Are you struggling with cart abandonment and a lengthy checkout process? One-click checkout can help your customers complete their purchase faster and easier.
What Is One-click Checkout & How Does It Work?
This article is part of a larger series on Payments.
One-click checkout is an ecommerce feature that lets customers complete their purchases with a single click and does away with the usual multistep checkout process. It streamlines the transaction by securely storing customer information and payment details, allowing for quick and frictionless purchases. This feature can help reduce cart abandonment rates, boost conversions, and enhance the overall shopping experience.
How One-click Checkout Works
The specific process for enabling one-click checkout will depend on your ecommerce platform and payment processor. The principle behind it is that a customer with an existing account with your one-click checkout solution does not need to provide any of the usual payment information during checkout. The customer only needs to click the button, and the processor uses the details in the customer’s account to process the payment.
- Step 1. Integrate and Enable One-click Checkout Solution: This involves configuring settings, APIs, and necessary plugins to ensure the proper functionality of your chosen one-click checkout solution. Once integrated, enable the one-click checkout feature for your customers.
- Step 2. First-time Customer Checks Out: A new customer making their first purchase goes through the standard checkout process. They provide their payment details, such as credit card information, shipping address, and contact details. This information is securely transmitted to your payment processor or the one-click checkout solution’s system.
- Step 3. Customer Payment Information Is Stored: After the first-time customer completes their purchase, the payment information they provided is securely stored by either your chosen one-click checkout solution or your payment processor. This information is encrypted and tokenized, ensuring that sensitive data remains protected from unauthorized access.
- Step 4. Return Customer Uses One-click Checkout: When a return customer decides to make a purchase, they click a designated button. The one-click checkout solution recognizes the customer based on their account credentials and the device they’re using. It retrieves the stored payment and shipping details associated with the customer’s account.
The customer reviews the details, makes any adjustments if needed, and confirms the purchase with just one click. The stored payment information is securely transmitted for payment processing, completing the transaction in a matter of seconds.
How to Choose a One-click Checkout Solution
To offer one-click checkout on your online shop, you will need to sign up with a one-click checkout solution. These solutions are often included as a feature of a payment processor or as a service that connects with a payment processor. If you already have a payment processor, check if it offers any one-click checkout solutions.
Here are some of the most popular options:
Aside from the providers above, many ecommerce platforms, such as WooCommerce and Magento, offer their own one-click checkout feature.
What to Look For in a One-click Checkout Solution
Selecting the right one-click checkout solution can help ensure that it can provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers with the highest standards of security. When exploring your options, consider the following:
- Popularity and usage: The effectiveness of your one-click checkout will depend on how widely used it is. It is ideal if the solution already has many users. If most of your customers do not have accounts with the solution you’ve chosen, then they will still have to go through the initial account sign-up.
- Security: The one-click checkout solution will be handling your customers’ sensitive financial information which means no payment information will be stored on your end. Hence, it is crucial that your chosen solution employs robust encryption and tokenization techniques to safeguard customer payment information. To ensure the highest level of data protection and to avoid penalties and fees, look for a solution that complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Learn more in our PCI compliance guide for small businesses.
- Compatibility and integration: Choose a solution that seamlessly integrates with your ecommerce platform. Confirm that it works well across various devices and browsers, guaranteeing a consistent experience for all users regardless of their chosen technology.
- Ease of implementation: It is best to choose a one-click checkout solution that is easy to implement without any higher-level technical skills.
- Cross-device compatibility: Ensure that the one-click checkout solution functions seamlessly across smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. A consistent experience on various devices enhances customer satisfaction.
What Are the Costs of One-click Checkout Solutions?
Although the one-click checkout feature is often a free feature offered by some payment processors, the fees for processing payments will still apply. Compare the different processing fees to find the one that’s cost-effective for your small business.
Here are the basic online payment processing fees of some providers that offer one-click checkout solutions:
Monthly Fee | Online Processing Fee | Learn More | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Shop Pay | Starts at $25 | $0 if using Shopify Payments; Starts at 0.5% if using third-party payment service providers | |
 PayPal | $0 | 3.49% + 49 cents | |
 Link with Stripe | $0 | 2.9% + 30 cents | |
 Amazon Pay | $0 | 2.9% + 30 cents | |
 Apple Pay | $0 | Depends on payment processor |
Can’t decide on which solution to offer? You may offer several one-click checkout options on your website. Some ecommerce platforms, like Shopify or BigCommerce, easily let you integrate two or more one-click checkout buttons. Others, such as WooCommerce, allow this feature with extra coding.
