Can Bank of America dominate Digital Mailboxes?

In a previous blog post I said that there was little to no chance of a consolidator succeeding in the USA. 

After watching this space very carefully for the past 36 months, I now feel there may be a solution that could work. It needs a large bank, internet banking and a push delivery model. 

Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Chase are the US’ largest banks; BOA alone has close to 60 million customers. 

Let’s use Bank of America as an example of a potentially successful consolidator model.

The bank should implement 2 fundamental parts:

1. Put an eBill consolidator INSIDE of Internet Banking
2. Add ‘push’ electronic document delivery

The ideal customer experience would look something like this:

Gaining paperless consent:

Banks have been struggling to get customers to turn off paper statements and bills for almost a decade. The vast majority of consumers just don’t see Internet banking as a convenient alternative to paper. Here’s how we fix that: 

• Bank of America sends a very personalized email to their Internet banking customer letting them know that they can now receive their bills and statements as email attachments.
• Attached to that email is a sample document.
• From within the email body itself, the customer can agree to go paperless with just one click. No link to Internet banking or login required.

Receiving the electronic bill/document:

• The customer receives an email from Bank of America letting them know that they have a new bill from their utility waiting in their Digital Mailbox within Bank of America Internet banking.
• Attached to this email is an encrypted PDF copy of the bill.
• This PDF can be opened on any device by simply entering a ‘shared secret’. This means that no app or software download is required.
• The customer can also make a payment directly from within the PDF (which is of course handled by Bank of America) OR they can wait to make multiple payments to billers from within Internet banking.
• There is no need for the customer to keep a copy of the email, as they know the document is waiting in their Digital Mailbox.

Why would the top three banks want to do this?

1. They’ll get 100% of the payment processing.
2. They’ll open up a new revenue stream: paper suppression.
3. Their digital marketing opportunities will improve.
4. Customers will use Internet banking for managing all their documents and eBills.
5. Deep links within the email could open their mobile banking app for added convenience.
6. They can use this channel to suppress all their own documents and achieve massive cost savings.

Why is this better for the consumer?

This is far better than simply including a link that ‘pulls’ them back to Internet banking: 

1. The consumer can view their eBill on any device, easily and quickly.
2. They can pay it with just one click.
3. The biller or bank can intelligently insert relevant and personalized marketing.

We think this is the ultimate in customer convenience. What do you think?

Garin Toren
striata.com