Every new field on a signup form costs you more conversions from people who might become established contributors in your community.

Registration is never a user goal in itself. Don’t assume that you’ll get users just by making the first screen of your app a sign-in wall.

Your app needs to convince people of real reasons not only for signing up but also for providing the information that you want them to provide. They need to build their trust in your app first, and the more personal the information you want is, the more trust-building it takes to convince them to provide it.

If you think of collecting this data after registration as a funnel in itself, you won’t get all of the data for everyone, but you will build up more trust. Over time, you could expect to have more data (on average) from the users in your community who are more engaged.

To collect the data in this manner, first, think of a benefit for every piece of data that you are asking for. Is it only for your benefit or clearly for theirs as well?

Second, think of the best time to ask for this information. People will have the most goodwill for contributing it if they can experience the benefit (the first step above) right after they give it to you.

So that’s the users’ perspective. Now for your investors’ perspective: how important is it for your community to be exclusive? For example, if you’re setting up a network of verified experts in a field or you clearly distinguish between contributors and consumers, you need to verify the contributors’ expertise. A community where anyone with any set of credentials can contribute will not have as strong of a need for that.