Login problems drive consumers away from digital services

Thales has released its 2026 Digital Trust Index, which found that login and sign-up problems are driving consumers to abandon digital services.

The research surveyed more than 15,000 consumers, partner users and IT decision makers across 13 countries. It points to a widening gap between growing adoption of artificial intelligence and weakening public confidence in how companies use it.

Banking ranked as the most trusted sector by a clear margin, with 57% of consumers saying they trusted it online. Government services came second at 40%, followed by healthcare at 35%.

Trust then fell sharply across other sectors. Insurance scored 23% and education 15%, while retail stood at 10%, social media at 9%, entertainment at 7% and hospitality at 6%. News media, logistics and automotive ranked lowest at 5%, 4% and 3% respectively.

The findings suggest users judge companies heavily on the earliest moments of their digital experience. In the past year, 57% of consumers said they had encountered problems accessing a website, while 68% had abandoned or switched providers because of slow performance or a complicated sign-up process.

That pattern extended beyond registration. When access felt too slow or intrusive, 33% said they would switch to a competitor or abandon the attempt altogether, while 36% said they would delay engagement or look for another channel.

At the same time, consumers were not necessarily asking for less security. Some 45% said they preferred stronger security checks even if sign-ups took longer, compared with 22% who favoured faster access with lighter protections.

Authentication tools were among the clearest measures linked to greater confidence. The survey found that 69% of consumers trusted companies more when multifactor authentication was used, while 68% said the same of passkeys.

Yet understanding of data use remained limited. Only 16% of respondents said they clearly understood how companies collected and used their personal data.

AI Trust

The report also highlighted a disconnect between corporate adoption of generative AI and consumer sentiment. Among IT leaders, 93% said they were already using, deploying or planning AI initiatives. By contrast, just 23% of consumers said they trusted companies to use AI responsibly with their data.

Concern was particularly strong where AI acts independently. Some 77% of consumers said they were worried about AI agents acting on their behalf online.

For businesses, the issue is not limited to customer-facing services. Partner users also reported repeated access problems that can affect delivery and revenue.

Only 22% of partner users said they received login credentials immediately during onboarding, and just 30% said they were given full permissions on first access. According to the findings, this leads to delays across sales cycles and customer commitments.

Workarounds were common when access processes broke down. Some 66% of partner users admitted sharing or borrowing credentials, often because provisioning was too slow.

Implementation Gap

The index also pointed to a gap between what IT leaders say matters and what organisations have actually put in place. While 87% of IT leaders said offering passkeys was important, only 49% said their organisation currently offered them.

Danny DeVreeze, Vice President of Identity and Access Management at Thales, said the survey reflected rising unease as AI systems take on more independent roles.

"The 2026 Digital Trust Index shows that as AI adoption is accelerating, trust is struggling to keep pace. When AI simply helps people work faster, confidence is high. But when AI starts acting autonomously and making decisions or interacting with systems on a user's behalf, people begin asking harder questions about security, control, and accountability," DeVreeze said.

The broader picture is that sectors handling essential services and sensitive personal information retain stronger trust than consumer internet and media categories. Banking was the only industry in the study where more than two in five consumers said they felt comfortable sharing personal information online.

That leaves much of the market facing a trust deficit at a time when companies are asking users to hand over more data, move more interactions online and accept a growing role for automated systems. The survey's figures on abandonment, delayed engagement and credential sharing suggest poor access design now has direct commercial and security consequences.