How Contactless Payments Improve the Guest Experience and Your Bottom Line
Though many restaurant owners are hesitant to bring new technology into their restaurant, today’s world proves that contactless payments are necessary if you want to stay in business.
Fortunately, contactless payment options are not only good for business, they improve the guest experience, and your bottom line. In this article we discuss the many benefits of touchless technologies and why contactless payments are so important to the casual dining experience.
Customers Want Contactless Payment In Restaurants
Whether they like it or not, restaurant owners are rapidly switching to contactless payment options to help navigate the long road back to normal after COVID-19. Though it’s a smart innovation (and long overdue), the reality is that restaurants are simply responding to customer demand.
A recent survey by Mastercard reveals 51% of American consumers are using cash less often or not at all since the pandemic began, and nearly nine in ten (88%) Americans are now using various touch-free payment methods.
“What we’re really seeing during this crisis period is a consumer behavioral shift to leveraging contactless products.” Linda Kirkpatrick, president of U.S. issuers at Mastercard told CNBC in a recent interview.
“If you’re at a grocery store or a drug store where a consumer should avoid touching a terminal or coming into contact with the cashier, what contactless products really provide is an avenue to shop safely.”
Contactless Payments Give the Customer More Control
The increased adoption of contactless payments is due primarily to concerns over the cleanliness of signing at point of sale (POS) or paying with cash. Mastercard Contactless Consumer Polling found that “half (50%) of U.S. consumers worry about the cleanliness of signature touchpads and 72% of U.S. consumers prefer to skip signatures altogether.”
While contactless payment options are paramount to keeping staff and diners safe, they also eliminate the unwanted human interaction that now prevents customers from dining out. A recent survey of more than 500 diners from across the nation showed that 43% of diners now prefer to pay with credit card while 21% would prefer to order in advance and pay online.
Nearly 20% of diners said they would prefer to use a contactless payment app like Venmo, and 17% prefer to pay with a one-tap payment device like mobile pay. With the avid support of the consumer, it’s safe to say that restaurants should promote contactless payment methods for their guests.
Touchless Payments Allow Restaurants to Elevate the Guest Experience
We know now that contactless payment options are here to stay. Yet, many restaurant owners are concerned about how this new service model may impact the guest experience. The reality is contactless payments not only improve the guest experience, they increase your bottom line.
The beauty of the contactless payment platform is that it allows the customer to take full control of payment and removes that task from the server’s plate, which enables them to better focus on elevating the guest experience.
Contactless Payments Provide Restaurants With Valuable Insight
Arguably, one of the best features of a contactless payment platform is the treasure trove of valuable customer data it provides. Customers must sign up for your contactless payment platform in order to pay from your establishment, which means the restaurant will now have a record of that customer’s:
- Name
- Phone Number
- Birthday
- Historical Orders
- Favorite Drink
- Diet/Nutrition Preference
Armed with this insight, your servers can now suggest menu items based on what they know the customers really like and better customise the dining experience to each customer. Your marketing team can also utilize this data to engage with customers via email and social media, offer customer rewards, and send invites for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.
Save Time and Create Efficiencies with Contactless Payments
If you take anything away from this article, it should be that contactless payments elevate the guest experience by giving them more control over how they interact with staff, other customers and their environment. It’s this extra control that makes customers more likely to patronize one establishment over another.
This fact is best exemplified by a study conducted by Rakuten Ready, in which 80% of respondents said they had avoided patronizing restaurants due to Coronavirus food safety concerns.
“Consumers are quite clear on how we [restaurant operators] can earn their business during these trying times,” said Cathy Song Novelli, vice president of marketing and communications at Rakuten Ready. “Brands need to lean more than ever on consistent emails and social posts letting customers know they are open and prioritizing everyone’s health, before anything else.”
Fortunately for restaurant operators, contactless payment platforms make all of this possible, and more. Contact ReSource Point of Sale to implement contactless payments today. From contactless mobile payments to contactlesspoint of sale technology, we have everything you need to provide a seamless, touch-free guest experience for your customers.
Would you like to know more about contactlesspoint of sale technology? Check out our article on The Best POS for Hospitality, featuring contactless restaurant technology for table service, quick service, and fast casual dining.
