Despite advertisements by the major credit card companies on the advantages of contactless payments and more roll-outs on the horizon, customers still don't know that much about the speedier transaction mechanism which could hinder usage and adoption, according to a new study.

BOSTON, MA--Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks company, surveyed 225 global companies in October 2007 and found that lack of customer awareness is the top challenge impeding the usage and adoption of contactless payment systems.

According to Aberdeen's research, 63% of Best-in-Class companies that have already adopted contactless payments at retail locations are responding to the challenge of customer awareness by defining a set of return-on-investment (ROI) objectives and goals surrounding contactless implementation.

Aberdeen's research shows that forty-one percent (41%) of the Best-in-Class companies have implemented a contactless solution, and 41% are considering implementation. Of the Best-in-Class that have contactless technology, 91% have improved their total number of transactions, and 100% have 80% or more of their customers extremely satisfied.

When compared with all others, Best-in-Class are over twice as likely to have a cross-functional team in place for store-level execution, and are nearly four times as likely to gather and store contactless data in a centralized database for analysis. Despite the cohesive preparation of the Best-in-Class, the key performance indicators used to measure contactless solutions and where the return-on-investment (ROI) is expected differ between the Best-in-Class, Industry Average, and Laggard segments.

"Our research indicates that retailers are not consistent in their perspective of contactless technology, which threatens the ability of this technology to reach critical mass and enable users to drive further ROI," said Sahir Anand, Retail Analyst, Aberdeen. "In order to derive ROI from an implemented contactless solution, companies need to create strategic in-store and data analysis goals for implementation, improve customer awareness, and drive higher circulation of contactless form factors," says Anand.

In order for contactless payment technology to reach critical mass and drive further customer and organizational improvements, companies need to focus on contactless payment process management strategy, both internally and externally, or their contactless returns will never be maximized.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Discover Network-A Business Unit of Discover Financial Services, Dove Consulting, a Subsidiary of Hitachi Consulting, Mastercard International, ViVOtech, and VeriFone. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit its web site.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to www.harte-hanks.com.