Recent data breaches as well as increased credit card fraud have shaken consumer confidence in payment security. As U.S. credit card issuers and merchants adopt new EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) chip-card technology to address certain types of fraud, some consumers are already looking ahead.
Frustrated by the adoption of chip-and-signature cards over the more secure chip-and-PIN cards in the U.S., many consumers are considering a move to mobile wallet and payment services instead.
To help financial institutions better understand consumers’ input about the EMV technology conversion and how they’re reacting, Cision aggregated thousands of English-language social media posts from key forums, blogs and social networks between November 2014 and May 2015 and put the results and insights into the white paper EMV Implementation: Is It Impacting Your Brand Reputation?
As we combed through the data, several key categories emerged:
- Roll-out and use of EMV/chip card technology
- Continued fraud concerns
- Interest in mobile payment technology
In particular, alternate payment technology, especially mobile wallets, is widely seen as a potentially better option by many consumers. This insight is important for card issuers rolling out chip cards to note.
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Here are three mobile-specific takeaways to consider:
1. Availability of Mobile Wallet Technologies
Consumers see mobile wallet as an exciting next-generation payment option. The technology offers a chance to ditch their real wallet in favor of an electronic one.
Many countries are moving toward a Near Field Communication (NFC) payment structure, which would allow consumers to pay for goods by moving smartphones within a few inches of a payment device through mobile payment services such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet.
Consumers are hopeful the push for U.S. retailers to adopt EMV card technology will result in parallel support for NFC compatible terminals.
With the move to EMV cards, retail merchants around the country are replacing their readers. Though not every new reader will support NFC, increased availability is a good thing for interested consumers.
2. Increased Security
Consumers feel the U.S. adoption of chip-and-signature chip cards doesn’t go far enough toward reducing the impact of credit card fraud. Both Apple Pay and Google Wallet, among many others, require unlocking through a second factor of authentication (e.g. biometric or PIN).
The technology also allows consumers to completely bypass providing merchants their personal credit card information.
3. Ease of Use
As EMV rolls out, consumers are already discussing the inconvenience of chip-and-signature cards at the point of sale. The switch could result in slower transactions as consumers unfamiliar with the new technology struggle with a new payment process. And “dipping” chip cards can take noticeably longer for authorization, compared to traditional card swiping. Mobile transactions could speed up the check-out process.
To find out more about what Cision discovered in the Banking: EMV Chip Cards social media study, click here.
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Image: Vodafone Germany (Creative Commons)