'Push' & 'Pull' Complementary Billing Solutions

Complementary online billing solutions result in the highest user adoption

Is there a solution that marries ease of use, utlilization of existing infrastructure and highest possible adoption rates? Today, companies are looking for effective billing solutions that deliver favorable ROI and drive qualified customer traffic to their websites while reducing operational costs through paper turn off.

'Push' vs. 'Pull' - Email billing and web based billing have fundamentally different approaches to consumer traffic:

• 'Push' - Email document delivery: Bills, statements and other documents are delivered as secure attachments directly to the customer's inbox with personalized offers included within the bill. The same security mechanisms protecting a biller's website are built into the secure email attachment. Unlike links from a "come and get your bill" email, links from within the secure electronic document are trusted and therefore prevent phishing.
• 'Pull' - Website self-service portals: Offer registered customers a simple email notice in their inbox informing them that a bill is ready for online retrieval. This notice does not attempt to entice the customer into doing anything outside of visiting the biller website. The email itself is unprotected because security lies within the website. Billers cannot therefore, effectively utilize email communication to further online strategic goals, or drive paper turn off.

Fact: Customer adoption rates for 'pull' self-service portals have stagnated and disappointed. 'Push' email delivery of secure bills and statements has increasingly succeeded in turning off paper and driving qualified customer traffic to biller websites through transpromo marketing.

Striata's complementary 'Push' solution

Early adopters have sparked the use of 'pull' processes for bill and statement presentation. As the growth rate for this model declines, the use of secure document delivery to 'push' the documents to the customer will become the norm. Together these models provide a complementary solution that offers the best opportunity for organizations to drive paper turn off.

When used in conjunction with existing website self-service, Striata's secure 'push' bill delivery via email allows billers and financial institutions to realize their strategic online goals. Moreover, email billing has proved to be a very effective transpromo marketing channel, skillful at encouraging qualified, revenue generating customer traffic.

In the drive to reduce costs by paper turn off – customers should be given a choice of delivery options. The use of 'push' and 'pull' models as complementary solutions will result in the highest user adoption.

'Push' eBilling drives customer traffic to biller websites:

• The convenience of email presentment eases the transition: Bills arrive in customer inboxes. Once customers are comfortable dealing with a biller electronically, it is an easier transition to pull them to an online self-service portal.
• The security of the delivery method encourages activity: Protections that are built into a well executed delivery strategy eliminate any possibility of phishing or scams. By eliminating security concerns, these protections, combined with the convenience of email presentment and payment, encourage customers to take advantage of the time saving self-service options available online.
• Provides customers with alternative payment options : Customers can choose to pay at the biller site or via the delivered eBill's embedded payment form. The embedded payment form is protected and secure. The trusted links within the eBill prompt customers to view their billing history, manage an account, or respond to marketing promotions, thus driving qualified traffic to biller web self-service portals.
• Trusted links create effective transpromo marketing opportunities: The secure environment of an encrypted electronic Bill creates new, personalized marketing opportunities that enables billing to serve as a significant revenue generator. Many email billers maximize this trusted real estate with personalized marketing offers that drive well qualified website traffic. With the Striata Platform, offers can be personalized and profile targeted, promising relevant, highly visible marketing messages.

'Push' as a stepping stone for off-line bankers Banks' focus on channel management has designated the use of Internet Banking as the low cost delivery channel for customer self service. However, despite aggressive marketing and incentives, the growth in internet banking has slowed and significant amounts of banking clients have not registered for internet banking. Driving paper adoption for non internet bankers needs a new model to provide a stepping stone for them. “Push” statements are the perfect delivery medium to take the off-line customers into an on-line world. The bank is able to control the adoption process by sending eStatements in parallel to the paper statements and then switching off the paper.

The next step to delivering the most effective, complementary billing solution:

• Have you invested in an online billing portal that is not delivering the desired results? Talk to a Striata eBilling specialist about our complementary 'Push' solutions that can maximize your investment.
• Read more about the effective transpromo marketing opportunities created through email bill presentment and payment.