Nearly Half of Shoppers Would Rather Sit in the Middle Seat of an Airplane Than Keep Track of All Their Online Accounts and Passwords, According to New Survey

Further, nearly half of consumers are frustrated by managing multiple store accounts

Research from Bolt and YouGov highlights the importance of retailers using technology to simplify store account creation and login

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Store accounts are a great way for retailers to create lifetime customers, but according to new research from leading checkout technology company Bolt, shoppers are frustrated by having to keep track of their login information for different stores. Instead, 62% of consumers prefer to sign up for one store account they can use to shop online everywhere. Consumers' irritation levels are so high that nearly half of people surveyed (44%) say they'd rather sit in the middle seat of an airplane than keep track of all their online shopping accounts and passwords.

Bolt's latest survey, which was conducted in partnership with global market research and data analytics firm YouGov to understand consumers' greatest shopping concerns and behaviors, highlights the need for retailers to cut friction in the store account creation process to drive lifetime value with consumers.

"Retailers can improve store account creation by using technology that provides consumers with secure, one-time passwords for simpler login, minimizing the number of forms shoppers have to fill in to sign up for an account," said Shilpi Narang, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at Bolt. "Having a shopper do something as simple as checking a box to create an account and capitalizing on consumers' positive feelings while completing a purchase incentivizes more store account creations, which empowers merchants with increasingly critical first-party data."

The survey also reveals the different shopper personas that retailers should understand so they can tailor their ecommerce strategies and campaigns to maximize revenue and drive results. For shoppers that are price-driven, for example, including discounts in loyalty and store account programs can go a long way toward increasing conversion: 37% of survey respondents say low prices are the most important factor when shopping online, while 63% agree that being offered a discount code from a brand will help them complete a purchase they weren't fully committed to beforehand. Age also plays a big factor in price sensitivity: 29% of shoppers ages 18 to 34 revealed that price is the most important factor when shopping for products online, compared to 38% of 35-54 year olds and 42% of 55+ year olds.

Distracted shopping also proved to be a common consumer behavior, with half of shoppers having more than two tabs open, a fifth of shoppers have more than six tabs open, and as many as 8% of shoppers Bolt deems "multi-tabbers" have more than 10 tabs open while shopping online. Meaning, retailers should reduce the need for shoppers to manually input their payment and account info each time and offer multiple payment methods in a checkout that's optimized for both desktop and mobile.

For the full breakdown of insights, visit bolt.com/lifetime-customer-report.

Bolt's findings are based on the results of an online survey of 994 adults that was fielded January 3–4, 2023. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (ages 18+).

Bolt is on a mission to democratize commerce. Bolt strengthens retailers' relationships with their customers by unlocking secure, logged-in, lightning-fast checkouts. The company's rapidly growing network of one-click-checkout-ready shoppers visits Bolt merchants as if they are return customers. Hundreds of retailers leverage Bolt to offer their shoppers the seamless checkout experiences they've come to expect. For more information, visit bolt.com and follow @bolt on Twitter.

SOURCE Bolt