PayPal: The online payments friction fighter that became friction

Thanks to my mobile devices, the internet, apps and embedded payments, I can book airline tickets while waiting for a Zoom call to start, shop for holiday gifts while in the back of an Uber on the way to the airport, buy groceries while waiting for my dinner guests to join me at a restaurant, find and buy a car while waiting for the plane to take off (I actually saw someone do that a few months back), and pay the dog walker while sitting in the lobby waiting for a meeting to start. In a few minutes I can accomplish tasks that once required being a in totally different physical location.  My digital multitasking experiences are fast, easy and hassle free. It’s become my expectation. And yours too, I’m sure.

While on my Saturday morning run, I received a notification on my phone that an item on my wish list was now in stock. Since I intended this item as a holiday gift, I stopped running so that I could buy it — I didn’t want to lose it. Within a few seconds, I got to the checkout page where I selected PayPal to complete the purchase.

I was taken from the merchant site to the PayPal log in screen, where I had to enter my email or phone number, then wait for a mobile code since I can never remember my password. I was then taken back to the PayPal page to complete the purchase, where it felt like an eternity for the transaction to process — the little wheel kept spinning and spinning. I cancelled the transaction, returned to the checkout page, and completed the purchase in less than ten seconds with Apple Pay.

My PayPal experience on Saturday wasn’t unfamiliar. I have had a PayPal account since 1999. I have done thousands of transactions with them. I have enrolled in One Touch on all my devices and use PayPal on all of them. (Note: It’s up to the merchant to enable that experience on their sites, which is why it can be inconsistent from site to site.)

 

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