Contactless payment technologies allow for an easier and faster shipping experience for your customers. Not only does this improve customer experience in your spa or salon, but also reduces queuing, resulting in an increased customer footfall.
Contactless payment solutions may be operated seamlessly alongside the existing terminals in your spa. A considerable number of salon and spa owners who have adopted contactless payment options have reported a significant upturn in their businesses.
To gain from the many benefits the technology has to offer, you need to implement the right contactless payment solution and train your staff on the right procedures to follow. This guide will help you understand what contactless payment is, how it works and how you can accept contactless payments in your spa.
What is Contactless Technology?
According to POSQuote, This is a technology that allows the customers to pay for goods and services without having to insert the payment card or device into the terminal. With this technology, the payment device does not come into contact with the payment processing terminal.
The solution is primarily designed to allow for quick, and convenient payments within any business environment. If you accept contactless payments in your spa, you need to display the Contactless Symbol:
The contactless credit and debit cards, on the other hand, have a contactless trademark printed on the front and back of the card. This trademark is often referred to as the contactless indicator:
To start accepting contactless payments in your spa, you should get in touch with your preferred card processor—also referred to as the card acquirer.
Contactless Devices
Contactless devices are the cards or gadgets that may be used to make contactless payments Depending on the type of contactless devices you would like to accept in your spa, you will be advised on the right hardware to install.
However, most of the leading contactless-enabled terminals can accept payments from all contactless devices. Some of the common contactless devices in use today include:
- Pre-paid credit and debit cards
- Stickers
- Wearable gadgets, such as wristbands and watches
- Biometric fingerprint cards
- Mobile devices, including tablets and Smartphones
- Fitness trackers
- Key fobs
- Smart cards
How Does the Contactless Technology Work?
Regardless of the contactless device the customer decides to use, the process for processing contactless payments in a salon or spa is more or less the same. The various contactless devices—ranging from credit and debit cards to key fobs—feature an antenna.
To make a contactless payment, the customer is required to hold the contactless device close to the payment terminal (usually within 2-4 inches from the payment terminal). When held near the contactless payment terminal, the antenna transmits the relevant payment information.
The process is much like processing a normal credit card transaction, except that the customer will not be required to enter his/her PIN into the payment terminal. Once the issuing bank has approved the payment, the contactless transaction will be finalized. The terminal will then confirm that the transaction has been accepted—normally by beeping and displaying a green light indicator.
How Can You Accept Contactless Payments in Your Spa?
To minimize the risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus, you need to stay socially distant, wear masks, and minimize touchpoints. Contactless payment methods will come in handy, in this regard. Accepting contactless payments in your spa will also reduce queues, by facilitating safer, and faster checkouts.
So, what types of contactless payment methods can you accept in a salon or spa business?
Mobile Devices for Contactless Payments
Spa clients can see their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, to make contactless payments while checking out. In this regard, they need to use such mobile wallets as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay.
Such mobile wallets use the standard NFC protocol to facilitate secure contactless transactions. Mobile wallets are particularly beneficial while making large payments. Customers find it relatively easy to authorize payments larger than the contactless limit using mobile wallets.
Also referred to as proximity payments, mobile wallet contactless parents are initiated from a phone or tablet. Rather than requiring a PIN, the leading mobile phone contactless payment methods allow the customer to authorize transactions using their fingerprint or Face ID. To make contactless payments using a phone, the client needs to use either of these mobile wallets:
- Apple Cash and Apple Pay
These are some of the best in-store mobile wallet applications with almost all the contactless payment features you desire. To accept Apple Pay and Apple Cash contactless payments in your spa, you need to have a terminal or card reader that supports NFC signals.
If your terminal is set up to process Discover debit contactless payments, it should also be capable of processing Apple Pay and Apple Cash contactless transactions. You also need to ensure that the terminal is running software that supports these mobile wallets.
Both of these mobile wallets can only run on iOS devices, and the contactless transactions are charged at the standard credit card processing rates.
- Samsung Pay
The Samsung Pay mobile wallet application only runs on Samsung mobile devices. Samsung Pay uses a magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology that is exclusively used by Samsung. Unlike the Apple Pay and Apple Cash wallets, the MST technology on Samsung Pay allows the device to mimic a magnetic strip card swipe.
