Can Merchants really turn off paper bills with digital billing?

Within the billing world, going paperless has been almost like a “Holy Grail” for many merchants, and especially those who are sending out thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of bills a month in some cases. And who can blame them? Merchants who send out more than just a few hundred invoices each month are typically spending a great deal of money on printing, putting invoices into envelopes, sending out reminders and/or statements, franking the envelope, having to engage in making sure bills are filed or stored properly and fielding calls from customers who don’t receive a the bill in the mail at all (so it has to be resent) to name but a few things.

By adopting a paperless invoice or digital bill only solution, a merchant can technically avoid all of the above and “switch off paper” immediately. However, despite the apparent significant  advantages to the merchant, this may not be the best way to go (and it should also not be the driver of the change to digital billing).

Most customers have been getting bills in the mail, or at least ones they can print if they are sent by email, for many years and many want to stick with a process that they well understand. Hence, any merchant that removes the option of receiving a paper bill risks losing a customer’s business altogether. Far better therefore to retain the option to receive a physical bill and either deliver it by cost-effective e-mail or allow a customer to retrieve it and print it for themselves from a central website.

With a cloud-based system such as PaySwyft, not only can any merchant post a digital bill but allow customers to print the bill whenever they like. Even better a merchant can email the bill if they so wish, including follow-up or chase bills. And once customers are using such a fully digital portal they can also use a whole range of convenient technology to manage their bill in more flexible ways. This includes:

Receiving a monthly e-mail notification when a new invoice is available to view.

• Decreasing the possibility of mail fraud and identity theft.
• Automatically calendarising or secheduling payments at a time or date to suit them
• Set email and/or SMS alerts as they like
• Store and retrieve all invoice and payment records whenever they like, forever
• Make payment 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• Pay in a multitude of ways at the same portal and get a receipt there and then
• See all of their invoices and payments when they want
• Analyse invoice trends and patterns as they wish

This does not mean that they will necessarily “turn off” the paper bill, or stop printing it, but over time the resistance to doing so will clearly lessen. And in the meantime, not only is the customer getting a convenient service for free, that they can use at work or home on their computer (and save themselves time if they were previously paying by cash or cheque in particular), but a merchant is saving money on many fronts, including fielding less phone calls, accelerating cash-flow with earlier online payments and reconciling payments in a much more straightforward way than ever before. Given all of this, getting to a paperless world, if and when it happens, is only a minor bonus.

Can Merchants really turn off paper bills with digital billing?

Within the billing world, going paperless has been almost like a “Holy Grail” for many merchants, and especially those who are sending out thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of bills a month in some cases. And who can blame them? Merchants who send out more than just a few hundred invoices each month are typically spending a great deal of money on printing, putting invoices into envelopes, sending out reminders and/or statements, franking the envelope, having to engage in making sure bills are filed or stored properly and fielding calls from customers who don’t receive a the bill in the mail at all (so it has to be resent) to name but a few things.
 
By adopting a paperless invoice or digital bill only solution, a merchant can technically avoid all of the above and “switch off paper” immediately. However, despite the apparent significant advantages to the merchant, this may not be the best way to go (and it should also not be the driver of the change to digital billing).

Most customers have been getting bills in the mail, or at least ones they can print if they are sent by email, for many years and many want to stick with a process that they well understand. Hence, any merchant that removes the option of receiving a paper bill risks losing a customer’s business altogether. Far better therefore to retain the option to receive a physical bill and either deliver it by cost-effective e-mail or allow a customer to retrieve it and print it for themselves from a central website.

With a cloud-based system such as PaySwyft, not only can any merchant post a digital bill but allow customers to print the bill whenever they like. Even better a merchant can email the bill if they so wish, including follow-up or chase bills. And once customers are using such a fully digital portal they can also use a whole range of convenient technology to manage their bill in more flexible ways. This includes:

 

• Receiving a monthly e-mail notification when a new invoice is available to view.
• Decreasing the possibility of mail fraud and identity theft.
• Automatically calendarising or secheduling payments at a time or date to suit them
• Set email and/or SMS alerts as they like
• Store and retrieve all invoice and payment records whenever they like, forever
• Make payment 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• Pay in a multitude of ways at the same portal and get a receipt there and then
• See all of their invoices and payments when they want
• Analyse invoice trends and patterns as they wish

This does not mean that they will necessarily “turn off” the paper bill, or stop printing it, but over time the resistance to doing so will clearly lessen. And in the meantime, not only is the customer getting a convenient service for free, that they can use at work or home on their computer (and save themselves time if they were previously paying by cash or cheque in particular), but a merchant is saving money on many fronts, including fielding less phone calls, accelerating cash-flow with earlier online payments and reconciling payments in a much more straightforward way than ever before. Given all of this, getting to a paperless world, if and when it happens, is only a minor bonus.

