These 5 Stats Will Push You to Go Contactless
Don't wait any longer to start offering contactless services to your customers. Check out these five stats to see why you should begin now.
Contactless—the buzzword of 2020—translates to: fast service, no waiting in line, no time spent in traffic driving to the store, and most importantly, safety for your customers and staff.
According to a recent GetApp survey of nearly 1,000 U.S. consumers, 65% of customers say that contactless services align with their current health and safety priorities. This means that contactless experiences are increasingly important for a positive customer experience (CX).
Our survey found that more than a third of customers (34%) are already saying that the availability of contactless services will be important even after the pandemic is over.
This means that the longer you avoid transforming your business to offer contactless services, the greater your risk of losing customers to competitors offering them what they want.
Take a look at these five compelling statistics from our survey about customers' contactless service preferences, paired with actionable insights to set you up for success in this changed business landscape.
(You can find more information about our survey methodology at the bottom of this page.)
1. 67% of customers say contactless home delivery is very important for a positive CX
Whether it’s delivering clothes, food, groceries, or other items, with contactless home delivery customer orders are prepared and delivered under strict safety guidelines. While filling orders, staff shouldn't touch the items with their bare hands, and when delivery is made the delivery person places the order down before stepping back a few feet to ensure mutual safety.
This means that home deliveries don’t just offer convenience to customers who don't have to leave their doorstep but also a dual benefit of addressing safety and sanitation concerns for all involved.
Offering contactless home delivery is one way to get brownie points from your customers. If you want to save on shipping and delivery costs, too, and capture another segment of your customer base, go one step further and add curbside pickup to your offerings.
Our research shows that 62% of customers also consider curbside pickup very important for a positive CX. It provides all the convenience of ordering online without having to wait in long queues, track delivery, or risk human contact by entering the store.
Wayfinding technology isn't new. Big retailers like Target, Walmart, and Home Depot are using it already to help customers find what they’re looking for within physical stores. Businesses can integrate their mobile apps with indoor navigation platforms such as Aisle411, Point Inside, and Sensewhere to offer the same.
This means that shoppers can find what they want without human assistance, decreasing the likelihood that they'll leave the store without making a purchase.
During business disruptions such as the 2020 pandemic, wayfinding technology can help you save money by reducing staffing needs and human contact all at once. This technology gives customers a self-service option, helping them successfully find what they need while still catering to their desire for a contactless shopping experience.
Our survey found that about one quarter of customers (24%) don’t like having to interact with customer reps, and would rather have a contactless experience even when visiting a physical business.
This means that investing in self-service options for your customers will improve CX. And happy customers are repeat purchasers, directly increasing customer retention and revenue.
3. 73% of customers say contactless payments are very important for a positive CX
Contactless payment technology employs radio-frequency identification (RFID), which causes physical objects in proximity to interact with one another. Think customers paying using their smartphone, smartwatch, and/or other wearables with a device "tap" or QR code scan via a sensor on a contactless reader at your payment terminal.
While these transactions are a fast, easy, and comfortable option for customers, even more importantly these days they make it easier for customers and employees to maintain physical distance from each other at your checkout terminals/POS.
These benefits have led to increased usage of contactless transactions during the pandemic, so much so that the global contactless payment market is expected to grow from $10.3 billion in 2020 to $18 billion by 2025.
In our survey, 43% of customers said they're even willing to pay $5-10 more for contactless services.
No matter what you sell or what industry your business is in, your customers want contactless, cashless transactions. If you're ready to pivot, look into popular payment methods. Our research shows that 69% of customers commonly use a credit card/debit card, 46% use a mobile wallet or digital wallet, followed by netbanking (35%) and in-app purchases on their mobile device (37%).
4. 45% of customers are very comfortable with telemedicine
Telemedicine allows patients to meet with doctors remotely and via HIPAA-compliant video conferencing tools. Patients can book appointments online and access healthcare from anywhere, saving time and decreasing exposure risks associated with sitting in a physical waiting room.
In our survey, 43% of respondents said that telemedicine is one of the most important contactless services for a positive experience.
The numbers make a clear case for investing in telemedicine if you work in the healthcare industry. The global telehealth market is forecasted to grow from $25.4 billion in 2020 to $55.6 billion by 2025.
That directly translates into a promising opportunity for healthcare providers to tap into new revenue streams and reach new patients/customers.
Take advantage of this opportunity by exploring GetApp's Telemedicine Category Leaders to find the right app for your practice to start offering improved remote healthcare offerings.
5. 63% of customers are very comfortable using eCommerce and food delivery apps
Customers love discounts and promotional offers. That’s a key reason why online ordering via mobile apps is consistently popular among consumers, in addition to the ease with which they can browse products, compare prices, and make mobile payments.
This year, the added benefit of a contactless experience from start to finish has only caused mobile app ordering to surge even higher. Mobile apps are expected to generate over $935 billion in revenue by 2023 (up from $365 billion in revenue in 2018).
If you haven't yet, start exploring investing in or developing a mobile app for your business. If you already offer a mobile app to your customers, add features to offer contactless deliveries and additional payment methods (such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, or payment via online bank accounts) to boost CX.
Make a plan to go contactless, then execute it
Whatever your industry, these statistics provide a solid case for your business to go contactless. It's clear that the future of CX is contactless, which means your business needs to create and execute a solid plan to make the change.
To help, here are a few best practices:
Upskill your staff: Your staff may or may not be trained to use the technology you need to pivot to contactless. Identify gaps in their skill sets and provide technical training to close them. Explore learning management tools to help you deliver this training and boost their skills.
Monitor your competitors: Stay informed about the contactless technology and strategies your competitors are using. You can do this by monitoring their backlinks and social mentions to see what customers are saying about your competitors.
Educate your customers: You need a communication and marketing strategy to inform customers about your contactless offerings. In our survey, 36% of the customers said that education about available contactless options improves their experience. Use contact methods such as social media and email blasts to spread the word.
Collect customer feedback: As with your other product and service offerings, once you start contactless services, check in with your customers to collect their feedback. This can help you keep a pulse on whether or not you're meeting customer needs while ensuring all transactions are safe and adhering to local guidelines. If you're not sure how to gather this feedback, check out these survey tools to get started.
Survey methodology
GetApp’s Contactless Customer Experience Survey was conducted in September 2020 among 968 adult consumers in the U.S to understand how customers perceive contactless services and how they have adapted to these services in the wake of COVID-19. To ensure participants fully understood the meaning and topic at hand, we defined the term "contactless" in the survey questionnaire.
Ankita Singh
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