Google Checkout rated low in customer satisfaction
It trails rival PayPal
January 18, 2007 12:00 PM ETIDG News Service - Google Inc.'s Checkout ranked well below rival online payment service PayPal in customer satisfaction in a survey of online shoppers conducted by J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.
Among Checkout users, 19% rated the service as either very good or good, with the rest calling it average, poor or fair, a result characterized by J.P. Morgan as "a very low level of satisfaction with the product." By contrast, PayPal, which is owned by eBay Inc., fared better, with 44% of its users saying it's very good or good.
The survey findings surprised Google because they differ significantly from its internal records, which show less than 1% of Checkout transactions have a problem, said Benjamin Ling, Checkout product lead. Google remains fully committed to Checkout and to continually enhancing it, Ling said.
Google introduced Checkout in June of last year, after more than a year of speculation about its plans to enter the lucrative online payments market for business-to-consumer transactions, PayPal's stomping ground. It was one of the highest-profile product introductions for Google in 2006 and is seen as a clear example of the company's efforts to find new sources of revenue beyond its core business of search engine advertising.
However, complaints about Checkout began to surface soon after its launch, and by August a considerable number of merchants and shoppers were saying that the service often took too long to complete sales and that it sometimes canceled orders unjustifiably and without warning.
J.P. Morgan praised Google for aggressively promoting Checkout and achieving a strong adoption -- 6% of respondents -- in a relatively short time, but warned that Google must improve its customer satisfaction. "Google may need to shore up its payment operations before building lasting user loyalty," reads the report, released on Wednesday.
Despite a strong start in user adoption, Google will have to continue promoting Checkout heavily, because the usage and brand awareness gap with PayPal is significant. PayPal, which has been on the market for much longer, was used by 42% of respondents, a rate almost seven times higher than Checkout's. In terms of brand recognition, about 80% of respondents are aware of PayPal, compared with only 45% for Checkout.
In conclusion, PayPal, at least for the foreseeable future, will see "minimal impact" from Checkout, because only 2.3% of respondents indicated an intention to use Checkout instead of PayPal, according to J.P. Morgan, which polled almost 1,100 online shoppers who are 18 years of age and older. By contrast, 43.4% of respondents said they plan to use PayPal but not Checkout, and 18% plan to use both.
"[Checkout's] lower brand awareness coupled with its low satisfaction rate leave much room for improvement. As such, we do not believe Google Checkout presents a threat to PayPal at this time," the report reads.
Reprinted with permission from
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.
Additional Resources



Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.
White Papers & Webcasts
Secure Your Wireless LAN: How to protect against security breaches
As Wi-Fi technology constantly grows, companies must protect themselves by adopting solutions that secure their wireless local-area network. This HP white paper will...
Complying with PCI without Going Broke
Do a better job saving money and securing your data. Watch now.
IDC White Paper - Reducing IT Downtime & Business Loss
System Downtime. Network Outages. Security Breaches. Whether your company experiences a power outage, natural disaster or security threat, it is vital to keep...
Business Process Framework Demo
Learn about Configurable Business Processes and Calculated Fields. Watch Now!
Free up Email System Resources and Reduce Risk
Make your email systems easier to manage by offloading large email attachments.
Manager Experience Demo
Go beyond self-service solutions to perform more effectively. Watch Now.
WAN Optimization as a Managed Service: More than Network Cost Savings
View this Webcast Now!
Core Protection for Virtual Machines
Download Now
Asia-Pacific Enterprise Network Solutions
Learn through this Webcast how your business can achieve reliability, performance and value in hard-to-reach locations within the Asia-Pacific region.

