Creating delightful customer payment experiences

By Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – 

Recent Chartwell publications can help your utility improve customer payment experiences.  

Chartwell’s latest infographic, Customer Payment Preferences, outlines consumers’ current use of payment and their interest in emerging methods such as credit cards, PayPal and mobile wallet options as illuminated in the 2020 Residential Consumer Survey.  

According to the survey, almost two out of three consumers use direct bank draft, eCheck or autopay to pay their power bill. However, there is also strong interest in using credit cards if this service was offered without a fee.  

Chartwell analyzed the impact of consumers’ payment choice on their overall satisfaction with their power company. Consumers that pay via direct bank draft, eCheck or autopay are the most satisfied. In fact, consumers who used these methods gave their utility a 4% higher satisfaction score and a 22% higher score for ease of doing business than average. 

However, consumers that use mainstays like credit card and cash are less likely to think their utility is easy to do business with than average. Chartwell’s report, Strengthening customer loyalty in the digital age, outlines these findings and how utilities are reversing this trend by improving their payment processes. Another recent report, Utilities continue to find success in eliminating or reducing credit card fees, goes into more depth on Chartwell research and best practices surrounding credit card fees to create more satisfying experiences.  

Check out Chartwell’s latest utility payment research today by visiting the Insights Center and reading the latest payment reportsbenchmarks and infographic.