Customer identity and checkout friction: what keeps users loyal?

TL;DR: Broken login loops, forced account creation, and inconsistent cross-device journeys drive customer abandonment, while adaptive CIAM can preserve continuity and reinforce trust, according to Ping Identity. The real governance issue is that customer identity now shapes conversion, privacy confidence, and fraud resistance at the same time, so IAM and CX can no longer be separated.

NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Ping Identity: The Trust Equation: Why Customers Stay, or Leave

By the numbers:

• 71% feel frustrated when a shopping experience isn’t personal.

Questions worth separating out

Q: How should teams reduce friction in customer identity journeys without weakening security?

A: Start by removing avoidable reauthentication, broken reset flows, and unnecessary account creation steps from high-value journeys.

Q: Why do customer identity controls affect revenue as well as security?

A: Because customers interpret identity failures as product failures.

Q: What do organisations get wrong about adaptive MFA in customer identity?

A: They often apply challenge steps too broadly and too often, which treats all users as suspicious.

Practitioner guidance

• Map abandonment points in customer journeys Identify where login resets, session timeouts, account creation gates, or repeated verification steps break checkout, onboarding, or self-service flows.
• Tune adaptive MFA to context, not habit Use device, location, and behavioural risk signals to trigger verification only when the session meaningfully changes.
• Join consent and identity state in one governance model Treat consent, preference management, and customer identity continuity as linked controls rather than separate operational tracks.

What's in the full article

Ping Identity's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:

• Specific CIAM flow examples for cart recovery, reauthentication, and cross-device continuity
• Detailed discussion of adaptive MFA triggers and when to escalate checks without harming conversion
• Examples of consent and preference controls that support personalisation while preserving trust
• Business-outcome framing that connects identity design to retention, support burden, and customer loyalty

👉 Read Ping Identity’s article on customer identity, friction, and trust →

Customer identity and checkout friction: what keeps users loyal?

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