Benefits of One-click Checkout
If you’re on the fence about adding one-click checkout to your website, here are some of its benefits.
Lower Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment has long been a challenge for online retailers. A lengthy and intricate checkout process often leads to frustration, causing potential customers to abandon their carts. One-click checkout eliminates this barrier by streamlining the process, resulting in a substantial reduction in cart abandonment rates. With a single click, customers swiftly transition from product selection to order confirmation, leaving little room for hesitation.
According to a recent research, 71.42% of online shopping carts do not make it to the checkout stage. Another study looked at the different reasons for cart abandonment and among the top reasons are the customer didn’t want to create an account (24%), the customer didn’t want to provide card payment information (18%), and lengthy and complicated checkout process (17%). Having a one-click checkout option will help address these three reasons.
Learn more about shopping cart abandonment.
Higher Conversion Rate
The efficiency of one-click checkout directly translates to higher conversion rates. Having one-click checkout removes the need for customers to enter redundant information and navigate multiple steps, making the process quicker and significantly increasing the likelihood of completing purchases. According to a recent study, Shopify’s one-click checkout Shop Pay can boost conversion by up to 50%.
Improved Customer Experience
One-click checkout provides customers with a hassle-free and expedited shopping experience. This enhancement in user experience encourages repeat visits, builds brand loyalty, and elevates the overall perception of the brand.
Customers increase their spending over time by around 28.5% after signing up for a website’s one-click checkout solution, according to a new Cornell research. This indicates customer satisfaction and increased customer loyalty.
Secure Payment Processing
One-click checkout solutions don’t just prioritize convenience—they also take security seriously. Most providers employ robust encryption and data protection measures, which ensure that customers’ payment information remains secure throughout the transaction process. This heightened security not only safeguards sensitive data but also fosters trust among customers, reassuring them that their financial details are well-protected.
For more on online payment security, read our guide on ecommerce payment security.
A Brief History of One-click Checkout
One-click checkout was first introduced by Amazon in the late ‘90s to make checkout faster and easier for their users, and eventually helped Amazon grow from an online bookshop to a massive online marketplace. Amazon secured the patent for one-click checkouts in September 1999. The patent expired in September 2017, which has allowed other platforms and processors, such as PayPal, Stripe, and Shop Pay, to implement their own one-click checkout feature.
The State of One-Click Checkout
One-click checkout didn’t quite take off as quickly as some people expected after Amazon’s patent expired. One reason is that it works well for shoppers who already have accounts with the one-click checkout solution. If not, you still need to overcome the initial hurdle of getting a shopper to sign up and provide their payment information.
Amazon’s success with one-click checkout hinged on the online retailer’s expansive database of customers. It was a different story for new players in the one-click checkout landscape however. The adoption of one-click checkout by more popular processors such as PayPal and Shop Pay showed more promise, with PayPal’s Express Checkout increasing conversion rates to as much as 61% and Shop Pay improving conversion rate up to 50%.
The Future of One-Click Checkout: Tailored Checkout
While one-click checkout focuses on reducing cart abandonment rates and increasing conversion rates, tailored checkout goes further and aims to also increase the average order value (AOV) and customer lifetime value (CLV), which is the merchant’s expected revenue from a customer over their entire relationship. Increasing these values is done by providing a more tailored or personalized checkout experience to customers. The checkout flow is optimized based on the shopper’s profile, history, device, and touchpoints—for example, showing relevant products on customers’ social media feeds, providing a buy now button within the feed, and taking them straight to their checkout page.
One-click Checkout Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Expand the sections below for common questions about one-click checkout.
Yes, reputable ecommerce platforms implement stringent security measures to protect stored customer data. Encryption and tokenization techniques ensure that payment details are stored securely and remain inaccessible to unauthorized parties. Look for solutions that adhere to industry standards like PCI DSS for enhanced security.
During the first purchase, one-click checkout stores information such as payment details, shipping addresses, and possibly other preferences. This stored information is securely encrypted to ensure the privacy and security of customers’ data.
While the use of one-click checkout itself may not incur additional fees, it’s important to check with your ecommerce platform or chosen solution provider for any potential charges related to its usage or integration.
Bottom Line
One-click checkout is more than just a convenient ecommerce feature—it can also be beneficial for your small business. Reducing the checkout process to a single click allows customers to go quickly from selection to purchase, lowering cart abandonment, elevating user experience, and strengthening customer relationships and loyalty. To make the most of this feature, prioritize a secure, popular, and easily integratable one-click checkout solution that aligns with your business needs.
