Written by Posted under: Banking, Credit Cards, Financial Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Telecommunications and Broadband, and Utilities
This is the second in a series of three posts examining the results unveiled in recently released studies on electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP).
To recap a bit from my first post of this three-part series, adoption of electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) has been slower than projected but is steadily making gains. According to Info Trends’ December 2010 study, “The Future of EBPP in North America,” by 2014 the percentage of consumers who only receive bills and statements electronically is expected to increase to 22 percent of total bills and statements – a 100% increase.
That’s good news for mailers, whose main priority for the next 12 to 24 months is cost reduction. And even though InfoTrends reports that 43 percent of mailers plan to implement electronic document delivery to achieve their cost-reduction goals, one of the biggest barriers faced by mailers is this: Most consumers still prefer printed mail.
Mailers Must Address Consumer Concerns
In addition to focusing on EBPP for cost savings, says InfoTrends, mailers’ priorities include improving efficiency of consumer communications, and expanding presentment and payment offers to the mobile channel. This includes alerts via text message to mobile web pages and downloadable applications and remote-location transaction processing. Mailers recognize that a multi-channel approach provides a superior consumer experience that also increases comfort with electronic communications.
Still, consumers cite reluctance about EBPP usage. Consumers responded that their biggest issues with “turning off” paper bills were archiving/backup, security, and the provider not making it easy enough. From the mailers’ perspective the biggest barriers to consumer adoption include:
- Consumers’ resistance to change;
- Security concerns; and
- Lack of access to technology.
Unless mailers address the consumers’ core concerns (i.e., provide a reminder, offer a physical back up, and make it easy to use), EBPP usage rates will continue to grow slowly. Consumer opinions are crucial for mailers to evaluate and understand when determining methods to increase EBPP adoption. Emerging technologies, such as Digital Postal MailSM address consumer concerns by replicating printed bills and statements, archiving copies in a secure environment, and providing ease of access and use.
Strategies to Increase Electronic Adoption
The InfoTrends study found that the most effective strategies noted by mailers were marketing the convenience, a one-time incentive, and ongoing incentives. This is supported by the report’s findings that while 41 percent of consumers who do not currently access bills and statement electronically have no plans to do so, another 30 percent could be moved to action if they were offered an ongoing discount.
Any strategies to increase adoption rates need to address the diversity of the mailers’ consumer base, and mailers should focus their efforts on those consumers who can be swayed toward EBPP. At the same time, mailers need to acknowledge that other consumers may not be ready to make that transition.
Mailers should forge ahead, leveraging transaction documents as touchpoints that provide “significant opportunity for value-added messaging.” InfoTrends reports that more than half of their consumer respondents paid attention to advertisements on paper bills and statements at least sometimes – and 61 percent paid attention to informational and educational messaging. This certainly includes messaging to grow your electronic adoption.
EBPP – a Growing Opportunity for Mailers
Adoption rates of EBPP will surely increase over the coming years, and mailers play a significant role in the speed at which that adoption will occur. Today’s EBPP market represents a growing opportunity, and InfoTrends offers the following recommendations for mailers to take advantage of this pivotal point in time:
- Focus on the consumer experience: Maintain a superior consumer experience while driving EBPP initiatives. Don’t reduce costs at the expense of satisfaction.
- Employ a targeted marketing strategy: Don’t miss the mark with blanket marketing. Deploy multiple strategies and messages that target consumer age, geography, and comfort with technology.
- Leverage the consumer touchpoint: As mentioned above, bills and statements represent an ongoing point of contact between a mailer and consumer. Today’s technology enables creation and management of targeted marketing campaigns that can be implemented across delivery channels.
- Establish an integrated view of the consumer: Tie together the “opt out” phase for all lines of business to accelerate print suppression rates.
- Consider outsourcing: The presentment and payment processes are becoming more complex, and mailers should review internal expenses for comparison with the cost of and benefits provided by a qualified provider. Mailers should look for an end-to-end, scalable solution that can grow with them, and a provider that focuses on both emerging channels and traditional presentment and payment methods.
What electronic adoption strategies have worked for you? Please share your successful EBPP strategies below.
Next post: Predictions for EBPP, including one study that calls 2016 the “tipping point” year for eBill usage.