Cut out card readers: How Tap to Pay helps boost merchant retention

For independent software vendors (ISVs), merchant retention is often a core business objective—as such, building long-term merchant relationships is crucial to sustainable growth. To achieve and maintain high retention, overall merchant satisfaction is the name of the game. For ISVs, this translates to a myriad of areas, including software functionality, quality of customer support, ease of daily operations, and more specifically, seamless payment acceptance.

Friction or inefficiency in payments can have a large impact on merchant satisfaction, especially for field-based or mobile merchants. One potential contributor to this friction is reliance on external hardware, something commonly seen in more traditional mobile payment solutions. This reliance on a secondary, physical tool can create operational challenges with device management, connectivity and maintenance.

But without external payment hardware, what solution is there for merchants on the go? Thanks to near-field communication technology, seamless payment acceptance is virtually a tap away. Easy to implement and secure to use, Tap to Pay enables merchants to seamlessly accept payments from their personal device, helping reduce hardware-related payment frictions and improve overall customer experience. 

Here are a few ways Tap to Pay helps make life easier for merchants while driving value for ISVs:

1. Simplifies hardware management 

For merchants on the go, external payment readers can be a hassle. They have to keep track of their devices, make sure the device stays charged and troubleshoot any issues that may come up. And anyone who has ever had to pair a Bluetooth-enabled device is likely familiar with potential frustration that can arise during that process. As a result, these hardware-related problems may leave a negative imprint on an otherwise positive customer experience.

On the other hand, Tap to Pay helps remove these issues. Merchants get to use their existing device (i.e., their iPhone), eliminating the need for separate payment hardware. Integrating this feature through an authorized Payment Service Provider's (PSP) SDK means merchants face fewer technical difficulties than they would with external hardware, helping to directly reduce the support burden for ISVs and simplify the merchant's daily workflow. 

2. Accelerates setup and transactions

Tap to Pay also helps speed operations, including setup and transactions. Merchants can start accepting secure contactless payments faster because they don't need to wait for hardware shipping and setup. Plus, the transaction itself is usually quicker than manual entry or older methods, as it only requires a simple tap of a card or phone to the merchant's smart device. Merchants find great value in this efficiency as it helps them serve customers quickly. And it doesn’t hurt that these benefits help improve the merchant’s view of the ISV’s software.

3. Enhances the merchant payment experience 

A smooth payment experience is important: to this end, Tap to Pay offers a simple, modern way to pay that many consumers recognize. Digital wallets and chip-enabled credit cards have become more commonplace, with a reported 73 percent of millennials and 66 percent of Gen Z consistently utilizing contactless payment methods.

For ISVs, providing this easy-to-use technology improves their platform and market image. Since payment acceptance is a critical function for any merchant, the ease of use and reliability of Tap to Pay integration directly impacts merchant satisfaction with their software provider.

Making daily payment operations simpler is a no-brainer for ISVs wanting to improve merchant retention. Tap to Pay helps achieve this goal by removing common hardware problems, speeding up payments and offering a modern user experience. By addressing these operational issues, software providers are better equipped to increase merchant satisfaction and loyalty, strengthening customer relationships and the ISV's position in the ever-evolving payments market.