WHITE PAPER
Consumer paper suppression
– understanding the adoption
barriers
7 Steps to getting your customers to switch off
paper
Stand-alone paper suppression
models are flawed
A good paperless adoption
target
CONTENTS
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3
6 Reasons customers won’t turn off the paper: ................................................................ 4
1
Customer indifference: Doing nothing is the path of least resistance...................... 4
2
Enrolment: Registering at each website is a painful process ................................... 4
3
Multiple Biller sites: Too much effort to remember each process ............................ 4
4
Convenience: Fetching my bill is less convenient that receiving it ........................... 5
5
Presentment vs. payment: I can see what I owe, now how do I pay? ...................... 6
6
Mobile Matters: I need to see more than just a summary....................................... 6
Stand-alone paper suppression models are fatally flawed ............................................... 8
7 Steps to getting your customers to switch off paper ................................................... 10
1
Control the conversion process ............................................................................. 10
2
Remove the enrolment barrier .............................................................................. 10
3
Deliver your electronic document to the consumer ............................................... 11
4
Enable security that is trusted, robust and intuitive .............................................. 11
5
Provide the consumer with multiple payment channels ........................................ 11
6
Ensure presentment is mobile enabled ................................................................. 11
7
Offer a paperless option that is more convenient for the consumer than paper ... 11
A good paperless adoption target .................................................................................. 12
Additional reading on ebilling ........................................................................................ 12
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
2
Introduction
The internet and email have made an incredible impact on our lives, completely changing the way we
communicate. Billions of emails and text messages are sent every day, replacing letters and postcards,
yet few consumers are turning off paper bills and statements. Globally, a minority of billers and
financial institutions succeed in motivating significant numbers of their customers to replace paper
documents with online equivalents.
According to Radicati Group; after several years of trying, organizations with the best results have
converted 15 - 20% to paperless processes, while others have achieved results below 5% (percentage
of total customers who have gone paperless).
These paperless adoption rates remain low despite many rounds of marketing, incentives and
additional charges for the paper version.
In the US, almost every major biller and financial institution enables their customers to view electronic
versions of their bill or statement via the biller’s website or customer service portal.
So, if this online option exists, why aren’t consumers agreeing to turn off the paper version?
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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1
1
6 Reasons customers won’t turn off the paper:
Customer indifference: Doing nothing is the path of least resistance
Almost all consumers are content to continue with the current paper system and feel no need to change to a
new way of doing things. Put simply, paper works. Minority segments of a customer base will take up a
website process because they are passionate about the environment or they are highly computer literate. The
majority however, simply could not be bothered.
2
Enrolment: Registering at each website is a painful process
Marketing campaigns that drive consumers to register online are expensive, have very low (and then
diminishing) returns and often savings are outweighed by the initial set up costs. For consumers, each website
represents a separate, unique sign-up process.
In addition, username and password requirements vary widely (e.g. password must be at least 8 letters and
include numbers). Therefore, the enrollment experience is much less convenient than simply opening a paper
envelope.
3
Multiple Biller sites: Too much effort to remember each process
Consumers do not want to visit numerous different websites, remember multiple usernames and passwords
and navigate a different path to view each bill. In addition, true household bill consolidation does not exist,
thus expecting consumers to turn off paper by offering website presentment will not see paper suppression
exceed 20%.
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
4
4
Convenience: Fetching my bill is less convenient that receiving it
Current online bill presentment offerings require consumers to proactively fetch their bills and statements
from websites. In all instances, it takes at least 6 clicks, and often up to 15 clicks to retrieve the relevant bill.
This process requires reasonably web savvy navigation. Overall, it takes at least 5 times longer to fetch a
document online than it takes to open a paper envelope.
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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5
Presentment vs. payment: I can see what I owe, now how do I pay?
Electronic payment is now common practice. There are two models which dominate;
a) Payment at the biller’s website – known as Biller Direct, and
b) Payment through Internet banking.
Currently in the USA electronic payments are evenly split between these two models. Industry analysts agree
that into the future Internet banking payments will dominate.
In mature ePayment geographies such as Canada and the UK, this model is utilized almost 100% of the time.
While this is great for “bill payment”, it creates a significant problem for “bill presentment” and is not a viable
solution for all other types of electronic document delivery such as policies, contracts and marketing.
It is impossible for your bank to consolidate all your bills. Although some banks may want to hold all billing
data within internet banking, there is a disadvantage to the biller who loses a critical customer touch point.
Furthermore it is impractical to think that any bank, can present all bills, notices and other document types to
its customers. Thus, the only practical path forward is to provide multiple options for payment, but not to
force a link between presentment and payment. Present electronic documents in a way that is convenient for
the consumer and let them decide which payment channel they would prefer to use.
Current methodologies of tying online presentment to online payment create a solution that at least 50% of a
consumer base will not use. Furthermore, as internet banking payments continue to dominate, this will get
worse.
6
Mobile Matters: I need to see more than just a summary
Website based presentment models are not suited to even the best mobile devices. Billers and Financial
Institutions must find a way to deliver a replica of the paper document that is mobile friendly and not simply
summary data. Although the future of mobile presentment is still unclear, PDF is fast emerging as the most
practical option in the short to medium term, while mobile apps that enable users to easily view secure docs,
such as eBills on their mobile devices, is hot on its heels.
