Bolt research flags up need for retailers to cut friction in store account creation process

Whilst online store accounts can be a good way for retailers to create lifetime customers, according to new research from checkout technology company Bolt, shoppers are frustrated by having to keep track of their login information for different stores.

The firm surveyed 994 Americans and found that 62% would prefer to sign up for one store account they can use to shop online everywhere.

Consumers' irritation levels are so high that 44% said they'd rather sit in the middle seat of an airplane than keep track of all their online shopping accounts and passwords.

"Retailers can improve store account creation by using technology that provides consumers with secure, one time passwords for simpler login, minimising the number of forms shoppers have to fill in to sign up for an account," says 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 capitalising on consumers' positive feelings while completing a purchase incentivises 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 e-commerce strategies and campaigns to maximise revenue and drive results.

For shoppers that are price driven, for example, including discounts in loyalty and store account programmes 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 behaviour, with half of shoppers having more than two tabs open, a fifth have more than six tabs open, and as many as 8% Bolt deems "multi-tabbers" have more than 10 tabs open while shopping online.

Retailers should therefore, Bolt reckons, 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 optimised for both desktop and mobile.