Password Resets Result in Lost Sales, Customer Service Costs
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A survey of online consumers found that most users will abandon an eCommerce site’s shopping cart if they run into trouble remembering passwords. The study of 1,000 consumers also found that support desk login assistance costs companies an average of $70 per call.
Although the study focused on eCommerce website sales, the survey also inquired about online utility payments and online banking.
The survey also found that twenty-five percent of online shoppers would simply abandon their carts of $100 if prompted to reset a password at checkout. Another forty-eight percent of consumers said they were “very likely” to leave the site if they were not allowed to reuse a previously used password.
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eCommerce websites frequently offer multiple ways to create login credentials to make it easier for shoppers to create a user profile. Log in options may include password authenticators, social logins, and user-created email/password combinations.
Half of the consumers said they use social logins – integrations with Google Facebook – to log into other platforms. Connecting a social media site to your shopping sites is an unnecessary step that divulges usage data to third-party advertisers.
“However, consumers are more sensitive about sharing personal information than ever before with 79% of consumers are very or somewhat concerned about how companies are using data collected about them,” says BeyondIdentity the company that conducted the survey.
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- Twenty-five percent would abandon a cart totaling $100 if prompted to reset their password to checkout
- On average, an online cart totaling $162 was the highest amount respondents said they would abandon due to password friction
- Nearly half of respondents said they reset a bill-payment account password at least once a year
- Thirty-six percent of consumers said they would try logging in twice before resetting a password
People often use names of family members, pets, or familiar cities for password ideas. About twelve percent of respondents said they simply use a variation of a previous password to get logged in while about half said they would create an entirely new password if they were unsuccessful.
Another 37% would use a password generator to create a unique password for the site. Forty-eight percent of respondents said they would abandon the website if they were not allowed to reuse the same old password again.
OneLogin reported that up to 50% of all help desk calls are for password resets. Forrester Research found the average help desk labor cost for a single password reset is about $70.
Creating a unique and hard-to-guess password for every website you use is the best way to protect yourself against identity theft and financial crimes.
It’s common practice to reuse the same password over and over again across multiple accounts. Problems arise when a hacker is able to gain access to a low-level account like Facebook. If the victim has used the same email and password combination elsewhere, the cybercriminal may be able to gain access to something more important like a bank account or credit card.
Consumers classified as Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) were most likely to reuse old passwords to reset account credentials.
