While consumer familiarity with EMV or chip cards has doubled over the last year, from 31 percent in 2014 to 62 percent in 2015 in a survey by Fiserv, almost one third don’t understand the benefits, which include added card-present security as well as wider acceptance internationally.

“EMV education for cardholders and financial institution staff is critical to the fight against card-present fraud,” said Jorge Diaz, president, Output Solutions, Fiserv. “Fiserv understands the complexities of the payments landscape and the implications of EMV. As a result, individual and industry expertise was pulled to develop specific and customizable education and marketing materials in advance of the October 1 liability shift.”

The EMV Education and Marketing Program from Fiserv includes, but is not limited to, an EMV Chip Card Deployment Guide, which provides financial institutions with a detailed overview of the EMV deployment process and presents options for delivering education to staff and cardholders; training decks for staff education; templates for letters and email campaigns to cardholders; and website content, including banner ads, FAQs and instructional videos. Optional services are available to customize, print and fulfill any materials in the program.

“People have been swiping their magnetic stripe cards for decades,” added Jamie Topolski, director, alternative payments, Fiserv and member of the EMV Migration Forum Steering Committee. “In order to prevent confusion, it’s crucial to explain to cardholders how their new EMV chip cards will work and to educate staff, so that they can answer questions.”