Here’s what online shoppers want from digital wallets

A new survey reveals the factors that will drive online consumers to select and utilize a digital wallet.

According to the inaugural “Paze Pulse Report: Consumer Online Shopping Preferences” from Early Warning Services LLC, operator of online checkout solution Paze, four-in-10 (41%) respondents said they would use a digital payment tool if it was set up already, but they leverage guest checkout because it seems easier.

Similar responses occurred among respondents divided into subsets of “frequent” digital wallet users (43% would use a digital payment tool if it was set up already) and non or infrequent digital wallet users (39%).

Nine-in-10 (91%) respondents reported frequent use of digital payments for checkout, such as keeping their card information stored with a merchant, within a web browser or using a digital wallet. Sixty-four percent of respondents value shopping online with retailers that offer multiple ways to pay, and 75% still frequently manually enter card information at online checkout.

Security is paramount

Two-in-three (67%) respondents listed a secure checkout process as one of the top three most important factors they look for when shopping online. Among respondents who use digital wallets, 85% assume their digital wallets are safe.

More than eight-in-10 (82%) respondents reported trusting their bank’s safety and security more than third-party payment options. This was slightly higher than percentages of respondents perceiving manually entering payment information (guest checkout) as safe (79%) and those who said  using a checkout app from a retailer or business is safe (75%). 

Six-in-10 (58%) digital wallet using respondents said they would switch to a bank- or credit union-offered digital payment tool if their financial institution kept their card information updated. In addition, 44% of respondents would use a digital wallet provided by their bank over guest checkout if given the option.

Other findings

• 72% of respondents said they highly value digital payment tools like digital wallets to make online checkout easy.
• 71% of respondents have abandoned their online shopping carts. 

[Read more: The most popular point-of-sale payment options are…]

Early Warning Services LLC, the operator of Paze, worked with Murphy Research to survey a diverse group of 1,000 adult online shoppers in the U.S. about their opinions and behaviors in the fourth quarter of 2023. The online survey targeted respondents who make at least two online purchases per month, but participants who exclusively shop at major online marketplaces like Amazon were excluded.