With research finding that 91% of consumers said a smooth checkout experience engenders loyalty with merchants and brands that provide it, checkout friction is being singled out as a step that can be vastly improved, bringing benefits to both parties in a transaction.
For the study “Building a Better Online Checkout Experience: The Key Features That Matter to Customers,” a PYMNTS and Checkout.com collaboration, we surveyed over 2,000 United States consumers to find the frustrations that haunt checkout and the features that improve it.
37% 
As for the features on offer than resonate best with online shoppers, they come down to less friction and greater convenience, the latter defined by a combination of factors in a transaction.
Per the study, “data reveals that more than two-thirds of shoppers took advantage of three key features during their most recent online purchases: the flexibility to use a preferred payment method, at 72%; an easy-to-navigate cart, at 70%; and the ability to check order confirmation easily, at 70%. Most shoppers also cited using several other features in more than half of their checkouts, most notably free shipping, cited by 61%.”
Not having the checkout features consumers want and expect is a losing bet after the great digital shift as people are now conditioned to expect the right feature set when they shop and move along to the checkout phase.
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“Our research also identified the checkout features consumers most frequently wanted but were not offered,” the study stated. “Thirty-seven percent of consumers cited price-matching as a desired feature the merchant did not offer during their last purchase. Coupon code entry and multifactor authentication were the next most frequently missed features, each cited by 22% of respondents. Sizable portions of consumers also wished to see trustmarks and to be offered real-time assistance and buy now, pay later (BNPL) options, among others.”
