March 25, 2026
82% of Consumers Won’t Use Billing Platforms That Can’t Prove They’re Secure
Online scams cost consumers over a trillion dollars globally last year. A new InvoiceCloud survey finds that 82% of consumers are more likely to use a billing platform that clearly displays its security credentials, and when those signs are missing, more than half will abandon the payment entirely.
As AI-enabled fraud grows more sophisticated, simply having security in place is no longer enough. Consumers now need to see it.
Visible Security as a Trust Driver
The survey found that nearly one-third of respondents (32%) identify visible security standards as the single most important factor in trusting a digital billing platform. When a payment website looks outdated or difficult to navigate, 80% of those surveyed say their trust in the organisation drops. More than half (55%) will abandon the payment process entirely if the interface feels unsafe or confusing.
AI-generated deepfake scams are already extracting significant financial losses from consumers, with 30% of Americans encountering a deepfake scam call in 2024, and those targeted losing an average of $7,200 per incident. On top of that, a billing email that arrives without recognisable trust signals is increasingly likely to be treated as suspicious or ignored.
When evaluating whether to open a bill payment email or notification, consumers look for recognisable sender names (48%), personalised details such as their name or account balance (39%), and secure HTTPS links (31%). Yet even with all these identifiers present, 22% of respondents say they still will not open bill payment emails. Among Baby Boomers and older generations, 10% report they will not use a digital billing platform at all.
Mobile, Authentication, and the Friction
Alongside the security findings, the survey identifies mobile access as a near-universal expectation: 89% of consumers want the option to pay bills on mobile devices. Consumers increasingly conduct routine transactions, including bill payment, through smartphones, and a poor mobile experience is one of the fastest routes to losing them.
Authentication features are becoming a meaningful part of the trust equation in this context. Single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) both rank as reassurance signals during the login process. The challenge for billing platform operators is that these features must deliver protection without introducing friction, which has proven difficult across digital services more broadly. Consumers draw direct connections between the quality of a digital interface and the trustworthiness of the organisation behind it. A clunky or unreliable app experience registers as a red flag.
Accessibility Is Blocking Payment Completion
More 30% report that they or someone they know has accessibility needs that affect their ability to use digital billing platforms. Of those, 35% say they have abandoned a payment because of accessibility limitations.
Despite this, accessibility remains an underinvested area in many billing platform designs. Over 80% of consumers are more likely to use platforms that are easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and accessible, the same proportion as those who prioritise security. Accessibility is not a secondary consideration but a direct determinant of whether a user completes a transaction at all.
Branden Williams, Vice President of Information Security at InvoiceCloud, noted in the report that clearly communicating security practices, while ensuring platforms are accessible and easy to use, is essential to making customers feel confident paying bills online.
Access to preferred payment methods ranks among the top factors influencing trust, alongside security standards. Guest checkout is also one of the key entry points, with 83% of respondents describing it as somewhat to very important, particularly for first-time users who have not yet formed a relationship with the platform.
How to Improve Digital Billing Trust
The WebAIM Million 2025 report, which analysed the top one million websites, found that 95.9% fail to meet basic WCAG 2.2 standards, averaging 51 errors per page. Accessible payment systems can reach up to 70 million US adults with disabilities, and that 71% of consumers are more likely to choose a brand that demonstrates a commitment to inclusion.
The European Accessibility Act became mandatory across EU member states in June 2025, requiring digital services, including payment platforms, to meet accessibility standards or face financial penalties. Automated testing tools detect only 30–40% of accessibility issues, according to a UK Government Digital Service audit of 142 known problems, meaning programmes that rely solely on automated checks are leaving the majority of issues unfound.
The Thales Consumer Digital Trust Index 2025 found that 86% feel multi-factor authentication enhances trust, and 75% now want passwordless authentication, up from 72% the previous year. The challenge is implementing these features without adding friction.
Risk-based authentication, which calibrates verification requirements based on signals such as device, location, and transaction value rather than applying uniform friction, is increasingly the baseline model for payment environments. According to Entrust, the approach evaluates trust per transaction: low-risk interactions get a frictionless experience; higher-risk ones trigger step-up verification. The goal is security that stays invisible to users until it is needed.
