Smooth Sailing at Checkout: The 10 Features Customers Demand

For eTailers, the checkout experience is decisive in building customer loyalty: New research by PYMNTS shows that 91% of consumers feel a satisfying checkout experience has a substantive impact on their willingness to shop with a merchant again. Merchants that do not offer the features that ensure smooth checkouts will fall behind.

“Building A Better Online Checkout Experience: The Key Features That Matter To Customers,” a PYMNTS and Checkout.com collaboration, explores where and how consumers shop online, providing insight into the ideal checkout experience for a United States consumer. PYMNTS conducted a census-balanced survey of 2,030 U.S. consumers from June 29 to July 6 to discover what shapes the online checkout experience for consumers, including the features shoppers expect and the pain points that reduce customer satisfaction.

• Smooth checkouts meaningfully impact shoppers’ satisfaction and play a key role in building customer loyalty.

Two-thirds of consumers we surveyed said that a quality checkout experience is very or extremely influential on whether they return to an eTailer. Just 9% said that it has little or no impact. Among the shoppers we identified as loyal customers based on purchasing behaviors, approximately three-quarters said that a satisfying checkout strongly affects their willingness to shop at a merchant again.

• Consumers expect multiple checkout features and feel less satisfied when any are missing.

PYMNTS’ research identifies 10 key online checkout features, including social media sign-in and price matching, that eTailers should view as essential to ensuring customer satisfaction. Shoppers who wanted these features but were not offered them in their latest eCommerce transactions were significantly more likely to feel unsatisfied than those who could access the features.

• Consumers have come to expect several specific features that facilitate smooth eCommerce checkouts, including payment method choice and order confirmation.

Nearly three-quarters of consumers used their preferred purchase method during their latest online checkout. More than half of shoppers used nine other ubiquitous features, including easy order confirmation and secure account data storage.

“Building A Better Online Checkout Experience: The Key Features That Matter To Customers” explores where and how consumers shop online, providing insight into the ideal eCommerce checkout experience for consumers.

To learn more about what shapes the checkout experience for online shoppers, download the report.