Towards Perceived Security, Perceived Privacy, and the Universal Design of E-Payment Applications

TL;DR

This study explores user perceptions of security, privacy, and usability in e-payment apps through a prototype and pilot study, highlighting the importance of these factors and proposing universal design recommendations.

Contribution

The paper introduces a high-fidelity e-payment prototype and provides insights into user perceptions, emphasizing the need for universal design to enhance security, privacy, and usability.

Findings

Security and privacy are crucial for users.

Usability influences perceptions of security and privacy.

Universal design can improve user trust and experience.

Abstract

With the growth of digital monetary transactions and cashless payments, encouraged by the COVID-19 pandemic, use of e-payment applications is on the rise. It is thus imperative to understand and evaluate the current posture of e-payment applications from three major user-facing angles: security, privacy, and usability. To this, we created a high-fidelity prototype of an e-payment application that encompassed features that we wanted to test with users. We then conducted a pilot study where we recruited 12 participants who tested our prototype. We find that both security and privacy are important for users of e-payment applications. Additionally, some participants perceive the strength of security and privacy based on the usability of the application. We provide recommendations such as universal design of e-payment applications.