US businesses and financial institutions have been transitioning to EMV, a changeover that can be overwhelming for small businesses processing fewer transactions. EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) chip cards use embedded computer chip technology to authenticate transactions, making it more difficult to create fraudulent transactions. If you haven’t upgraded your POS hardware to be EMV compliant yet, here are five reasons not to put it off any longer.
1. EMV is the New Gold Standard
As modern business (and the fraudsters who try to hack it) evolves, so must payment methods adapt to keep pace. New payment methods like EMV make transactions easier and safer for customers, which in turn, makes them more inclined to keep doing business with you. To quote Bob Dylan, “Times, they are a-changing,” and to keep up with the competition, you must change with them. EMV is today’s gold standard for safe, secure payment. Businesses that fail to adapt to the new standard look outmoded, which puts those businesses at risk for falling behind.
2. Better Fraud Protection and Fewer Chargebacks
By upgrading to EMV-compliant hardware, small businesses take a proactive approach to data breaches, chargebacks, and lost time and money spent fighting fines and fees. In fact, the most recent figures from Visa indicate a 76% decrease in credit card fraud with businesses who are EMV compliant! EMV cards are more secure because it’s harder to clone account numbers and security codes from chips. The embedded microchip creates a unique code for every transaction that can only be used once. Merchants without EMV compliant hardware are held responsible for fraud and lost or stolen transactions. In short, not having EMV compliant processing hardware increases your vulnerability to chargebacks. Prior to the liability shift, credit card issuers like Mastercard or Visa rarely submitted chargebacks, as the liability for fraud fell on the issuing institution. Since transitioning to EMV, more small business merchants are penalized for fraudulent activity via chargebacks for not having EMV hardware.
3. Build Customer Trust
Modern shoppers are worried about identity theft and credit card fraud. Because customers want to protect their sensitive financial information, they understand that EMV chip card readers are there to safeguard that data. Customers trust you to protect their data, so EMV compliance is one of the easiest ways to gain trust and credibility in their eyes. No matter how much clients love your business, the services you provide and the products you sell, they love their financial peace of mind more. The longer a small business puts off transitioning to EMV terminals, the more faith they lose with customers. By getting an EMV chip card reader, you tell customers you take their safety seriously, and you keep up with the competition.
4. A Seamless Checkout Experience
These days, more customers already know how to process their EMV chip cards with a “dip” instead of a swipe. That means there isn’t as much checkout friction as there was at the start of the transition over to EMV transactions. In fact, making a customer swipe a card that they’d been ready to dip can be more frustrating at checkout! Older credit card hardware is outdated and can run even slower than the few seconds it takes to process an EMV dip. Upgrading to the most current hardware means customers know what to expect at checkout, and transactions process quicker.
5. Get a Free EMV Chip Card Reader with a New VMS Account
Vagaro’s Merchant Service (VMS) is fully integrated with our scheduling software, giving you all the perks of an all-in-one software suite. With your new VMS account, you’ll automatically be upgraded to the most current POS hardware with a free EMV chip card reader. This provides full access to a range of capabilities designed with your industry in mind, from in-house POS processing to online payments for bookings, products, and deposits. Vagaro’s “One Dip Split” capability allows you to split payment between the business and different service providers with just one EMV dip or swipe
EMV, easy as 1-2-3!