Making mobile payments is easy nowadays. You can leave your card or cash in your pocket and use your phone to pay for everyday things such as your groceries or a movie ticket. But telecom providers, utilities and insurance companies do not need ‘group expense settling’ or ‘pay on the go’. They just want their customers to pay on time.
It’s mostly choosing between snail mail, a self-service online portal or an aggregator, often a bank, neither of which are customer-friendly. People hardly watch their snail mail and an online portal means fetching the bill yourself after having to go through a dreadful registration process. Yet there is another set of user id and password to remember. Who wants that? Often enough, the mobile user experience of websites is still terrible. Our advice to billers is to serve a larger menu and provide choice in presentment and payment.’
From now on paying bills is quick and easy
AcceptEmail is a bill on your phone, tablet or PC via email, social or text message. There is no more the need to copy details or pull out a checkbook. Just click on the banner and you can pay using your preferred payment method. You can always see precisely what you’re paying for and to whom. Once you have paid, the payment status in the email changes from blue to green. Besides the fact that it is customer friendly, there are many more advantages for billers. Every payment made with AcceptEmail matches up perfectly to the billing administration.
And people pay up to 50% faster than paper bills or via a web portal. That means less reminders, less costs for dunning and more working capital. The biller can track the payment status in real time knowing exactly which bills are paid for and which not. With this instant insight he can take quick and appropriate action. Companies can save up to 70% on cost for billing and dunning. So why would you do it any other way?’
Consumer-centric
By taking away all known hurdles like registering, logging, bill data retyping, archiving, payment status delaying and lacking of proof of payment, you can simplify bill payments for your customers. With AcceptEmail you can incentivise your customers to pay quicker while delivering a great user experience. We all lose bills, but we never forget where to find our email. Using AcceptEmail means you can pay your bills straight from your inbox, on any device. Pay them, file them, forward them; it’s as easy as an email and very customer centric.’
Different demands
Companies which want to modernise their billing processes should not only focus on the Millennials, but also on Generation X and the Traditionalists. Each customer group has different needs. Take the Traditionalists (65+) who attach more value to privacy, security and reliability. On the other hand, Generation X (40+) just want to save time, so they can spend more quality time with the children. Finally, Millennials mainly want everything in real time, quick and personal. ‘This is the lesson we have learned in the past nine years, since our company`s foundation: every target group has its own needs, behaviours and demands. Make sure you know your customers and anticipate their needs rather than forcing them to make the switch to digital. So, find out the X factor of all your target customer groups and discover what inspires them. Let’s be honest, paying your bills can often be a chore, so make it as easy and customer-centric as it can be.’
About Peter Kwakernaak
Peter Kwakernaak has been CEO of AcceptEmail since 2008, a company providing SaaS-based electronic bill presentments and payment services via email, mobile, online and text for corporates in business to consumer and business to small business. Previously, Peter was CCO at NetEconomy.
About AcceptEmail
AcceptEmail simplifies and disrupts bill payments. It is the easiest way to receive and pay household bills by mobile, tablet or PC via email or text. Pay directly from your inbox using online payment methods with no manual data entry, registration or log-in.
This article is part of the exclusive Ecommerce Payment Methods Report 2016, an educational overview of the global payments industry. For more insights into the latest trends in ecommerce and e payment methods developments please download a free copy here.
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