily slamming the door, and drove away. Even though I barely had enough gas to get to the next station, Citgo wasn’t getting my money today.

Did I overreact? I don’t think so. Even though I am in marketing, I don’t appreciate this pervasive request for personal information. Personally, I always object when asked my zip at the checkout. In a face-to-face situation, I can politely say, “I don’t wish to give that out.” After a brief pause at the unexpected response, they proceed and we can complete the transaction. In fact, cashiers here are now asking for phone numbers too. What’s next? Straight up, asking for my social?

So, back to Citgo. There is a parallel to our online world and conversion optimization. Think of your checkout process or your lead gen forms. Are you asking too many questions that are going to annoy your visitors or inhibit them from submitting a form or buying your product? If so, you could be driving your visitors away.

Always ask only for the information that is absolutely necessary on your transactional pages. You must give in order to receive. And you must establish trust before visitors will take what you are giving (or selling). If you demand too much too soon, you’re risking visitor frustration and site abandonment. Just imagine your website visitors with card in hand, poised to purchase, then retracting that card, putting it back in their wallet, slamming the door and driving away to your competitor across the street—or across the page—in the online world.
See ya Citgo. Hello Circle K.

p.s. After my initial rant about this, I was informed that the gas station was probably requesting my zip code for security purposes. Upon hearing this, I felt a little foolish for getting so worked up. While I’m not certain protecting security is always the reason for the zip code request, the bottom line is that it backfired. My reaction could have been prevented if the company was mindful of buyer experience and simply explained that the request for my personal information was to ensure no one was buying gas with my stolen card. So, if you must request personal information on your transaction pages, explain why and how it benefits your visitor. Then watch how this reassurance drives your sales up instead of driving customers away.