Paperless billing-a cost effective and sustainable solution?

“Eco friendly” and “budget friendly” don’t always go hand in hand. But paperless billing is one of those rare measures that checks both boxes – all while keeping customers happy.  This is simply because getting a bill to a consumer in a traditional way takes lots of time, effort and money that can be avoided. However, by using modern internet technology, the bill issue time can be reduced, the effort to get the bill out can be lessened and costs can be squeezed or in some cases eliminated.

Let’s look a look at some of the specific wins:

Any business of any size or type wins on cost.  On the direct or visible cost side, there’s less paper, less envelopes, less ink, less postage. Even though these are often significant in and of themselves there are also big potential cost reductions on the indirect or more hidden side of things...less customer support (handling queries or phone-in payments) and much less time spent on reconciliation. In addition, online bill presentment and payment has been shown to lead to much quicker settlement by the customer-which substantially aids cash-flow for a merchant. All these savings add up.

The customer wins – This includes eliminating or simplifying the tasks of organising bills, querying them and being able to make payments (all being possible safely and securely at a single web site typically with a few clicks). Paper free means more free time for the bill payer, and less to worry about when dealing with paper (including having to put the bill or invoice somewhere safe, finding it when needed and even losing it occasionally).

The environment wins.  Paperless billing is a simple but significant step that every business can take with a little focus, effort and determination.  Less paper means less use of trees and less transportation (and petrol), reducing a merchant’s carbon footprint. Not all customers will be happy to turn off paper immediately but some will and they will slowly encourage the others to do the same.

So Paperless billing  is a worthy goal for all merchants
Whether you’re a large merchant billing tens or hundreds of thousands of customers, or a small business raising a handful of invoices, on-line billing at an aggregation site (such as PaySwyft) is a pain free way to trial the paperless option.

Merchants can raise some or all of their bills online...or test dual billing with late payers and measure the impact on cashflow...or if they prefer, give customers a straight choice: paper or paper free.

Paperless Billing: at a glance:

Merchants are saving money on...

·        Printing paper bills

·        Fulfilment, postage and franking

·        Undeliverable mail

·        Chasing late payments

·        Handling manual payments

·        Archiving paper bills

·        Reconciliation/bill matching

Customers are saving time on...

·        Checking and paying bills

·        Hunting for previous bills

·        Checking funds and means to pay

·        Writing and posting cheques

·        Waiting for a merchant to be open for business

·        Talking to customer services

·        Worrying over lost cheques and late delivery

Can Merchants really turn off paper bills with digital billing?

Within the billing world, going paperless has been almost like a “Holy Grail” for many merchants, and especially those who are sending out thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of bills a month in some cases. And who can blame them? Merchants who send out more than just a few hundred invoices each month are typically spending a great deal of money on printing, putting invoices into envelopes, sending out reminders and/or statements, franking the envelope, having to engage in making sure bills are filed or stored properly and fielding calls from customers who don’t receive a the bill in the mail at all (so it has to be resent) to name but a few things.

By adopting a paperless invoice or digital bill only solution, a merchant can technically avoid all of the above and “switch off paper” immediately. However, despite the apparent significant  advantages to the merchant, this may not be the best way to go (and it should also not be the driver of the change to digital billing).

Most customers have been getting bills in the mail, or at least ones they can print if they are sent by email, for many years and many want to stick with a process that they well understand. Hence, any merchant that removes the option of receiving a paper bill risks losing a customer’s business altogether. Far better therefore to retain the option to receive a physical bill and either deliver it by cost-effective e-mail or allow a customer to retrieve it and print it for themselves from a central website.

With a cloud-based system such as PaySwyft, not only can any merchant post a digital bill but allow customers to print the bill whenever they like. Even better a merchant can email the bill if they so wish, including follow-up or chase bills. And once customers are using such a fully digital portal they can also use a whole range of convenient technology to manage their bill in more flexible ways. This includes:

• Receiving a monthly e-mail notification when a new invoice is available to view.
• Decreasing the possibility of mail fraud and identity theft.
• Automatically calendarising or secheduling payments at a time or date to suit them
• Set email and/or SMS alerts as they like
• Store and retrieve all invoice and payment records whenever they like, forever
• Make payment 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• Pay in a multitude of ways at the same portal and get a receipt there and then
• See all of their invoices and payments when they want
• Analyse invoice trends and patterns as they wish

This does not mean that they will necessarily “turn off” the paper bill, or stop printing it, but over time the resistance to doing so will clearly lessen. And in the meantime, not only is the customer getting a convenient service for free, that they can use at work or home on their computer (and save themselves time if they were previously paying by cash or cheque in particular), but a merchant is saving money on many fronts, including fielding less phone calls, accelerating cash-flow with earlier online payments and reconciling payments in a much more straightforward way than ever before. Given all of this, getting to a paperless world, if and when it happens, is only a minor bonus.