EXCLUSIVE: Survey reveals dangers of frustrating customer login
Retailers need to protect online shoppers without making the login process overly difficult for legitimate transactions.
Data exclusively released to Chain Store Age by customer identity/access management software provider Frontegg indicates that 87% of 1,003 surveyed U.S. consumers have abandoned an account sign-up or purchase.
The most common frustrations respondents have with online logins (more than one response accepted) are:
- Forgetting/resetting passwords (68%)
- Getting locked out of accounts (47%)
- Specific password requirements (41%)
- Multi-step authentication (39%)
- Long/complex password requirements (36%)
- Security challenges (35%)
Six-in-10 respondents would rather login as a guest than deal with the frustrations of signing in to an account. Almost nine-in-10 (87%) have abandoned a purchase or account sign-up because of login issues, with respondents who find login procedures to be too long or complex 46% more likely to give up on a purchase.
On average, respondents have abandoned eight online purchases because of login issues. The last cart they walked away from was worth an average of $85, and 13% left behind an order of $150 or more. A leading 42% of respondents gave up on a purchase because they had to reset their passwords to checkout, with 14% frequently resetting theirs because they can’t remember them.
Despite generally growing cybersecurity awareness, 16% of respondents still used the same password for all or most of their accounts, and 5% admitted to choosing weak, easy-to-remember passwords. On the flip side, 39% of respondents used secure password managers for storage and autofill.
[READ MORE: How common are consumer data breaches?]
Other findings
- One-in-three respondents have stopped using a website or service due to a data breach or personal security fears.
- More than six-in-10 (62%) respondents have been locked out of an account because of multi-factor authentication.
- The most popular alternative to traditional passwords is biometric authentication (41%).
- Almost six-in-10 (57%) respondents reported feeling “password fatigue,” with baby boomer respondents feeling it the most (69%).
- Half (49%) of respondents would prefer a passwordless login experience, and 19% are willing to pay a small fee to eliminate passwords, including 24% of baby boomer respondents and 21% of Gen Z and Gen X respondents.
- More than half of respondents (52%) would consider switching to a company with a simpler login experience, with Gen X respondents leading the shift at 55%.
See complete survey data here.