This being the case, Samsung Pay may be used to make contactless payments to payment terminals that do not support NFC signals. If you do not have an NFC reader in your business, you can still accept contactless payments from your customers using the Samsung Pay mobile wallet.
Currently, the provider does not charge any fees for processing contactless payments using the Samsung Pay wallet.
- Google Pay
The Google Pay wallet offers contactless payment features similar to those offered by the Apple Pay and Apple Cash wallets. The wallet may be used on Android as well as iOS mobile devices to make contactless payments.
Just as is the case with Apple Cash and Apple Pay wallets, you will need an NFC-enabled terminal or card reader to accept Google Pay payments in your spa. As of now, the provider does not charge any fees for processing Google Pay contactless payments.
- One-Touch by PayPal
PayPal is renowned globally for facilitating secure and swift online payments. As a matter of fact, it has more than 325 million active users across the world. The payment processor now offers a contactless checkout option—the One Touch mobile wallet.
The wallet may be used in almost any mobile device, including iOS, Windows, and Android devices. As a business owner, you may create a separate PayPal business account to accept PayPal contactless payments in your business.
Biometric Fingerprint Cards
With mobile wallets, customers can use facial biometrics or their fingerprints to authenticate transactions on their phones. While mobile wallets allow for easier, convenient, and secure contactless parents, most of them tend to have a transaction limit.
Your spa clients can overcome this limit by using biometric cards to make contactless payments in your business. With biometric cards, the customer can use his/her thumbprint to authenticate transactions. To accept biometric fingerprint card payments in your spa, you need to install a fingerprint sensor alongside the payment terminal.
This way, customers can use their thumbprints to authenticate transactions, whether the card is used to make contactless or contact payments. These cards are a preferred way of accepting contactless payments in spas. Biometric cards are very secure, as only the owner’s fingerprint can authorize payments.
Contactless-Enabled Credit and Debit Cards
Contactless payment terminals use either near-field technology (NFC) or radio frequency identification (RFID) to securely connect to a chip within the contactless device. To make a payment, a customer needs to hold the payment device close to the payment terminal and then authenticate the transaction using a unique, one-time token (security code).
Most of the debit and credit cards issued within the past five years feature RFID or NFC technology—normally in the form of a chip that is embedded within the card. Similarly, a good number of the leading payment processing terminals support NFC, RFID payment, or both.
To accept contactless card payments in your spa, you need to invest in the right payment terminal hardware that supports NFC, and RFID contactless technologies. Some of the contactless card payment technologies in use today include:
- Visa payWave
Visa payWave is a secure, and reliable contactless payment technology that is designed to read and receive credit card information. It allows your clients to make quick and secure contactless payments, as long as you are accepting Visa payWave card payments in your spa.
Cards that use this technology feature an integrated computer chip. It is this chip that sends the required payment information to a secure point of sale (POS) terminal. Payments made using the Visa payWave cards are just as secure as the ones made using conventional magnetic strip cards.
These cards also give the users improved control, which has been proven to reduce fraud risk considerably.
- MasterCard PayPass
This is a contactless payment technology that is currently being used in such credit cards as the MasterCard. To accept PayPass payments, you need to have the PayPass terminal installed in your spa. With the terminal installed, the customer only needs to tap and make a contactless payment.
With PayPass cards, all transactions have unique electronic encryption that is meant to curb the risk in the event of a theft, or when the card is lost. This measure has also been proven to protect customer data against hackers.
PayPass contactless cards also feature an automatic check that prevents payment duplication that may be triggered by accidental touch.
Final Verdict
Owing to their remarkable benefits, an increasing number of business owners and customers are shifting to contactless payments. To accept contactless credit and debit card payments in your spa, you need to have an NFC, or RFID-enabled card reader or terminal.
The leading NFC-enabled terminals cost anywhere between $300 and $500 each. Readers that connect to a tablet or Smartphone to accept contactless payments cost around $100. You can also accept contactless payments in your spa without an NFC-enabled terminal.
In this case, you can accept Samsung Pay contactless payments as they do not require an NFC-enabled reader. You may also process contactless transactions from person-to-person payment apps without a reader, as they do not require one.
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