Cleaning Out Pesky eBilling and Paper Suppression Fees
With the warm weather of April beginning to wash over us all, it’s a great time for those with a green thumb. And in this case, we mean both those who are good at gardening and those responsible for billing and payments.
But the growth of ripe fruits and vegetables is often accompanied by the growth of weeds. The dedication and care needed to bring food to life is similar to the care needed to prevent the spread of less desirable plants. Done right, you will enjoy a bountiful harvest that immediately pays off your labor. Left unattended, the weeds will likely take over and spoil your garden.
This, too, is the story of your billing and payment solution if it’s filled with those weeds known as fees. This is particularly true in the case of today’s most accessible “cost-saver:” paperless billing.
How Going Paperless Can Cost You
A recent article published by the Paymentus Client Adoption Success Team (CAST) showed that postage costs had increased by 20% to reach an all-time high of $.68 in January of 2024. Clearly, driving the adoption of paperless billing will drastically reduce this cost and deliver savings, right?
Yes, and no.
Yes, if your billing and payment provider can help you drive up the adoption of paperless billing in effective and cost-free ways.
No, if your billing and payment provider charges you for every notification and promotional effort as well as the eBill itself.
The True Cost of Paperless “Savings”
Let’s take a look at a basic example we see many billers enduring when working with other providers. The following numbers are estimates based on market rates. Your particular numbers may vary.
Keep in mind, if a customer adopts eBills but also chooses to receive a paper bill (as many customers do), these costs then get added together. And this does not account for non-billing related, more marketing-focused messages promoting everything from paperless billing to AutoPay. In this case, the old adage “you need to spend money to make money” is flipped to become “you need to spend money to spend more money.”
Digital Adoption Should Be a Savings Driver
A foundational Paymentus principle is that the end consumer must always come first. It’s one of the reasons we coined the term YouX. It’s also one of the reasons we do not charge for outbound communications. Billers should be able to adopt and implement convenience-driving capabilities without fearing that they will negatively impact revenues or business operations. Put simply, customer service decisions should boil down to whether or not they will simplify bill payments. Any other consideration means placing customer service second (at best).
We cannot completely overlook budgetary concerns, however. Anything that impacts your cost to serve limits your ability to serve. It’s for this reason that Paymentus offers the ability to send customers notifications, reminders, confirmations and marketing messages at no additional cost.
What’s more, we are also pioneering the path to paperless through our end-to-end bill presentment capabilities. This includes offering eBills, paperless billing, complimentary marketing support to drive the adoption of cost-efficient digital channels, and full bill print and mailing services for those customers we know will always remain fans of paper. Beyond saving through paperless and no-fee digital communications, billers can also eliminate the cost of working with an additional bill print vendor.
Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention our belief in being fully transparent with our clients. The same principle that applies to our customer-centric approach also informs our client-centric approach. Hidden and unexpected fees are bad practice regardless of who enacts them, which is why we never do.
Want to learn more about how much your organization can save by switching to Paymentus? Let’s talk! Our team can show how the Paymentus model provides cost savings while also increasing the adoption of your (now) most cost-effective digital payment methods and communication channels.
