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Palo Alto, CA—Already growing at a transformative clip, mobile shopping unsurprisingly rocketed during the pandemic. Location identity company Incognia recently announced its second Mobile App Report, with results from Incognia’s recent Mobile App Friction Study on mCommerce Checkout. The study was conducted to provide retail companies with insights on the state of friction during mCommerce checkout, which can help strengthen customer satisfaction and retention.

“The pandemic caused an influx of consumers to shop on their mobile phones, and top retailers responded by investing in their mCommerce apps. For retailers, the purchasing experience is critical to the customer experience,” said André Ferraz, founder and CEO of Incognia. “The level of checkout friction can easily make or break customer satisfaction and retention, and our latest Mobile App Report clearly outlines which areas of the mCommerce experience adds friction for the users.”

Although the study reviewed mobile apps from 12 major and specialty retailers such as Target, Costco, Lowe’s, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Wayfair, and more, the conclusions are helpful for all retailers. The Incognia Mobile App Friction Report analyzes the purchasing experience by ranking the checkout friction and reviewing the types of mobile purchase options supported by the app, including pickup, delivery, and payment options.

The data gathered during the analysis of each app was used to create the Incognia Checkout Friction Index. The lower the Index, the better the purchasing experience. The Incognia Checkout Friction Index accounts for the following factors:

• Application Time: The time required to complete a purchase via the mobile app, including the time from the first registration screen to the last, where the purchase is submitted and completed. The checkout time of each app is shown as the average of the checkout time recorded on both operating systems, Android and iOS.
• Screens: The number of screens that are presented during the purchasing process was recorded for each app, including all the screens from the beginning until payment submission.
• Clicks: The number of clicks required to complete a purchase were counted. If any screen required multiple clicks, all were included in the total count.
• Fields: All fields and checkboxes required as part of the purchase process were counted and included in the count of required fields.
• Payment Options: The specific payment options offered to the user as part of the purchasing experience were recorded.
• Purchase Options: The choice of purchase options including pick up in-store or curbside, and same-day and extended delivery options were recorded.

Key data points from the report include:

• 4 minutes: Average time to complete the checkout process for pickup orders. 
• 3.5 minutes: Average time to complete the checkout process for delivery orders. 
• 12 fields: Average number of fields required for pickup and delivery orders. 
• 25 clicks: Average number of clicks required for pickup orders. 
• 22 clicks: Average number of clicks required for delivery orders. 

Two out of three retail mobile apps studied in the report now offer BOPIS options to accommodate changes in consumer behavior. In addition, the study showed strong adoption of PayPal as an in-app payment option, with over 80% of the retail apps reviewed in the study supporting PayPal, compared to Apple Pay, which is supported by 20% of the apps reviewed in the study.

Download the Incognia Mobile App Friction Report here.