There’s no question that EMV Contactless payment acceptance goes a long way in protecting staff and cardholders from the spread of germs, but there are a number of ways it can be good for your bottom line too.
Increases customer turnaround and reduces abandoned sales.
Contactless payment acceptance can make a checkout up to 10 times faster than swipe or dip card payment or cash transactions. There is no PIN or signature entry, no card transfer between people, and no rotating a card to fit in a slot or magnetic stripe reader. Checkout is completely frictionless – customers just tap and go. This helps get impatient customers through checkout lines quickly. In fact, the total transaction time for a contactless transaction can be less than 6 seconds– including authorization, printing and handing of the receipt.
EMV-enabled card readers also support mobile contactless payments. So, if a customer’s payment card is out of reach or if they’ve left their wallet at home, they can just as easily make a purchase using a mobile phone or wearable device without pause.
Data shows that contactless conveniences can result in more frequent incremental transactions and impulse purchases. According to the International Journal of Economic Studies, contactless payment adopters make around nine payments more at the point of sale within a month than non-adopters.
Lower variable costs around human error, labor, security and deposit fees.
More card payments result in less time staff spends counting cash and balancing receipts at closing. This may also reduce the number of bank deposit trips or armored transport visits. Plus, when contactless cards and mobile wallets are used for payment, human error around cash handling is reduced, while payments accepted are protected by multiple layers of security.
Use data to attract and reward customers with targeted offers.
Mobile wallets (such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay) collect customer data from past purchases. When you can tie customers to their individual transactions, you can better understand their behaviors and preferences. This data can be leveraged for targeted discounts and rewards sent directly to your customers’ mobile wallets. The result is a better return on advertising investments than you would get using non-data-driven tactics.
This article was originally published in Elavon’s Payment Smart newsletter. The Washington Hospitality Association’s payments processing system is backed by U.S. Bank/Elavon.
