The payment revolution completely changed the way people carry out transactions now. Now people rarely pay with cash due to the abundant benefits of contactless payments. They either choose to pay with debit/credit cards or online transactions. Contactless technology is the most recent development in the payments industry. The need for such a payment method has increased multifold since the pandemic.
There are three types of contactless payments. Most merchants started offering these in at least one of the following ways. If your merchants do not yet leverage contactless transactions, it is high time they start doing so right away.
NFC-Based Card Transactions
NFC (Near-Field Communication) based credit, and debit cards are quickly replacing the old gen swipe cards. These contactless cards have an embedded microchip to help merchants accept contactless payments. These modern cards don’t need to be swiped at a POS terminal.
NFC-Based App Transactions
Mobile wallet applications like Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and Apple Pay can safely store your credit and debit card information. If your customer has a mobile with an NFC chip in it, you can directly place their mobile over the card reader to pay, thereby eliminating the need for the card.
Online Transactions
Merchants today use powerful applications like the iCG Pay Mobile Payments app to accept payments from their customers. Such advanced applications help merchants leverage the benefits of contactless payments via both credit card and online ACH. The best part about using such applications is that the customer does not need to present the card. As long as the customer possesses the card or bank account details, they can log on to such an application and quickly pay their bills.
Alternatively, the merchant can send an SMS payment link to their customer to enhance the customer experience further with a contactless transaction. This way, the customer need not enter their bank details on a foreign device. Instead, they can log in to the payment portal from their mobile device to reap the benefits of going contactless, which provides a friction-free payment solution for consumers.
Minimize Risk of Exposure – Better Hygiene
The demand for a contactless transactions has gone up several folds since the COVID pandemic started. With the contactless payment process, people can minimize their risk of exposure to high-touch surfaces. Customers pay without the friction of swiping their cards or entering their PIN with the latest payment terminals.
Faster Transactions
With no need to swipe a card or enter the PIN, merchants process transactions even faster, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing the time required at the checkout queue. The combination of self-checkout and contactless cards will eventually remove the need for a cash counter altogether. Check out what the next-gen Amazon grocery store will look like.
Increased Security
Contactless card payments usually come with a transaction limit (to prevent misuse). The customer may also need to enter the pin occasionally to prevent fraud. Most banks also cover the cost of fraud and block the card immediately if they notice a misuse.
Seamless Access in Card-Not-Present Transactions
Customers carry out contactless payments through an application or a virtual terminal without the card physically present with them. They directly use their mobile device or log onto the merchant’s secure online virtual terminal to pay seamlessly. If your merchant hasn’t created an online presence yet, they can make a virtual terminal from scratch.
No Additional Cost for the Merchant
Merchants can start accepting contactless payments without incurring any additional cost on their end. With more and more customers preferring contactless payments, this gives an added incentive for merchants to get them.
Access Via Mobile Technology
Considering the digital customer experience evolved over the last decade, modern-day buyers step out of their homes with just their phones on them. The most advanced smartphones now have NFC capabilities that mimic house keys, car keys, and credit and debit cards. Now they pay at the store with their phones directly with contactless transactions.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Short wait queues, safer contactless transactions, and easier access over mobile devices make this technology super popular. Consequently, merchants accepting the benefits of contactless payments will easily showcase their commitment to offering the best service to their customers.
We offer several next-gen payment technologies for the growing needs of merchants. Some of these include:
Now, merchants leverage these technologies to accept payments via both ACH and credit cards on a single platform. Also, they manage their transactions on an online hosted payment portal. Moreover, they can also connect this payment portal with back-office accounting software like QuickBooks using advanced plugins for a more straightforward reconciliation process.
So, want to learn more about the benefits of contactless payments? Reach out to the top payment processing experts to get started.
Date originally published: March 08, 2022