Survey: Majority of shoppers will abandon carts after repeated online errors
Consumers will rely heavily on e-commerce this holiday season, but their patience for errors is waning.
According to a new survey from digital product testing firm Applause, more than a quarter (26%) of respondents said they would abandon an online purchase if they encountered a bug at any point during the shopping experience. However, checkout is the most critical stage of the journey, as the majority of shoppers (63%) will abandon shopping carts after a maximum of two purchase attempts, and only another 18% will try a third time. The survey found that consumers are more likely to abandon a purchase at checkout over any other point in the process (28%).
Some consumers (15%) have already reported encountering issues during their online shopping this holiday season. The most common issues included the website crashing (43%), discount codes or coupons not working (34%), the inability to find items on the website (28%), the inability to add items to the cart (21%), and the inability to complete payment transactions (19%).
“If one thing is clear from this year’s survey, it’s that continuing financial pressures mean consumers are less tolerant than ever of poor checkout experiences,” said Luke Damian, chief growth officer at Applause. “With more than half of consumers only reattempting a failed payment twice before abandoning a purchase, transaction errors are something brands cannot afford. As omnichannel offerings and payment methods continue to diversify, brands need to rethink their testing strategy to account for increasingly complex customer journeys to avoid losing customers this holiday season.”
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Consumers plan to use an array of options for holiday shopping this year. Close to half (48%) of consumers said they would leave a brand due to poor omnichannel shopping experiences, which Applause says means brands must ensure buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS), delivery lockers and curbside pickup work seamlessly. However, 44% of consumers have encountered issues with BOPIS in the past, the most common of which was that their purchase was not ready to collect in-store when they arrived despite an email confirmation saying it was (23%). This year, curbside pick-up caused the most issues (30%).
Additional findings from the Applause survey include:
- Only 6% of respondents said social media never influences their shopping, while 76% said social media often or sometimes influences their holiday shopping.
- Nearly three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed reported preferring using a smartphone or tablet versus a desktop/laptop or voice-activated smart device, an increase from 68% last year and 43% in 2020. While only 2% of shoppers use voice-activated smart devices, 37% used AI this year as part of their holiday shopping.
- More than half of respondents (52%) report they have started using a new payment method such as digital wallets, cryptocurrencies and EFTs within the last year.
Applause’s survey was distributed in two parts, before and after the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, and had over 7,200 global respondents.
