3 Main Mistakes Businesses Make with Touch-Free Transactions

The convenience of contactless payments is winning the hearts of more and more consumers worldwide. The global market value of such transactions is projected to nearly quadruple by 2026, reaching $51.07 billion, which makes it clear: this trend is here to stay.

Whether you are new to this concept or are already accepting touch-free payments, it’s critical to understand how to maximize the returns from them. Read on to find out the common mistakes merchants make when implementing such payment solutions, how to avoid these pitfalls, and how to ensure that contactless transactions will be a profitable long-term investment in your business.

The Increasing Importance of Contactless Payments

The influence of contactless payments is growing worldwide:

• In 2021, over 80% of US consumers used contactless payments.
• In Canada, the adoption of contactless cards and mobile payments boasts a 41% increase since the beginning of the pandemic.
• By the end of 2021, 92% of small businesses with brick-and-mortar locations accepted some form of contactless payments.
• 73% of merchants nowadays prefer their clients to pay with a contactless method instead of swiping a card or using a chip.
• 57% of shoppers claim they are more likely to opt for retailers that offer a contactless payment option.

These incredible figures demonstrate how much the payments landscape has changed over the past few years. Hence, it is no surprise that most merchants, regardless of the scale of their business, are currently rushing to adopt touch-free payment solutions to avoid being left behind. But is this transition an easy one?

As practice shows, steps such as upgrading the POS terminal to accept contactless cards, purchasing a mobile point of sale, and optimizing the sales platforms aren’t always enough to make touch-free transactions work effectively for a business’s benefit. Let’s take a look at the common pitfalls merchants encounter when introducing contactless payment methods.

Common Business Oversights with Touch-Free Payments

While every merchant’s journey with contactless payments is unique, there are three main oversights that seem to be ubiquitous across businesses:

1. Failing to Educate the Staff Members

Even the most advanced technological solution is no good if your employees don’t know how to use it. Although this might seem too obvious to mention, the speed with which the payments industry is changing often leaves merchants with no time to conduct proper onboarding for their staff when new software and hardware are introduced into the company’s operations.

As a result, the employees are often not able to resolve even the simplest technical issues and can’t offer guidance to first-time contactless payment users. This, in turn, leads to slow service, ruined consumer experience, and lower revenues.

Providing thorough employee briefings and technical support during the first months is essential to resolve this issue. Your staff members should know the fundamentals of touch-free payments, such as:

• How the payment terminals work
• Where to place the card or device
• How close the contactless card or NFC-enabled device should be to the POS during the transaction
• What the CVM limit for contactless card purchases is before the clients are prompted for a PIN verification
• How QR code payments work

2. Not Making the Acceptance of Contactless Payments Evident

As mentioned before, a large number of modern-day consumers prefer shopping at places that offer contactless payments. What became popularized as a social distancing measure has now become a matter of convenience.

Thus, merchants that fail to promote the fact that they accept contactless payments often miss out on a share of their potential customers. For instance, many clients will avoid entering a store without a “Tap to Pay” sign, as they would expect long queues at the checkout counter.

Adding stickers to your entrance door and an NFC sign to your POS goes a long way, informing the consumers that you accept their preferred payment methods.

3. Choosing the Wrong Payment Service Provider

The PSP you choose to collaborate with plays a critical role in how smooth and successful your implementation of contactless transactions will be. Thus, if your current service provider cannot help you facilitate touch-free transactions, it’s best to switch to the one that can offer a unified solution.

Here are some characteristics to look for in a PSP that will assist you in introducing contactless payments:

• A proven track record
• Sufficient time in the market
• Full 24/7 technical support
• A focus on speed, convenience, and security
• Software with simple integration
• Transparent contact options
• Fair pricing

Being a leading payment platform provider since 2006, Payneteasy combines all these qualities and beyond. Contact us for a solution tailored to your business needs!

All Set to Go Contactless!

Opting for contactless payment solutions is an investment that will definitely pay off for your business if implemented correctly.

Knowing the main mistakes made by merchants and ways of dealing with them, you are sure to make the most out of this technology and maximize the returns from it.