What is Contactless Payment and How Does It Benefit My Business?
On this page, we’ll discuss the basics of contactless payments and three benefits of using this technology for your business. Keep reading to learn more, and call us today at 888-601-5359 to learn more about contactless payment.
Background on contactless payment
If you don’t know the definition of contactless payment, the key is in the words. Contactless payment is a way for you to pay for goods and services without using your debit or credit card. Unlike debit and credit cards, contactless payment never touches the point of sale (POS) terminal.
When you make a purchase at your favorite retailer, you either swipe or insert your card into the POS terminal. The magnetic strip on your card contains your bank information, which enables the retailer to take the proper funds from your account. This magnetic strip was first used in 1950 and remains on major credit cards today.
The issue with this magnetic strip is risk of fraud. When all your bank information is stored on a magnetic strip, it makes it easy for hackers to steal your bank information and make fraudulent charges. Even with the evolution of chip cards, there is still a great risk of compromising your bank information, especially if retailers haven’t updated to chip card readers.
So, technology experts developed contactless payment. You can pay for goods and services through mobile devices, watches, and other wearable devices. It makes transactions quick and painless.
How does contactless payment work?
Contactless payment operates on near field communication (NFC) technology. It uses radio frequency identification (RFID), and devices communicate with the payment reader when they are within centimeters of the POS terminal. When you tap or wave your device over the payment reader, payment information is transmitted through RFID.
What are some examples of contactless payment providers?
When you got to a retail store, you’ll see a symbol that looks like the Wi-Fi symbol to indicate that you can make contactless payment. Some retailers will include the payment provider’s name to indicate they accept that type of pay. Here are three of the most popular contactless payment providers.
There is no app you need to download with Apple Pay. You use a preprogrammed app called “Wallet.” This is where you store your credit cards to make payments through Apple Pay.
Apple Pay doesn’t constantly keep transactional information related to your account. They only keep information to help you with troubleshooting, fraud protection, and regulation of the app. You can feel secure that your information isn’t floating around on your phone.
- Google Pay: Google Pay is another popular form of payment. You can check out in hundreds of apps without having to take the time to input your card information. This creates an easy and seamless experience for the user. Google Pay is compatible with thousands of websites. You can also use this function to pay people who don’t have the Google Pay. This contactless payment provider enables you to send money to emails and phone numbers, which makes your transactions easy and convenient.
- Samsung Pay: This contactless payment provider is used by Samsung mobile users. It enables you to carry credit, debit, gift, and membership cards all in one place. This allows you to pay in person, online, or in an app. Samsung Pay also send notifications about discount and coupons for local merchants. It provides a great user experience that encourages people to go out and shop.When you use Samsung Pay, you can feel confident that your transactions are protected. Each transaction requires to be authenticated with your fingerprint, pin, or iris scan. This protects your account and helps you feel secure about making purchases.
3 benefits of contactless payment
There are numerous benefits with using contactless payments. These benefits help consumers and merchants alike.
1. It’s more secure than regular bank cards
When this technology first developed, people were extremely wary about the security of paying through their phone. After all, what’s to stop a hacker from hacking your phone to steal your card information? It appeared to many consumers that it was even easier to access bank information by putting it on your phone.
The opposite is true! These contactless payment providers are safer than regular bank cards. They are authenticated payments, which makes them hard to breach. Not to mention, the data on your card is encrypted and constantly changing for your own protection.
So, even if a hacker steals your information from these contactless payment providers, they won’t get any valuable information. Since your data is constantly changing, they won’t be able to obtain information that helps them hack your account.
Contactless payment is far more secure than regular debit or credit cards. These cards use outdated technology, which makes them easy to hack and duplicate. It leads to identity left and fraudulent charges.
If you want to feel secure about your transactions, contactless payment is the way to go.
2. Quicker checkout
In this fast-paced world, people want to get out and get moving. They don’t want to wait in long lines. With contactless payment, you speed up the check-out process and get your customers out the door faster.
When you use contactless payment, you don’t need to enter your pin or sign for anything. This applies up to a certain price limit, which is based on the contactless payment provider. You can check out quickly and efficiently. Even if you need to enter your pin or sign for larger purchases, the process is must faster than using a card.
Contactless payment rids the needs to carry cash, count change, or take time to pull your credit card out of your wallet. Most people carry their phone in their hands (or in an easily accessible area), so it provides a quicker and smoother checkout process.
Your customers don’t want to wait in line. If they can use contactless payment, they can complete their transaction in a matter of seconds. This provides a better experience for your customers and allows them to move on with their day quickly and efficiently.
It’s also great for the online experience, too. If people are purchasing products from your ecommerce store, they don’t need to take the time to grab their wall and input their bank card. They can use contactless payment to quickly make a purchase and move on with their day.
Contactless payment is great for systems other than retail. Public transports, parking facilities, and toll booths are all great places to have contactless payment. They can prevent traffic or lines from building up and make it easy for users to pay.
3. Allows companies to handle more customers
When you decrease the amount of time it takes to complete a transaction, you can take more customers. More customers mean more sales for your business. It’s an extremely beneficial thing to help your business grow.
As stated previously, people don’t want to wait in long lines to check out. In fact, long lines may deter people from making a purchase. You don’t want to miss out on conversions because the wait is too long for customers that want to move quickly in and out of your store.
By using contactless payment, you improve your checkout process speed. You’ll move your line along and encourage more people to wait in shorter lines. Not only will you earn more conversions, but you’ll leave your customers happy with your business because you reduced their wait time.
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Start marketing your contactless payment with WebFX
Contactless payment is a great opportunity for your business to earn more conversions. When you make the checkout process easier for your audience, they are more willing to follow through on the purchase. A simple and quick process makes buying easy, which means more conversions for your business.
At WebFX, we believe that a smooth customer experience is only half of the equation; the other half is obtaining customers. We have over 15 years of experience marketing for ecommerce businesses. We know how to market your business to customers and get them to take advantage of contactless payment.
When you partner with us, you’ll work with a team that has a proven track record of success. We’ve driven over $6 billion in sales and over 24 million leads for our clients. Our team strives to drive success for our clients.
Don’t believe us? Just ask our clients about what it’s like to partner with us. We have 1,100 client testimonials from a variety of industries that attest to the great work we do.
Earn more conversions today
If you’re ready to market your business better to help more people use your contactless payment, contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist.
We look forward to hearing from you!