Consumers Abandon Digital Transactions Due to Limited Payment Options, Poor Translations, and Bugs, According to Applause’s 2024 Digital Payments Survey

Date – 07-Aug-2024

Expanding testing coverage across payment methods and borders is crucial for customer retention in the trillion-dollar e-commerce industry. Applause, a global leader in testing and digital quality, has unveiled findings from its inaugural Digital Payments and Localization Survey, revealing that users often abandon apps due to poor localization and payment issues. The impact is significant, with 41% of respondents encountering issues that hindered recent purchases.

With global e-commerce sales expected to surpass $6.3 trillion by the end of the year (Statista), the success of organizations hinges on comprehensive digital quality. However, despite developers’ efforts in localization and payment testing, many are failing to meet global standards for smooth transactions on apps and websites.

The survey, which gathered insights from over 6,700 software developers, QA professionals, and independent consumers worldwide, examined digital payment and localization testing strategies, as well as user behaviors and preferences.

Key findings include:

• 41% of consumers experienced an issue that affected their ability to make a payment recently. With cart abandonment contributing to an estimated $111 billion to $136 billion in lost revenue for U.S. retailers annually (Retail TouchPoints), development teams must prioritize software testing and quality assurance to ensure seamless functionality.
• 76% of consumers are likely to abandon a transaction if their preferred payment method is not accepted. Credit/debit cards remain the most popular payment method, favored by 78% of U.S. consumers, with mobile/digital wallets following closely at 68%.
• Despite the rising demand for mobile/digital wallets, providers are not keeping pace. While 62% of software and QA professionals say customer preferences influence which payment methods to accept, only 56% actually support mobile/digital wallets.
• Developers are focused on localization, but their reliance on “dogfooding” limits coverage and introduces bias. While 66% of organizations are adapting their customer journeys and checkout processes to regional and cultural norms, over half (59%) depend on in-house developers and QA staff who are native speakers to test apps for each language.
• 52% of consumers have abandoned an app due to poor localization, leading to revenue loss from cart abandonment. Effective localization, especially translation accuracy, is vital for retaining users. The top localization issues reported by respondents include incorrect word usage or syntax (48%), assumptions of local knowledge (40%), and misspellings (38%).

“Choice and speed are paramount for consumers. If they can’t quickly complete a purchase with their preferred payment method, they won’t continue with the experience,” said Luke Damian, Chief Growth Officer at Applause. “Digital payments are complex, encompassing more than just transaction processing. Developers need to consider returns, exchanges, receipts, rewards programs, and more. Each aspect of the customer journey presents an opportunity to enhance customer satisfaction and retention, making expanded test coverage through crowdtesting essential.”

He added, “Innovative companies like Accor, one of the world’s largest hospitality brands, turn to Applause for payments and localization expertise, achieving high ROI. Community-based testing ensures an optimal user experience, regardless of customer location or payment method.”

“As a global business, Accor relies on Applause to ensure customers worldwide can seamlessly book and pay for hotels through our e-commerce platform,” said Rémi Lakmeche, VP E-Commerce Engineering at Accor. “Applause’s global community of digital experts allows us to perform live payments testing in real scenarios with real payment instruments, enabling us to quickly identify and resolve potential issues. This gives us high confidence in our product’s quality for our customers.”

The Digital Payments and Localization Survey is part of Applause’s State of Digital Quality content series. Additional insights from the survey are available on the related survey blog. The third annual State of Digital Quality Report, which analyzes common flaws in digital experiences across several industries, will be published in September 2024.