Payment System Design: Increasing Accessibility in Payments
How Merchants Can Increase Accessibility in Payments
Modern technology connects us all—to people, information, goods, and services. However, not all digital experiences are accessible to everyone. Some may not be designed to meet the needs of people with hearing, visual, or physical impairments, or people of diverse ages, native languages, and cognitive abilities.
While mandates like the European Accessibility Act and India’s Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act can serve as legal motivations for merchants to prioritize accessibility in payments, there is also a business motivation. With an estimated 1.3 billion people experiencing disability,1 accessible shopping and payment experiences present an opportunity for merchants to reach a wider audience through digital commerce.
It's clear that businesses would be wise to design and implement accessible digital experiences that all people can navigate with ease. Here are some of the ways merchants can make their payments systems more accessible and inclusive.
Start with a customer-centric approach
Individual needs and challenges vary greatly from person to person, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to accessibility. Therefore, it is crucial that all players, from Fintech companies to merchants, prioritize a customer-centric approach when developing and designing accessible payment systems.
Putting engineers, developers, designers, and writers directly in the shoes of users with varied abilities can help them consider accessibility from the very beginning of product development. To do this, some payments companies leverage “empathy labs,” where training sessions demonstrate how different customers interact with a product. For example, arthritis simulation gloves and vision impairment glasses help employees experience the challenges faced by users with these conditions—inspiring ideas for more accessible solutions.
On a smaller scale, however, merchants of any size can provide disability training through webinars, interactive exercises, and guest lectures. Through education and resources, merchants can better understand how customers with a variety of abilities may interact with their payments system.
Make online payments accessible
When developing or choosing an online payment system, it's essential to adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines ensure that all elements of the payment system can be accessed with a keyboard and have meaningful labels, names, and roles, which makes the system usable for individuals who rely on screen readers and other assistive technologies.2
To make a website even more inclusive, there are additional features that can be incorporated. For example, high contrast between text and background ensures users with visual impairment can read everything with ease.
Other features to consider include text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and gesture recognition technologies. These tools provide multiple ways for customers to interact with the payment platform, ensuring a more inclusive experience for all.
Embrace mobile wallets and contactless cards
Among payment innovations, mobile wallets have proven to be a gamechanger for people with disabilities. Before mobile wallets became widely used and accepted, many people faced significant challenges when using traditional card payment methods.
For example, people with a variety of disabilities may find it difficult to enter PIN numbers to complete transactions. This may result in customers sharing their PIN with someone else when a touchscreen chip and swipe device is not available, which can pose a security risk. Mobile wallets address this issue by using a unique encrypted account number stored within the device, eliminating the need for a PIN number.
Additionally, the ability to simply tap a phone on the terminal, rather than swiping a card, makes the payment process physically easier and more accessible for people with cramping or tremors, which can be caused by a wide range of conditions including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and cerebral palsy. For people with these and other disabilities, mobile wallets offer both additional security and ease of use.
Merchants hoping to offer more accessible payment options would do well to consider Tap on Mobile, which makes it possible to accept payments from mobile wallets or contactless cards directly from their NFC-enabled device with no additional costly hardware required. When offering Tap on Mobile, merchants can also enable mobile device accessibly features—including vibrations and voice over—which can help provide customers with more control and autonomy during a transaction.
Offer alternatives and enhancements to QR codes
Quick Response (QR) codes are widely used in the digital landscape, so it’s essential to make them more accessible. First, using large QR codes with high contrast colors can make it easier for people to spot them. It’s also crucial to ensure that the experiences QR codes drive to are themselves accessible.
Because QR codes require precise alignment with a digital camera, scanning them can be difficult for people with partial or complete vision loss and people with tremors or limited hand mobility. Luckily, there are alternatives and enhancements to QR codes that merchants can use to enhance accessibility. These include a variety of options that can meet the needs of people with different disabilities and levels of digital fluency, such as:
- Braille and tactile signage placed next to QR codes to assist people with visual impairments in locating and understanding the information.
- Near field communication (NFC) tags that provide a seamless experience allowing people to access information or services by simply tapping their device on the tag.
- Shortened URLs placed next to QR codes to help people who cannot scan the codes access the same information.
- Voice-activated assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa that enable people to open QR codes using voice commands.
The accessible future starts now
Ensuring accessibility in the design of payments systems can help merchants reach a broader customer base, positioning them for growth with tools that can connect to more people in more places across the globe. People with significant disabilities make up an estimated 15% to 20% of the global population,1 making them a sizable portion of any business’s consumer base. By prioritizing accessibility, merchants can offer a more inclusive experience with the potential to increase loyalty among current consumers and attract a significant number of new consumers as well. Ultimately, accessibility is good for people and good for business.
- World Health Organization. Disability [Fact sheet]. Accessed 15 July, 2024 from www.who.int
- Web Accessibility Initiative. (2024, March 7). WCAG 2 Overview. Accessed 26 June, 2024 from www.w3.org
The information provided herein is sponsored by Discover® Global Network. It is intended for informational purposes, and is not intended as a substitute for professional advice.