Email Bill Presentment & Payment has proven to reduce contact center volumes, increase customer loyalty and minimize churn, by utilizing creative electronic bill designs and predictive customer service tools.

The vast majority of today's billing and statement consumers actively use email. According to latest research, 44% use email multiple times a day and just over 80% use email a few times a week.

The next wave of efficiencies in handling incoming consumer communication is the massive cost saving opportunities in converting these calls to incoming email.

New Striata Website » Striata has launched a new website    at www.striata.com. » We'd love your feedback so just    reply to this email. » Be sure you check out our new    Resources section.

Predictive Electronic Bills Reduce Contact Center Volume

• Payments: Customers wanting to make payment telephonically.
• Bill queries: Unrecognized charges or charges perceived to be too high.
• Payment confirmations: Customers requiring confirmation that a payment has been received.
  
  

• Payments: Secure electronic payment can be processed directly from within the email bill, with just one click.
• Bill queries: Question marks ('?') next to fields in the bill which are frequently queried, when selected, display information that assists with query resolution. An email enquiry can be generated from within the Striata eBill. Using predefined Query Types, the email can be routed correctly and response times can be tracked and escalated.
• Direct debit amendments: Allow customers to amend their own direct debit / auto pay details reducing inbound calls and providing the customer with more control. Mandates can be included in any Striata bill, and automatically fed back into the business's operational systems.
• Payment confirmations: Allow emails to be sent on certain 'triggers'; for example contract anniversary, birthdays and the processing of a payment. A personalized email can be sent for every payment received. An added benefit of these confirmation emails is that they have a high open rate, providing an opportunity for the addition of valuable marketing real estate within the body of the email.
  
  

• Email is the consumers medium of choice.
• The majority of email queries do not require an immediate response.
• Consumers are comfortable waiting up to 24 hours for a response as long as they are guaranteed that they will in fact get a response within this period.
• It is far quicker to send a query via email, than it is to navigate an IVR and / or talk to a contact center representative.
• The consumer gets an immediate 'auto-response', giving assurance of a further expected response and an escalation path should the required response not be satisfactory.
• The consumer is issued a 'ticket number', allowing both parties to efficiently track the query.
• Consumers are able to submit queries 24 hours a day even if contact centers are not open at that time.
• Intelligent routing ensures that the correct customer service group receives a relevant query.

• Queries are received without the need to have as many CSR's available to 'man' live calls.
• As you have between 12 and 24 hours to respond, call volume 'peaks and troughs' are reduced.
• Responding to an email query is up to 40% faster than taking an incoming call.
• Tracking of a query is far more efficient due to the 'ticket number' process.
• Attaching of that query to a customer master record can be a fully automated process.