Find Motive

I consider myself an early adopter when it comes to new web applications or online technologies. Once a new site of interest is launched I am usually quick to sign up and try it out. The majority of the time I’ll lose interest in the site and I’ll delete my account so I don’t have unused account information lingering around the net.

Enter the problem
When it comes time that I want to delete my account because of some reason that I don’t like the site or no longer find a use for it, it requires you to email them to delete your account. This is annoying. Is it really that hard to email the site? No, but its still annoying.

Why its bad for the user
Frankly I don’t trust emailing some unknown person who is supposedly “handling” all incoming email to delete my account when I request it. Has it worked for me before? Yes. Has it not worked for me before? Yes. Sometimes I never hear back from the site that they deleted my account and I can still login to my account and all my information is still there. When the functionality to delete your account from the site’s settings or account page it gives the user immediate gratification for their request. Even though your still losing the user, you made the ending experience for them easier and in their mind better. End it on a good note.

Why its good for the website
It requires more work for a website’s operator to read and process all requests for account removal. Work = Time = Money = Less time fragging people in Halo half-way across the world and that’s just not right. Just take the few more hours of programming to provide a delete option for users to remove their accounts. It will be worth it.