by John Harris, SVP Travel & Ecommerce, emerchantpay
Most modern shoppers (63%) will abandon their cart after just two unsuccessful checkout attempts. This means that, in today’s digital marketplace, the checkout process can make or break a sale. Additional unexpected surprises like long payment pages with too many fields can leave customers feeling frustrated and abandon their cart. To be successful, merchants must make their checkout processes flawless and simplified.
Modern shoppers demand speed, transparency and security, and any friction along the way can send them straight to a competitor. This fundamentally transforms checkout optimisation from a nice-to-have into a business imperative.
The hidden friction points driving shoppers away
Today’s customers do not have the patience for sluggish or over-complicated checkout experiences. As commerce becomes increasingly integrated into consumers’ daily digital interactions, slow-loading pages, unnecessary payment fields and vague error messages can quickly frustrate even the most motivated shopper.
Additionally, as mobile shopping grows ever more popular, a checkout process that is not mobile-friendly can alienate a huge number of potential customers. With smartphones transforming how consumers discover, research and purchase products, it’s not enough for websites to simply load on a mobile device; they must offer a smooth, responsive checkout experience. Shoppers expect seamless transitions between devices, intuitive navigation and user-friendly buttons as they move between multiple platforms during their shopping journey.
Unexpected costs, like shipping fees or taxes that only appear at checkout, can also create friction, breaking the trust customers have built with your brand. In fact, 48% of shoppers abandoned their carts due to extra costs. At a time where transparency is a critical expectation, offering details on all costs upfront on your shipping policy page can keep shoppers engaged and reduce frustration.
Merchants can mitigate cart abandonment by implementing strategic design choices and performance optimisations. To eliminate barriers that often disrupt the consumer journey and ruin potential conversions, key improvements include:
- Streamlining the checkout process through simplified forms fewer required fields.
- Designing a seamless mobile experience with responsive layouts, intuitive navigation and user-friendly user experience (UX).
- Offer one-click checkout to returning customers with tokenisation. Customers can opt to securely save their payment details, so they don’t have to input their card details on their next purchases, significantly reducing the transaction completion time and boosting your conversions.
Building trust at checkout and why it matters
Trust is an essential part of online shopping, especially when it comes to payments. If your checkout page lacks visible security checks or trust indicators, customers may hesitate to complete their purchase. In fact, recent research revealed that 84% of people are reluctant to share their financial information with businesses. This isn’t just about lost sales. Poor security can result in severe setbacks including scheme fines, lawsuits and damaged reputation.
Customers need to feel confident that their personal information is safe. The stakes are especially high as fraud continues to evolve across digital channels. Without clear proof that a merchant is protecting their data, consumers are likely to abandon their cart and shop elsewhere. Merchants must display trust signals prominently, such as SSL certificates, using security protocols on their payment pages to protect sensitive data and informing their customers about additional security measures like two factor authentication (2FA) to put their minds at ease while shopping.
Equally, merchants would do well in deploying 3D Secure 2, which uses 2FA to authenticate payments. Partnering with a trusted Payment Service Provider (PSP) can help merchant leverage PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) exemptions and trigger 3DS2 in eligible transactions. Today’s technological advancements ensure that 3DS2 is deployed more smoothly without causing unnecessary friction for the consumer. Furthermore, to protect their revenue, merchants should prioritise real-time monitoring of fraud with rule-based tools, analysis of data and effective chargeback management. These are crucial elements of a comprehensive security approach.
On the other hand, overly strict risk rules can also deter consumers from completing purchases. For example, false declines, where legitimate transactions are mistakenly blocked, can frustrate customers and push them to shop elsewhere. The key is to strike the right balance between security and a smooth, user-friendly checkout experience.
Why alternative payment methods are essential
Shoppers want flexibility when it comes to paying. If your checkout only offers traditional payment methods, you risk alienating customers who prefer digital wallets, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options or other alternatives. From social media commerce to mobile shopping, each channel brings its own consumer expectations and preferred payment methods.
Regional differences, customer preferences and emerging trends all play a huge role in what customers expect when they reach your checkout. For example, while digital wallets are growing in popularity in Latin American markets, BNPL schemes and Open Banking are seeing rapid adoption among younger demographics globally.
Digital wallets are also integral on payment pages, with half of all global online transactions made with a mobile wallet in 2023. In the UK specifically, 38% of online transactions were completed with a mobile wallet in 2023, a figure predicted to rise to 50% by 2027. This dramatic rise in digital wallet adoption highlights the profound technological and behavioural shift in consumer preferences globally.
It’s vital for merchants to research their audience and tailor payment option offerings to what they use most, whether it be Apple Pay or Open Banking. Additionally, partnering with a PSP offers merchants significant advantages in managing their payment infrastructure. The right PSP can provide merchants with preferred payment methods while navigating complexities in the payments ecosystem.
By eliminating common checkout frustrations, merchants can turn the payment process into a seamless, trust-building experience that drives conversions. But checkout optimisation isn’t a one-time fix; it requires ongoing testing, tracking and adaptation to evolving customer expectations.
Staying ahead means regularly reviewing payments performance and gathering customer feedback to refine the process. Partnering with a PSP that provides regular updates from the payments ecosystem can make a significant impact. In a competitive digital marketplace, a frictionless, transparent and secure checkout isn’t just a convenient – it’s a necessity for long-term success.
