Educating Customers to Adopt an Online billing System

Whenever a merchant introduces a new online billing system, however basic it may be, it is extremely important to educate customers in how to use it. Failure to do this will mean slow take up or even refusal by many ever to use the system.  

 

In the initial stages a merchant should ideally start to educate customers about the new electronic payment channel they have to offer and its specific features and benefits (which help customers to feel more comfortable to try it out) in general terms. The best way to therefore inform customers of a change such as this is to use every available communication channel and to do so frequently. For example, it may be a good idea to think about using some or even all of the following possible channels:

•      Evolving several leaflet(s)/pamphlet(s)/brochure(s)/booklet(s) on what the new electronic payment channel is and how to use it

 

•      Writing a letter to all customers about the new channel and how it is best used

•      Sending one or a series of informational emails about the new service and its various features

•      Designing your on-hold messaging to include information on your new payment service

•      Putting special new payment channel/system FAQs on the main web site

•      Putting a small advert and even brief explanatory information on the physical bill that is sent out to all customers

•      Putting a Quick Response or QR code on all printed bills to allow customers to go straight to your new electronic presentment and payment channel (even from a mobile device).

Another important part of the ongoing education process is to ensure that internal support staff are well-briefed about the new online bill presentment and payment system and can help customers with their questions and early attempts to use the system. This is particularly important when customers raise billing queries or when they wish to make payments over the phone (and can be shown immediately what to do to make the same payment online each month quickly and easily, and even set it up as a recurrent payment if the individual wishes).

 

Customer education is often a forgotten part of introducing a new online billing system but with a little planning and effort it can make take-up considerably quicker and less painful for all concerned.

Taking the First Steps to Getting Customers to Use a New Online Billing Solution

Once a payment strategy has been developed by a merchant and the costs as a proportion of sales calculated carefully the move to a more electronic or digital system for presenting invoices and collecting payments can be planned and executed. 

But merely introducing a new web-based bill presentment and payment service (in any fashion) does not mean that customers will necessarily use it and we therefore need to plan to create reasonable levels of early adoption and conversion to the new online solution over time (so that it eventually becomes the dominant way to view and pay invoices and allow a merchant to realize the full benefits of this). In this booklet we will therefore describe some ways in which this can be done.

Initially Informing All Customers
Once an online billing and payment system is available, the very first step that a merchant needs to take is to inform the customer base that this new “channel” is available to use. Many merchants avoid doing this and expect their customers to almost “stumble across” the option or in some cases, inform customers only once at the outset and then fail to remind customers about the option again in any way. This may be fine for many of the “pioneers” and “early adopters” in the customer base but others will need greater “pushing” and more than one time, of course.

Segmenting the Customer Base

Although the same initial general message about the new online billing and payment system can be sent to all customers (and pretty much in the same language) some later messages may need to be tailored to particular parts of the customer base. For this reason, another important step in getting customers to use the new service at the earliest stages is to analyze and then segment customers so that specific messages to them may then be crafted.

This segmentation may occur in several ways but some examples are indicated in the table below with comments on what could then be crafted as a result, shown on the right hand side:

Segmentation	Specific communication messages
By age (if the data is available)	Although it is always something of a generalization, younger people are usually quicker to adopt internet technology and may like access to a billing and payment system via not only a computer but using tablets and mobile phones. And older customers may appreciate that a service support person will help them to walk through how to view their bill and make an online payment once, twice or even three times, if needed.
By the average length of time it takes the customer to pay	A customer who pays a bill quickly may be attracted to new system features such as bill scheduling or recurrent payment set up (set and forget). Alternatively, a customer who pays slowly or even late may appreciate that they can set up calendar alerts to make payments or even set up their own email alerts as wanted.
By the way they choose to pay their bill (by check, cash, credit card, debit card or ACH, if available)	Some customers like to pay by check, some by cash, some via ACH or direct deposit and some by card. Depending on the electronic solution, a merchant may be able to offer new payment methods (credit cards or ACH for example). The new payment methods are likely to help accelerate cash flow or even bring new customers to the table, in some cases.