The shift to a contactless world

Contactless payments are becoming increasingly popular across a range of face-to-face interactions throughout business and industry. This article briefly explains what contactless payments are and how you can use them to improve client experiences in your financing or investing business.

What are contactless payments?

Contactless payments include any transactions that don’t require direct physical contact between buyer and seller. This loose definition includes online shopping and in-app purchases. However, it’s usually reserved for face-to-face transactions in which the seller’s payment terminal and buyer’s payment device wirelessly communicate using a short-wave radio technology known as near-field communication (NFC).

Because of this wireless connection, the terminal and payment device never touch one another. They simply need to be within a few inches to securely send and receive information.

NFC-enabled credit and debit cards represent two of the most popular ways to make contactless payments. However, it’s also possible to use mobile wallets and wearable devices – provided they are also equipped with near-field communication technology.

How can you use contactless payments in your organization?

Most businesses adopt this technology to facilitate payments. This trend greatly accelerated when social distancing concerns reached their height during the pandemic. Now, the driving forces behind contactless payments include:

• Improved speed, with the technology being up to 10 times faster than traditional payment options

• Increased satisfaction, with 69% of customers favoring contactless payments over conventional cash

For many businesses, these benefits are reason enough to integrate contactless payments into their operations. However, it’s now possible to use the same technology to facilitate a broad range of face-to-face interactions that aren’t directly related to payments:

• Many restaurants already use scannable QR codes with integrated ordering options so that diners and wait staff never have to interact directly

• As more stores offer curbside pickup and delivery options, NFC technology allows employees to verify each customer’s identity before handing anything over

If your organization relies on face-to-face contact for payments, deliveries, pickups, or signatures, integrating contactless payments may be able to help streamline your operations.

Are contactless payments in your future?

Contactless payments are not a complete replacement for whatever payment tools you already use. Rather, they’re an add-on that allow you to securely accept more payment types. In fact, the payment terminals you currently use to manage your business might already come with NFC technology installed. Most smart phones come equipped with the technology, as well.

This means that with some minor modifications, you might be able to start offering contactless payments without having to invest in additional hardware. For more information, check out the accompanying resource.

Infographic created by Clover, a retail POS system company