Even though 85% of the Americans between the ages 18-49 are smartphone owners per recent Pew Research Center survey, the K-12 school system has not embraced mobile payments as eagerly as the rest of the industries. There are plenty of myths surrounding the idea of mobile payments that have likely contributed to this slow adoption.
Now that the mobile payments market has grown from $16 billion in 2010 to $450 billion in 2015, it’s time to address these myths as we expect the number to surpass $1 trillion globally by 2019!
THE MYTHOLOGY OF SCHOOL MOBILE PAYMENTS
#1 Myth: The Fees are Too High!
FACT: The fees are significantly lower than the traditional wireless terminals, which can cost around $1,000 to rent. There are typically no setup or cancellation fees.
In many cases, mobile payments offer two options: pay-as-you-go or high volume. It’s up to you to choose either no monthly fees with low pay-as-you-go transaction rates or lower swipe or keyed rates for high volume sales.
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#2 Myth: I Don’t Need to Offer Credit Card or ACH Option- I Still Collect a Healthy Amount of Funds When Accepting Cash/Checks Only.
FACT: If you are not offering a credit card solution, you are missing out. The average frequency and ticket size of those paying with credit cards are often much larger than cash or checks.
Based on the case study of dozen schools that only accepted cash and checks in the past, after switching to SKOOKii’s platform, they say they collected even more money and drastically diminished the lost and uncollected funds by allowing parents the mobile payment option.
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#3 Myth: It Would Take Too Long to Get Paid
FACT: Most mobile payment applications transfer money to your account within a few business days.
Many school mobile payment users admit to spending less time collecting and chasing down payments. In fact, two-thirds of SKOOKii schools say they get paid faster by collecting via mobile payment app.
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#4 Myth: It’s Too Complicated to Setup
FACT: It only takes a few minutes to sign up and start collecting payments from parents or donors.
Credit card or ACH information can be saved to make paying with just a tap or parents can simply setup their recurring monthly auto-pay options.
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#5 Myth: Mobile Payments Aren’t Secure
FACT: Thankfully, mobile payments are much more secure than you might imagine. Tokenization takes your card number out of the equation.
Tokens for mobile payments are essentially placeholders for your card number, eliminating the need for merchants to store your card’s data. The reader registers your credit or debit card number and then substitutes random numbers for it, making it untraceable. And your card numbers changed with new token sets each and every time.
SKOOKii mobile payment service adheres to online banking industry protection standards, using an https connection over SSL (Secure Socket Layer) at 128-bit encryption.
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#6 Myth: It’s Not Worth It
FACT: According to a survey by Intuit, more than 75% of the customers say that they prefer mobile school payments over their previous methods. Within two weeks, more than 80% of the parents at schools that used SKOOKii’s solution moved to mobile app to make payments.
Millennial parents are ditching their wallets to pay with their smartphones and that’s the fact!