Everyone knows that electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) is beneficial to the customer. It’s convenient and cheap. It’s also good for the consolidators, the banks and the portal providers. It’s even good for the environment. But is it good for the service providers themselves?
Qwest, like other service providers, had a hunch there were benefits to providing electronic options for its customers to view and pay bills. It just couldn’t quantify them — and an unquantifiable benefit will remain an unrealized benefit. So Qwest set out to change that. It commissioned a study from Aspen Marketing Services and worked in conjunction with Fiserv, a provider of financial services technology solutions, to answer the question (at least for them): Is there an ROI to offering e-billing options.
The research study, Impact of Bill Presentment and Payment on Retention and Profitability for Qwest Communications, concluded that there is.
Kirk Gripsenstraw, vice president of advanced analytics for Aspen Marketing Services, said that historically, it is unclear whether or not any particular bill pay method has any effect on consumer behavior, particularly churn. “Going in we had a pretty good grip on the cost benefit, but needed to quantify some of those numbers and determine profitability,” he said. “I was surprised to see that the biller also benefits in other ways.”
