Convenience is king and this is an excellent example of how easy it is to go too far when collecting data from users. I already expect to jump through a few hoops when using a credit card online, so asking me for my life story will only encourage me to bail out and never return.
I did read the article, and the title says it all. They lost money because they got greedy for data that was unnecessary to complete the transaction. As a result, another point of failure was added and frustrated users bailed. The body of the article may try to spin it as a case where analytics boosted the bottom line, but the truth is that it was a bad design choice that cost them money from the start, because they ignored the KISS principle.
According to the article the sales they lose were due to customers who didn't understand the form and therefore filled in the wrong information, not because people couldn't be bother to provide the data.
