Speed and convenience are essential to today’s online shopping journey. It’s now possible to shop anywhere at any time with just a few taps on a phone, and on-demand services like streaming and delivery apps have raised customer expectations for efficient e-commerce shopping experiences even further.
Enter guest checkout. It can help e-commerce businesses stay competitive and meet their customers’ high expectations — and customers like it because it saves them from having to manage another online account.1 Online business owners who want to keep up with shopper expectations and deliver a seamless customer experience may want to consider offering an accelerated guest checkout.
Learn more in our guide.
An accelerated guest checkout streamlines the online purchasing experience by minimizing the time and steps needed for customers to complete a transaction, removing many of the friction points that can deter shoppers from completing their purchases. For example, it lets customers use their previously saved shipping and payment information even if they’ve never created a profile with your business.
Accelerated guest checkout can offer a wide variety of opportunities for your business to help improve customer satisfaction, which in turn can help boost conversion. Read on to learn about some of the top benefits.
A checkout process with too many hurdles can frustrate customers and lead to cart abandonment.
Repetitive data entry — such as entering shipping or payment information over and over — is one common source of friction. Research shows that 30% of consumers will abandon their carts if forced to re-enter credit card details, while 25% will abandon their carts if they need to re-enter shipping details.2
Accelerated guest checkout uses shopper recognition, passwordless logins, and other technologies that simplify and personalize the shopping journey for customers — and a checkout process that speeds customers through each step can drive more completed transactions.
Shoppers don’t want another online account to manage. Speed and convenience are among the top reasons shoppers in a 2022 survey gave for why they preferred guest checkout, with 74% of those who prefer it saying it’s because they think it’s faster than creating a new account, and 56% saying they don’t want to keep up with another online account.3 In fact, 72% of respondents with retail accounts said they would still use guest checkout.4
When you give customers the accelerated guest checkout experience they want and simplify both their initial purchasing and their reordering experiences, it can make them more likely to complete their purchase — and shop with you again.
Shoppers also like accelerated checkout because it can help protect their privacy. In a 2022 survey, 47% of shoppers who preferred guest checkout said it was because they like not needing to provide as much personal information.5 With an accelerated guest checkout solution like Fastlane by PayPal, verified shoppers only need to provide an email and a secure PIN-code sent to their phone to auto-fill their payment and shipping information — no password required.
In one survey, 55% of shoppers said that friction at checkout — like outdated payment details — causes them to abandon their carts.6 With average cart abandonment rates hovering around 70%, improving your shop’s checkout experience could mean the difference between a dwindling bottom line and a profitable quarter.7
Reducing checkout friction and easing the purchase process with an accelerated guest checkout solution can lead to a better overall customer experience — and that can help bring in more sales.
While an accelerated guest checkout offers many benefits, it’s also important to consider potential challenges, such as reduced customer data collection and the resources required for integration.
Although guest checkouts can speed up transactions, they can also limit a business’s ability to collect data on customer purchase history and preferences. This reduction in data acquisition can create challenges around personalization efforts, targeted marketing campaigns, and loyalty and rewards programs.
To mitigate these issues, businesses can encourage post-purchase account creation. Because shoppers prefer guest checkout, consider waiting until after they’ve placed their order before gently nudging them to create an account. Clearly explain the benefits of logging in or opening an account, such as more personalized experiences during future transactions — and you can even incentivize them with future discounts or loyalty points.
Like other aspects of your business tech stack, implementing new payment technologies can come with financial and technical challenges. Depending on your existing payment integration, adding accelerated checkout may require an investment in developer resources.
If your e-commerce business is already integrated with PayPal, however, enabling Fastlane by PayPal only takes a few steps, and as little as two to four weeks.8 For businesses with sites built with one of PayPal’s Fastlane-enabled channel partners like BigCommerce, Fastlane integration can be as easy as just one step.9
If you choose PayPal for your online payments solution, you’ll also have access to documentation, resources, and support to help add an accelerated guest checkout.
Interested in leveling up your business with an accelerated guest checkout solution? Keep the following considerations in mind.
How much do your shoppers prioritize speed over, say, personalized service? While every second at checkout can sway shoppers’ satisfaction with your brand, customers differ in how they value convenience and speed compared to customized experiences or rewards programs.
Take the time to conduct a thorough analysis of your target audience. This means researching demographics, buying habits, and existing customer data to identify preferred checkout behaviors.
The key is to understand who your customers are and how they interact with your checkout process, so you can tailor your strategies to meet their specific needs and enhance their overall shopping experience.
Before jumping on available solutions, conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis to determine the potential return on investment (ROI) of adopting an accelerated guest checkout for your e-commerce business. The potential gains can be substantial, including increased checkout efficiency, higher customer satisfaction, and the opportunity for significant revenue growth due to decreased cart abandonment rates.
Weighing these opportunities against challenges like integration costs can help businesses determine whether the long-term benefits will justify the initial investment.
Customers like guest checkout. Among shoppers in a 2022 survey, 43% said they favor guest checkout for their online purchases.10 Accelerated guest checkout helps reduce the friction of online account creation to speed customers through checkout without a password, which can help unlock more sales, build greater loyalty, and drive long-term growth for your e-commerce business.
Ready to add an accelerated guest checkout experience to your business? Fastlane by PayPal is an accelerated guest checkout solution offered as part of PayPal Complete Payments — a comprehensive payment solution that lets customers pay how they want on a platform they trust.
With Fastlane by PayPal, once customers create a Fastlane profile during guest checkout at a participating store, their payment and shipping details will be auto-filled when making future purchases wherever Fastlane is available. They can then pay in seconds, no password needed. Shoppers with Fastlane profiles have been shown to have a guest checkout conversion rate of 80%.11
In partnership with three expert business owners, the PayPal Bootcamp includes practical checklists and a short video loaded with tips to help take your business to the next level.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. May we use marketing cookies to show you personalized ads? Manage all cookies