ACMA Research Shows Australians Would Use Mobile Phone Payment Methods
Research undertaken by ACMA has found that Australians would welcome using their mobile phones as payment methods but that current awareness of the possibility is low.
Qualitative research has found that while premium SMS is the most well established mobile payment method it is not widely seen as such. Instead it is seen as a way to purchase digital for example ringtones and mobile phone wallpapers as well as for voting on TV shows and for competition entry
Research respondents felt that “Tweenies” (those aged 8-14 years) were most likely to be targeted and to use premium SMS services. Many consider this age groups to be vulnerable to manipulation using mobile phones for payment methods as most do not have access and control over other traditional forms of payment such as credit cards.
There has been somewhat of a backlash against premium SMS recently. Tales of unexpectedly large bills racked up without the users full knowledge are scaring lots of consumers away from using premium SMS. USA based Telco Exetel has gone as far to protect it’s customers by blocking all premium SMS by default. Exetel claims this simple move has removed up to 90% of their billing disputes.
Looking at alternative payment methods the report has identified a number of new mobile payment technologies to be looked at including contactless or “wave and pay”, “person to person” transfers and payments that are linked to users’ to bank accounts.
Out of the offered options, survey respondents said they felt most comfortable with mobile payment systems provided by banking and finance institutions as the respondents believe that these organisations have better fraud protections in place. This is not surprising given the poor public image of most Australian telcos. Poor consumer practice fuelled by the poor consumer practices across the board have seen consumer complaints continue their steep rise.
Whilst consumers were generally happy about using different forms of mobile payment methods, they were more concerned about the risks of linking mobile payments to credit cards and/or bank accounts, preferring to use a “limited funds” model similar to the debit cards that recently rocketed in popularity.
When looking at potential users of mobile payments, the report found younger people (18-35) as well as empty nesters are most likely to warm to new mobile payments. Less “digitally literate” blue collar workers and respondents from regional areas were the most resistant to new payment methods.
You can read the full ACMA report here.
