No Strings Attached

Call me old fashioned, or idealistic but I strongly believe one should be able to browse a site such as www.artmine.com without needing to hand over your details.  I don't think I am alone in that when I am asked for my email for no apparent reason (other than spaming me of course) my body tenses up and I am outta there. About 90% of my inbox is deleted without even looking at the contents of the email.  This does bad things to a brand.    I noticed when poking around TuShare to see how they operate their sharing platform the very first thing you were asked to do was create a 'login' (or connect via Facebook) before you were even permitted to browse at what was on offer.  I feel very strongly that this is the wrong approach to build a user base.  After feeling mildly affronted and irritated it took me another week to decide to hand my details over after-all but this approach definitely makes me reluctant to let others know about the website.  As a counterpoint Ebay, Gumtree and all other internet shopping sites I can think of, have no issue with you browsing without creating a login. Obviously when you find something you would like to acquire details are necessary but before then....I would say it is better to invest in the integrity of your brand and winning the trust of your users than acquiring information reluctantly handed over.  If you manage to win your users admiration further down the track they will happily hand over their details and offer you loyalty as well.Social media is a powerful way to spread your brand and service if it is done from your users genuine desire 'to spread the word' with their networks.  If a user is being forced to share their details, or your service, in order to enter a promotion (or in the case of TuShare, buy postage tokens) I believe the 'word of mouth' recommendation looses it's potency and the brand looses integrity. People resent their newsfeed being crowded with spam, sponsored adds, chain mail and ingenuine offers.  The key to marketing success in today's web climate is authencity.  Be real and your users will love you for it.  Take a 'no strings attached' approach to building your user base and never force anyone to do anything.My thoughts for this morning...