CHALLENGE
Visa USA recently launched a new card feature utilizing a special technology
called Contactless. Contactless payments permit cardholders to simply wave the
card in front of the POS card reader allowing the transmission of secure payment
data from the card to the reader. While it requires new cards for users and new
equipment for merchants, using Contactless cards makes transactions faster and
more convenient for both. This is especially important in difficult to swipe
places such as drive-thru restaurants and movie theatres. Typically
transactions below $25.00 don’t require a signature, greatly enhancing the speed
and convenience of Contactless.
“Visa greatly values Contactless technology as it is ‘future-proofing’ the
payment environment,” said Des Docherty, VP, Emerging Products, Visa USA. “It
was essential to test and perfect Contactless by gauging the customers’ and
merchants’ experiences and the technology’s effectiveness in the marketplace,”
he added.
Visa USA needed hundreds of eyes and ears on the street in key markets – not
only to monitor if the cards were operating in the expected manner, but also to
ensure the proper and timely installation of equipment at merchant locations,
staff training levels, appropriate signage support, and more. It needed to
tailor an audit for a feature new to both merchants and customers, and make the
process adaptable so it could identify and work through issues and roadblocks
along the way.
SOLUTION
After meeting with numerous research firms, Visa USA
chose Insula Research, based on its flexibility and expertise in multi-market,
multi-tiered audits for the QSR industry. Together they defined all the key
issues that needed to be checked and reported on. They then created a
standardized questionnaire with specific insights that would evolve into a
“reportcard” for use in gauging each merchant’s success in implementing and
operating the Contactless technology.
A
diverse array of merchants, including Arby’s®, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, CVS, Regal
Cinema and many others, embraced the idea of an independent company validating
their Contactless environment, many of which utilized Insula’s auditors as a
front-line extension of existing Store Operations support to highlight and
correct issues.
The questionnaire accompanied the auditors as they conducted visits to more than
30,000 locations where Contactless is implemented. At the conclusion of each
audit, results were keyed into an Audit database. The detailed results and
management reports were then shared and utilized at multiple levels. With the
merchant to show how they were performing; with the card issuers to illustrate
challenges their cardholders may face and to aid in tailoring their card-drops
to meet customer demand; and with Visa USA to help improve the Contactless
feature.
Insula Research also created a complete database of locations and “live” dates
on behalf of Visa USA. Then the audit questionnaire and merchant location
database were linked so they could both aggregate and dissect information by
merchant, location, types of terminals and more. The merchant location database
is continually used by Visa and its membership to help cardholders identify
places they can use a Contactless card.
RESULTS
Visa USA was able to
determine key challenges and opportunities with which it helped merchants and
card issuers alike solve problems to better implement the new technology, saving
all constituents time and money. With Insula’s help, Visa USA was able to
provide feedback to merchants as detailed as noting a certain terminal in a
specific location that was in need of service, or as broad and far-reaching as
identifying additional training needs for staff merchant-wide.
“Insula’s audit and reporting has proven
incredibly valuable to Arby’s,” said Gavin Waugh, Senior Director of Treasury,
Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc. In 2006, Arby’s implemented Contactless in its
1,000 company-owned restaurants in the United States.
"Our high level partnership
with Visa USA and Insula helped us to ensure a smooth implementation of
Contactless,” according to Waugh.
