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The Friction Report
Discover why billions in software revenue are lost each year — and how leading companies are removing barriers to capture growth.
Digital has become the default buying channel for software. 98% of vendors sell their products online, with over 50% generating the majority of their revenue through ecommerce.
But growth is being stunted by a silent revenue killer: friction. From confusing checkout flows to subscription churn, unnecessary barriers are draining billions from software businesses worldwide.
Cleverbridge’s first original research report, developed in partnership with Ascend2 and based on insights from over 1,700 software buyers and sellers, reveals where companies are losing money they should be winning, and how ecommerce leaders are closing the gap.
Ecommerce has become the dominant sales channel, with more than half of software sellers generating the majority of their revenue online.
The growth opportunity is clear: 83% of software companies plan to expand internationally in the next 12 months. Yet only 6% of current global sellers say they do so with ease.
What’s in the way? It’s not one barrier — it’s death by a thousand cuts: integrations, compliance challenges, checkout UX, localization, and more.
Knowing this, it’s no surprise that 60% of sellers operate in less than 10 countries, with only 4% selling in more than 100 — leaving trillions in market opportunity untapped.
Sellers face steep hurdles when scaling globally, with integrations, compliance, and localized checkout ranking as top barriers.
Sellers think they know what buyers want — but the data tells a different story.
Buyers rank clear pricing and terms as the most important factor in a positive checkout experience. Sellers, however, prioritize speed and security — while underestimating the importance of transparency and trust.
This mismatch creates unnecessary drop-off. In another example, 96% of buyers expect to see prices in their local currency, yet just 31% of sellers consistently localize checkout.
Buyers demand clarity and confidence at checkout, but many sellers still underestimate the importance of pricing transparency.
Cart abandonment at checkout is the most visible symptom of friction — and it’s costing companies dearly. According to our report, 82% of vendors experience double-digit cart abandonment, while nearly half (47%) lose at least 25% of prospective orders.
Do the math: A midsize SaaS firm with $10M in annual online sales and a 27% abandonment rate (the survey midpoint) could boost revenue to $12.3M by cutting abandonment to 10%. That’s a $2.3M annual “friction tax” imposed by hidden fees, missing payment methods, and other checkout barriers.
Cart abandonment is universal — with more than 4 in 5 vendors losing double-digit percentages of their prospective sales.
Friction doesn’t end after the first sale — it poses a big risk to retention, too. While 91% of sellers say they’re confident in their post-purchase experience, nearly 8 in 10 buyers report frustrations, from confusing renewal terms to difficulty cancelling to slow customer support.
More so, 63% of sellers admit at least half their churn is involuntary, caused by failed payments and other preventable errors. Customer support is another key factor in churn prevention, with 31% of buyers expressing frustration in that area.
The message is clear: focusing on renewals, billing, and support is just as critical as fixing checkout.
Post-purchase pain points — from billing clarity to support — remain a blind spot for most sellers, threatening recurring revenue.
The findings are clear: friction is stealing revenue at every stage of the customer journey. Sellers that act now — by addressing checkout clarity, global payment flexibility, post-purchase experiences, and more — are capturing growth their peers are missing.
Methodology: Cleverbridge, in partnership with Ascend2, surveyed 715 software sellers and 1,081 buyers across North America, Europe, APAC, and Latin America in June 2025. Sellers represented companies with $1M+ in revenue across multiple verticals, while buyers were decision-makers and consumers who purchased digital software or subscriptions online in the past 12 months.