Today the vast majority of consumers are paying electronically. The next step is overcoming the challenge of
electronic bill and statement presentment in order to turn off the paper.
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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2
Stand-alone paper suppression models are fatally flawed
No single model will suit every consumer. This means that billers should look at a combined approach, as it is
evident that stand-alone paper suppression models are fatally flawed:
ONLINE BANKING: Whilst online banking remains the consumer’s most popular choice, it is extremely
unlikely that banks can get even 30% of an average household’s bills into a single location. Multiply the number
of banks in any country by the number of billers and this is the number of relationships that would need to be
established, one by one, before this could become a reality. This is, of course, impossible.
At best, the customer can receive summary data, which will not satisfy regulatory requirements for bill
presentment, nor offer a consumer experience that will drive paper turn off. A vast majority of payments are
initiated inside banking portals, yet paper suppression remains low.
eBills with paper turn-off and electronic payments are strongly correlated, but eBilling adoption among
participants is trailing behind electronic bill payments.
In most instances it is not in the interest of the biller to present their bill in an online banking location. It makes
marketing almost impossible and the biller stands to lose what is very often their only direct touch point with
their customer.
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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BILLER DIRECT WEBSITE: For the biller, this remains the best option.
Billers can present their bill,
receive payment and market to the consumer all in one online location.
However from the consumer’s point of view, this is the most flawed of all models. Consumers will not
proactively enroll at each biller website, choose and remember numerous usernames and passwords, nor will
they visit so many sites each month to fetch their bills.
In the USA, biller direct payments make up approximately 50% of electronic payments. This is historically due to
the fact that banks have been slow to offer and market effective bill payment. Just like all other first world
countries, the shift to facilitating the majority of payments through internet banking is inevitable. There is
almost no suitable incentive motivating the majority of consumers to elect to turn off their paper bill, as long as
their only option to view it is at the biller’s own website.
CONSOLIDATORS: There have been many attempts to create a single internet location where consumers
can view and pay all their bills. To date, there has only been one successful case in Denmark, and this was due to
government legislation. The reason is similar to online banking consolidation – it is simply not possible to gain
critical mass.
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7 Steps to getting your customers to switch off paper
To get the majority of your customers to agree to switch off a paper bill or statement, billers must achieve all
seven of following:
3
1
Control the conversion process
Consumers cannot be left to convert to paperless billing on their own. The adoption process needs to be in the
hands of the biller.
2
Remove the enrolment barrier
The requirement to proactively enroll in the online presentment poses one of the biggest barriers. If this were
to be removed, paperless initiatives would soar. Consider defaulting new consumers to electronic versions and
moving existing customers without requiring them to do anything.
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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3
Deliver your electronic document to the consumer
Until billers and financial institutions utilize secure electronic delivery models, consumers will not go
paperless. Fetching a bill from a portal will never match the convenience of receiving it.
4
Enable security that is trusted, robust and intuitive
Consumers will not jump through security hoops, just so they can save billers the cost of printing and postage.
However they need assurance that their personal information is secure.
5
Provide the consumer with multiple payment channels
Consumers are growing increasingly confident in using electronic payment channels, whether it is online via a
website or from within an email. Although consumers should always be given the opportunity to pay through
any payment channel, enabling payment directly from the secure email document, is a winning formula for
both the biller and customer.
6
Ensure presentment is mobile enabled
Waiting for mobile devices to be secure and web browser friendly is unnecessary. Secure mobile delivery
channels already exist today.
7
Offer a paperless option that is more convenient for the consumer than paper
Secure document delivery via email is more convenient than paper. It is quicker to deliver and easier to store
and forward.
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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A good paperless adoption target
A fully functional document distribution strategy should have the 3 P’s – Print, Pull and Push. Print may never go
away, so expect 25% of your base to cling onto paper.
Pull portals should be good for another 25% of customers in the long run but at least half of these may want
paper as well as a backup.
Push email document delivery will quickly turn off paper for the other 50% of your customers without massive
marketing and incentives spend.
Armed with your customers email addresses, you can send secure bills or statements without requiring
customers to register and choose a username and password. This puts the power of customer adoption in your
hands. Customers that receive their bill by email can’t resist opening it - this allows the biller to turn off the
paper.
Additional reading on ebilling
Solution overview:
Striata eBilling Enables Faster Electronic Payment
Striata Authentication and Trust
Striata Contact Centre Volume Reduction
eBilling solutions:
Reduce billing costs
Notification and Alerts
eStatements
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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ABOUT STRIATA
Striata unlocks the power of email and mobile messaging
Our electronic delivery solutions dramatically increase customer adoption of paperless bills,
statements, policies, marketing and other high volume system-generated documents.
The world’s largest financial services, utility, insurance, retail and telecommunications companies
achieve unrivalled results by replacing print and mail with Striata’s interactive electronic documents
and transactional messages.
Striata’s enterprise platform, strategy and support services:
drive significant paper suppression
deliver ongoing cost savings
accelerate payments
enhance the customer experience
enable regulatory compliance
Our comprehensive solutions expand the digital dialogue through personalized customer lifecycle
messaging, retail receipts, notifications and alerts.
A global paperless communications specialist with over a decade of experience, Striata has
operations in New York, London, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Sydney and partners in North and South
America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Consumer paper suppression – understanding the adoption barriers
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