Follow these best practices for accepting contactless payments

Follow these best practices for accepting contactless payments

Contactless payments have grown significantly in popularity over the last few years and are expected to continue growing as the public becomes more reliant on credit cards and fobs rather than cash and checks. However, merchants should be aware of the best practices for implementing contactless payments in a place of business.

Contactless payments refer to RFID mediums for making payments to merchants. Credit cards and key fobs are by far the most common examples and use an embedded chip to "read" the card or fob when presented and to process payment.

Smart Card Alliance has put together a best practices white paper for contactless payments. This document explains potential obstacles, as well as practical guidelines for implementing such a system and making it work for both business owners and customers.

Some of the best practices for using contactless payments with merchant accounts include the following steps:

1. Make a plan
Switching to contactless payments with any merchant account is a big step for your business. If you develop a thorough plan for implementation and attempt to foresee any problems that might occur, your transition will prove much smoother. For example, SMA recommends focusing on how you can improve the customer experience through contactless payments.

The main benefit of this type of payment system is the increase in efficiency. Customers spend less time at the register and employees spend less time checking customers out. There are also benefits in non-retail environments because it limits the need for cash handling.

2. Conduct market research
Contactless payments are only beneficial when customers will actually take advantage of them. The Smart Card Alliance suggests that businesses should determine not only whether customers have credit cards in their geographic area, but also which cards are used most often. For instance, if customers usually have American Express, a payment system that only accepts Visa and MasterCard will not be effective.

3. Integrate systems
If a business is going to accept contactless payments through a merchant account, it is important to remember that all systems used should be integrated. The SMA's best practices include the need for integrating POS software with smart card technology. If employees have to use different programs to accomplish one goal, efficiency will not improve.

Of course, your hardware must also be compatible with whatever contactless payments system you choose. Computers, card readers, receipt printers, inventory scanners and other equipment should be considered prior to choosing a system.

4. Make it accessible
In order for contactless payment systems to work, the payment acceptance device must be accessible to the customer. In other words, it should face the customer when he or she is at the register and should be easy to see and operate. If it causes confusion or requires the customer to adjust his or her position, it doesn't do its job.

The SMA best practices whitepaper also suggests installing the payment acceptance device so that it can be easily serviced in the event of a problem. Burying wires and connectors behind built-in cabinets, for example, will make it difficult for service professionals to access it.

5. Train Employees
Perhaps the most important of the best practices recommended by the Smart Card Alliance is the need for employee training. If employees are uncomfortable with the technology, they will make more mistakes and will likely not recommend contactless payments to customers.

These best practices are just the start of what the SMA recommends, and it is important for all merchants to understand both the technology and the administrative benefits of these devices.

Published: September 30,2023