Biometric payment technology combines convenience with high-level security to create reliable and fast transactions. But what does it take to adopt biometric payments?
Key takeaways:
Biometric payments make use of a customer’s unique physical attributes to authenticate a transaction.
Touch ID on smartphones — using fingerprints to confirm digital wallet payments — is the most widely used form of biometric payment.
Other forms of biometric payments include palm vein scanning, facial mapping, iris scanning, and voice recognition.
Businesses looking to set up in-store biometric payment methods will need a biometric scanner to register, store, capture, and match customers’ biometric data.
What are biometric payments?
Biometric payments are transactions that use human physical attributes, such as fingerprint, palm, facial features, iris, and voice, to authenticate and confirm a customer’s intent to purchase. Like a person’s signature, these biometric characteristics are unique for each individual and are hard to replicate. This makes biometric payment one of the most secure contactless payment methods today.
Modern biometric payment began in the early 2000s when John Rogers founded the Pay By Touch service, which allows customers to pay by scanning their fingerprints. Apple followed soon after, launching Touch ID technology in 2013 as a key feature of the iPhone 5S. Today, fingerprint scanners are in almost every smartphone, tablet, and laptop, used to secure personal information and confirm mobile payments.
Who should use biometric payments?
Customers can set up fingerprint authentication on their smartphones and use it to authenticate their payments. So any ecommerce or brick-and-mortar store regardless of business type can accept biometric payments if it already supports digital wallet payments such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and the like.
A merchant-based biometric payment setup, such as those often used in government, private offices, and even schools, requires considerable hardware and software investment. In general, you should invest in a biometric scanner if your business:
- Serves customers in person: Customers will have to be physically present to register and scan their fingerprint or palm to confirm their payment. A great example would be retailers with self-service kiosks like grocery stores or fast food restaurants.
- Caters to a younger demographic: Younger costumes are more open to setting and signing up for new payment methods
- Enables better customer experience: Adding biometric payments to a POS system that’s already integrated with CRM and loyalty management systems can significantly boost customer experience, from the first purchase to repeat transactions.
- Offers subscriptions: Biometric registration integrated within the sign-up process gives customers an increased sense of security, which can build loyalty and attract new customers. Healthcare services are a good example.
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Source : https://www.techrepublic.com/article/what-are-biometric-payments/
