Old Habits Die Hard: What’s Keeping Consumers Away From Biometric Payments?

Biometric payments are changing the way people pay, both in-store and online. This technology uses biological identifiers, such as a person's facial structure, voice, fingerprints or eyes, to verify their identity and initiate a payment. Because no two humans share the same features, biometric payments are remarkably secure.

Payments that use facial scans to identify consumers have already taken off in China and other East Asian countries. In the United States and Europe, payment providers are experimenting with voice recognition, iris scanning and fingerprinting to initiate payments. Amazon has even launched a technology that scans the veins in customers' palms to verify their identity before purchasing.

Surprisingly, although this method is often faster, safer and more convenient than traditional payments, consumers have been slow to adopt it. In our recent Innovation Pulse Report, we found that while 91% of consumers knew about biometrics, only 36% had used the technology to make a purchase.

With such widespread awareness, why aren't more consumers taking advantage of this solution?

One reason may be a lack of education. Among survey respondents, 46% said they learned about new payment technologies through their bank or financial institution. Another 38% learned about them from their credit or debit card issuer. Although most knew about biometric payments, many were concerned about the technology's security. Without the assurance of their payment providers, consumer adoption will remain low.

A lack of infrastructure is another driver of low adoption. For instance, most merchants don't have the equipment to accept biometric payments in person. Although more ecommerce sites accept biometric verification, few computers have facial or fingerprint scanners.

Without the choice of biometric payments, consumers must rely on outdated verification tools. Unfortunately, passwords and written signatures open the door to identity theft and fraud.

To learn more about biometric payment technology and its advantages over traditional payment structures, take a look at this article by Biometric Update: https://bit.ly/3JDzHgo

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