It’s a good lesson but let’s not forget that completing the signup is not the goal in itself. If you look at post-signup user activity you will find many users stick around for a few minutes and then leave, never to return again.

If someone can’t be bothered to click a verification email, then removing that step is not going to magically turn them into an active user. More likely they will be one of the many people who leave after a few minutes.

I do a signup/onboarding optimization for startups, and here’s what I found from a recent project:

1) The verification email was NOT a significant bottleneck to signups. That is, most people clicked the link.

2) Removing the verification step did NOT have a meaningful impact on conversion rates.

If you don’t have a problem with user quality then sure, avoid the verification step. But if you have a good reason for the verification step then don’t sweat the drop-off rates.

And more importantly: Treat signups as a leading indicator of success, not the ultimate goal.

Edit: On second reading I see the author is talking about a verification step that requires an admin approval, which could take hours. Yeah, don’t do that.