- 29% increase in monthly customer portal payments
- 38% year-over-year increase in total transaction volume
- 153% year-over-year increase in AutoPay usage
The Opportunity: Overcoming Legacy Friction
As the operator of Rhode Island's largest wastewater treatment facilities, Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) has a long history of operational excellence, exemplified by its award-winning legacy. To maintain this standard and deliver a customer experience worthy of its reputation, NBC identified a critical improvement opportunity: modernizing its billing and payment experience to better serve thousands of customers.
Limited payment options and an outdated User Interface (UI) created stress and friction for both customers and staff, typically resulting in time consuming manual processes. With thousands of customers relying on its services, including many colleges, cities, and hospitals, NBC decided it was time to upgrade its billing and payments experience.
Fiscal Services Supervisor, Narragansett Bay Commission
The Solution
NBC selected Paymentus as its Service Commerce partner to expand its billing, payment, and interaction capabilities. The partnership began with a seamless migration from the legacy provider to the best-in-class Paymentus solution. To ease the transition for customers, NBC worked with the Paymentus Client Adoption Success Team (CAST) in advance of the go-live to create a promotional campaign driving awareness of new capabilities.
Key enhancements included a significant expansion of NBC’s payment offerings, the deployment of an advanced UI supporting a more intuitive self-service customer portal, the ability to conveniently link multiple accounts under a single login, automated payment confirmations for greater peace of mind, and more.
In terms of payment options, NBC expanded from essentially two payment options to a comprehensive suite, including:
Credit & Debit Cards
Digital Wallets
In-store Cash
ACH/eCheck
AutoPay & Recurring
Interactive Voice Response
Paperless eBills
Beyond the pre-launch marketing campaign, NBC also worked with CAST to produce a go-live campaign and an AutoPay incentive campaign featuring four winners receiving $250 Visa gift cards provided by CAST.
The Result
Narragansett Bay Commission exceeded its modernization and customer service goals, all while reducing its costs to serve. In total, NBC experienced a 29% increase in monthly customer portal payments, and a 38% year-over-year increase in monthly transactions across all payment methods and channels.
The combination of the self-serve customer portal, IVR, and retail payments significantly reduced call volumes related to billing and payments, freeing staff to handle more pressing customer needs. Customers are now able to easily manage their accounts, including updating saved payment information and linking multiple accounts. Additionally, digital payment confirmations eliminated the need for customers to contact NBC to ensure a payment had been successfully processed.
For staff, a reduction in call volume was only the start. Reconciliation has also been streamlined, making it simpler for staff to view and track all elements of the billing and payment ecosystem, including AutoPay and paperless adoption.
The CAST efforts also proved successful in driving account registrations and the adoption of new self-serve, cost-efficient payment methods. In particular, the AutoPay incentive campaign helped deliver a 153% year-over-year increase in AutoPay usage. The turnkey support delivered by CAST empowered the NBC team to focus on its core mission—delivering a win for all involved.
