Currently, when we surf the Internet we find three annoying elements particularly, pop-up windows, messages about the acceptance or not of cookies and all those questions about sums or “what do you see in this image?” Accompanied by a text that explains that way the website checks that you are not a robot, this third nuisance is called captcha.
As we have already told you on other occasions, the Internet has made us impatient and comfortable. We want everything to the minute and with the minimum effort. Therefore, being in front of a captcha causes, in the great majority of cases, that the client abandons the idea of registering on your website or asking for information through the contact tab.
What exactly is a captcha?
Although we write “captcha” as a single word, in reality, it is the acronym of Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA), a fully automatic and public Turing test that lets you know if who is in front of the PC is a human or a machine.
The captchas make use of the fact that the Internet works by words and not by images. Surely you have heard that, although searchers also serve to locate illustrations, in reality, what they do is show all those accompanied by a text that contains the terms that you have entered. Well, this statement is totally true, since, today, machines can not decipher the visual content.
One of the best secure captchas is the MTCaptcha which can make secure the websites from illegal activities created by automatic hacking robots. It is easy to use and has strong accessibility features.
Pros and cons of having a captcha
As explained in the previous section, you might think that including a captcha in your forms is the best idea you could take, but it is not. In fact, although the title of this section is pros and cons of having a captcha, the truth is that it only has a benefit that pales before the accumulation of disadvantages associated with it.
As you may have guessed, that only virtue is that of protecting SPAM and malicious software from the inbox of your email, that is, achieving a certain degree of security. However, this feature is already included in the most used electronic messaging services (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo …). For that reasons explained below, the remedy in the form of a captcha can be worse than the disease:
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- The captchas contain a great pillory. The words or symbols that characterize the captchas do not come out of nowhere. In fact, they come from books, radio programs or magazines that Google wants to digitize. Therefore, every time someone fills in a captcha, they are working free for Google.
- They prevent access to people with visual disabilities. The captchas can be seen or heard, but the only thing that would allow the blind to solve them would be images that include the “alt” attribute of the tag. But of course, with it the machines could also decipher the captchas. In short, if a blind user came to your website, you could not fill out your form and you would lose a potential client.
- They clearly reduce the conversion rate because, in most cases, they cause users to desist from the idea of filling out their forms.
In short, the captcha were designed with very good intentions, but they are catastrophic if the activity of your business depends on the Internet. Therefore, to attract new customers and grow, we recommend that you do not include captchas in your forms. Without a doubt, your target will thank you and you will achieve more conversions.
