Retailers could be shutting down huge revenue streams due to poor shopping sign-up processes, a study from the passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA) provider Beyond Identity has revealed.
A survey of more than 1,000 people in the UK found that 62% of respondents have abandoned a shopping cart if they are required to create an account.
The results show that bad experiences at checkout do not just cost retailers a single sale but could erode customer loyalty. After abandoning a cart, 83% of
British people would seek a competitor’s services, 76% would be reluctant to visit the same retail website again and 58% would have a negative perception of the brand.
British respondents were asked to select three of the most “annoying” parts of online login and registration. One-third (38%) of respondents said forgetting passwords annoyed them the most, 39% said password that had specific requirements (length, special characters, etc.) and a further 38% said CAPTCHA tests were the most irritating part of logins. A further 27% said security questions were annoying and 20% said the same about MFA.
Respondents were also asked about what stopped them from completing a purchase. One third (32%) blamed “fatigue from constantly creating online accounts”, whilst 41% reported abandoning a cart because they had forgotten a password and 30% said over-complex password creation requirements were deal-breakers at the checkout.
One quarter (25%) said passing a CAPTCHA test stopped them finishing a purchase, whilst 15% blamed MFA.
Tom “TJ” Jermoluk, CEO of Beyond Identity, said: “We’ve all experienced the frustration of forgetting our passwords. Now it’s time to forget the password altogether because the results of this survey show they are becoming a liability.”
“The online retail space is hugely competitive, so brands should be very nervous to hear that problems with passwords, account sign-ups and online registration can drive customers to abandon their carts or seek a competitor’s services”.
“The best way to solve the problems with passwords is to abolish them altogether. Gartner predicts that 60% of large and global enterprises and 90% of midsize enterprises will implement passwordless protections by 2022, turning to MFA and other security solutions in more than 50% of use cases”.
“Retailers can’t afford to lose customers, so it’s time for them to lose passwords and give their users a secure and seamless experience.”
