Visa to reassure consumers with 'sensory branding' for payments
Visa is exploring using "sensory branding" to help signal completed and secure transactions. Seven in 10 people think the Visa logo shows that a website is secure and the company wants to expand this sense of security with a software development kit that can create animation, sound and haptic (vibration) clues, which it will make available on the Visa Developer Platform and through the Visa Ready programme. While the move may appear novel, some 81% of consumers polled by Visa said the features would make them view merchants more positively. Pilot programmes are being planned for next year.

In an ever-expanding universe of connected, payments-enabled devices, Visa is looking to reassure consumers (and promote itself) with a "sensory branding" programme that will use sound, animation and haptic cues to signify completed transactions.

With research showing that up to 71% of people think that the Visa logo signifies that a website is secure, the company is bidding to find new ways to evoke the same emotions in the digital and physical world.



To this end, the card scheme has developed short sound, animation and haptic (vibration) cues that it will make available as a software development kit on the Visa Developer Platform, and through the Visa Ready program, next year.





While the plans may seem gimmicky, 83% of people polled by Visa say that the sound or animation cues positively impacted their perception of the firm's brand, while 81% say the features would make them have a more positive view of merchants.



With this in mind, a national merchant and POS hardware vendors have agreed to pilot programmes for 2018.



Meanwhile, Visa is hoping to take advantage of haptic technology's ability to incite feelings of happiness and excitement with a global advertising campaign ahead of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.



Lynne Biggar, chief marketing and communications officer, Visa, says: "As payments become increasingly embedded in commerce, the notion of ‘Everywhere You Want To Be’ takes on even greater meaning for our brand. As new payment experiences continue to take shape in the world, this suite of sensory branding elements will give consumers the assurances we know they want every time they use Visa."