Using a mix of strategies can increase eBill adoption
Driving eBill adoption is a permanent fixture in most utilties’ annual strategies — and because of the significant gains in operational efficiencies and cost savings it offers, eBill remains an evergreen topic among members of the Billing & Payment Leadership Council.
Members of the council are deploying numerous strategies to drive growth of eBill adoption, with Chartwell research supporting that using several strategies in concert with one another can maximize returns.
Strategies used to maximize eBill adoption growth include:
- Auto-enrollment of customers in eBill trials
- Pop-up ads in online utility accounts
- Partnering with and donating to local charities
- Opt-out eBill enrollment during start-or-change-service transactions
*According to Chartwell research, 77% of consumers are either OK with or neutral toward auto-enrollment in eBill.
Utilities must clearly make the case for why going paperless is better for the customer than maintaining a paper bill. This is directly tied to how well the utility can improve the customer experience, which has become the driving factor in pushing paperless adoption among utilities in the last few years.
According to Fiserv, there are four key components of a successful digital bill program:
- Multi-channel bill delivery
- Easy adoption/enrollment design
- Effective conduct
- Marketing of adoption programs, and notifications and reminders
All components used in a utility’s strategy should aim for a
simpler, easier, overall better customer experience that can only effectively be delivered by the eBill.
