Another good reason to use Paypal or Google Checkout or a 3rd-party credit card service such as 2checkout.com on an ecommerce site.

You, as the site owner, never get in trouble for storing customer's personal/financial data on your server.

The customer merely points, clicks and buys is s/he already has an account. E commerce will really come into its own when we develop the thought reader so that when a prospect looks at an item and thinks "I want that" s/he gets charged. I'm working on it now LoL.

But seriously, if you want customer data such as names and email addresses for future marketing efforts the only way, in may book is to let it be voluntary by having a sign up on the side ... avoid squeeze pages and catalog browsing sign ups like the plague.

One tactic I've thought of using lately involves moving the sign up pages to AFTER the transaction, but still part of the checkout process (it would appear on the "Thank You" page).

We'd use offers such as "Sign up now and receive FREE shipping on all future orders over $25!", or "Sign up now and we'll also send you XYZ product, absolutely FREE!!!".

Not only does it remove a giant hurdle in the checkout process, but by offering something in return (rather than "sign up or you don't get to buy from us"), people would be more welcoming to hearing from you in the future(follow up offers, etc.).

Tom

Great idea Tom

The customer now has a relationship and has committed, so would be far more likely to provide details.