Over the past year, there's been a lot of talk about NFC payment services such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Wallet. Despite heavy marketing, however, adoption of NFC payment services has been slow to get off the ground. With this in mind, we've outlined three common objections regarding NFC so that you can pass on this information to your merchants.
Objection #1: No one uses contactless payments.
Rebuttal: While most of today's transactions don't utilize NFC, customer mindsets are slowly shifting towards NFC, especially among the younger demographics. A forecast released at this year’s Money 20/20 conference projects that 1 in 5 smartphone users will make transactions with NFC technology in 2016.
Objection #2: Cards are easier and faster.
Rebuttal: This might have been the case in the days before EMV transactions, back when transactions consisted of a single, quick swipe. Now, cardholders must ‘dip’ their EMV-embedded cards and wait for approval, increasing the transaction time. The process of a mobile payment is typically quicker and easier, which means shorter checkout lines, happier consumers, and fewer cards left at the checkout counter.
Objection #3: Mobile payments are not secure.
Rebuttal: Quite the contrary. NFC technologies like Apple Pay offer security elements that make the transactions more secure than physical cards. These elements include tokenization, biometrics (think thumb print authentication), and secure element chips within the device.
Continual education for merchants, and in turn customers, will help advance the adoption of NFC. With the rise of EMV "dipping", merchants who want to make checkout as easy as possible for consumers will likely gravitate towards the convenience and simplicity of contactless payments, like NFC.