5 common misconceptions about mobile payments

The mobile payment market has experienced an impressive growth in the last few years. According to Statista, mobile payments drove a revenue of $780 billion in 2017, a number that is estimated to surpass $1 trillion by 2019. With strong drivers of mobile consumer spending such as richer digital content and overall technology adoption, it is no surprise that people find it convenient to shop online using their phone.

However, despite the increasing popularity of mobile payments, there are still a lot of myths regarding their convenience that slow overall adoption. It is time that we bust them!

5 misconceptions about mobile payments

1. It is not safe to make purchases with your phone

Expectations: A lot of people question the security of mobile payments because they believe that too much personal information is revealed as opposed to cash transactions. On top of that, occasional panic around security breaches doesn't help.

Reality: However, technology advancements such as tokenization, encryption, 3-D Secure and other protection methods are extremely efficient at preventing cyber attack risk. Additionally, the PCI-DSS compliance standard, a set of strict security regulations created by the biggest card companies to protect cardholder data, is obligatory for companies that process online and mobile payments. By using the services of m-commerce companies that are PCI-DSS compliant, you can be sure that your personal information is safe and sound.

Bonus fact: According to MasterCard, cash is actually less secure than digital payments, because if it's stolen, anyone can use your money without having to provide any source of authentication.

2. Mobile apps are complicated to implement and use

Expectations: Many companies are afraid to implement digital wallets within their range of payment alternatives for customers because they find them too complicated. In fact, many believe that offering mobile payments requires a complex setup and constant maintenance by their IT department.

Reality: Unless you want to develop it yourself, which is not a common case, implementing a digital wallet within your e-commerce system requires nothing more than an easy API integration. A lot of mobile payment solutions on the market are intuitive and user-friendly, making them really easy and fast to set up and maintain by merchants. And if you are a customer, you will really just need to download the merchant´s app or wallet, and start shopping!

3. Mobile payments will not raise my sales that much

Expectations: If you are not familiar with the strong adoption of mobile payments and the benefits that come with their implementation, it is easy to believe that they will not affect your sales positively. Some companies do not see a business opportunity in m-commerce, because they are too focused on holding tight to their physical or digital store.

Reality: Enabling mobile payments will open you a whole new target of potential clients who find it time-saving and convenient to purchase via their smartphone. In fact, mobile payments accounted for $1.4 billion in revenue on Black Friday and $2 billion on Cyber Monday last year only in the USA, marking an incredible adoption by various generations.

Bonus fact: According to eMarketer, users spend 4 hours and 5 minutes per day on their smartphones. With 4.77 billion mobile phone users worldwide, it is a huge opportunity that should not be missed!

4. Mobile wallets and apps are only useful for making purchases

Expectations: Many companies believe that implementing a mobile wallet is not worth the hassle as it only enables purchases for users. On another hand, users might not be convinced on the utility of downloading the merchant´s app because it will only take up space and not provide additional value rather than making payments.

Reality: Actually, mobile wallets provide benefits both for companies that implement them, and their users. On one hand, companies benefit from:

• Raising brand awareness because some mobile solution providers allow personalization of the wallet with the corporative logo and colors;

• Increasing of conversion rates due to the convenience and time-saving alternative provided to users;

• Decreasing of the rate of abandoned shopping carts;

• Easily implementation of loyalty programs;

• Analytics that help understand the behavior of the mobile user.

The benefits of mobile payments don't end here. Here's what users are getting, besides from the obvious alternative paying method:

• Linkage of different payment methods at one place;

• Rewards from loyalty programs;

• Convenience, efficiency, and time-saving;

• Payments history so they can go through all the payments they´ve made;

• A safe environment where their cardholder data is protected.

Of course, features can vary between different mobile solution providers, but these are the overall benefits that many mobile wallets will offer you.

5. Enabling mobile payments is expensive

Expectations: A common misconception regarding mobile solutions is that they are expensive. As with many innovative technological products and services, it is easy to believe that they will be costly because they are the latest innovation on the market.

Reality: Mobile payment solutions do not have to be expensive. In fact, there are companies that offer really competitive pricing in relation to the value they provide, resulting in a great return on investment.

The rapid growth of mobile payments provides an incredible value for both companies and customers that choose to adopt them. Now that we have cleared out the common misconceptions, it is time to take a step ahead and explore the endless opportunities of mobile business.