66 Reasons to simplify your customers’ eBilling experience

For many years I thought I was alone in my frustration with multiple passwords for the various websites I need to access on a semi-regular basis. There are just so many! Don’t tell anyone, but hidden on my PC I have a (password protected!) Word document. It’s 10 pages long detailing URLs and IDs/Passwords hints for 66 separate logins. Everything from online banking to cinema ticketing via all the usual suspects; EBay, iTunes, Facebook, Twitter etc.

Whilst I’ve clearly overcomplicated my own online life, a recent article on the Fox Small Business Centre website highlights that this password fatigue is endemic throughout the online community. A survey of 2,000 adults showed that 30% have over 10 unique passwords to remember, and I’m one of the 8% with more than 21 passwords.

From an eBilling and eStatement viewpoint, there are 2 main issues with this: customer experience and security.

Customers would rather clean toilets!

While you may feel that your new eBilling portal is a paragon of best practice online design and ergonomics that your customers will enjoy using every month, there’s a good chance that your customers actually see it as just another IDs/Passwords problem. In the aforementioned survey, almost 40% of respondents said they would rather clean the toilet or try to solve world peace than create and remember another unique IDs/Passwords combo that meets the ever-expanding security requirements.

That’s an amusing statistic, and if the customer really requires the service being offered online (maybe online banking, or they’ve seen a must-have handbag bargain on EBay), they’ll probably forego domestic chores and follow through to create/manage another password. But when you’re trying to change your customer’s behaviour - switching from paper based bills/statements to electronic versions, the choice in their head is between doing nothing and keep getting paper (which does the job), or to voluntarily do something that’s less appealing than cleaning the toilet!

That goes a long way to explain the poor adoption of portal eBilling solutions around the globe, and is backed up by numerous other reports and surveys. For example, Infotrends’ Future of EBPP in North America Report in 2010 found that 61% of respondents cited remembering multiple IDs/Passwords as the reason for not going paperless.

The security Catch 22 situation

Unfortunately, modern password guidelines have created a security Catch 22 situation. The more we are all asked to create secure, long passwords with upper and lower case characters, numbers and punctuation marks, but excluding names and words; the more we all need to write these down and/or re-use the passwords on multiple sites, making them inherently less secure. Another recent article by ARS Technica highlights these issues. Password management solutions only partially solve the problem. In fact at Striata our Security Policy prevents the use of these to access any of our servers.

Good news – there’s a way to maintain security AND keep it convenient

Can we, as billers, provide the convenience required for the customer, while still maintaining the level of security commensurate with the information risks contained within our documents?

A move from a centralized portal to individually encrypted PDF documents delivered to customers via email dramatically reduces the risks, as access to one document is all that could ever be gained (after days of brute-force attack) should the email somehow fall into the wrong hands. Hence a simple shared secret – maybe a combination of a few characters of the customer’s name plus their date of birth –provides enough security, without the customer having to remember or write down a new password.

One more digital service delivered; one less stamp used; one less bit of forest cut down; no new password created. Everyone’s happy! Want to know more? I’m happy to stop cleaning my loo, so get in touch!

Keith Russell
striata.com

5 Reasons why PDF will be the saviour of eBilling and eInvoicing

For many years we have written about why PDF for email bills is the ideal process for eBilling and eInvoicing alike. The proof is in the adoption statistics - 'push' email billing solutions produce double or triple the adoption of paperless processes when compared to web portals.

A recent article by renowned eInvoicing commentator Friso de Yong; 7 myths and 7 facts about PDF invoices, ended with this question to readers: "... aren't PDF e-invoices a great starting point for (1) massive adoption of e-invoicing and (2) a transition to more efficient forms of e-invoicing?"

A key point of this argument is that the bulk of eInvoicing (including EIPP) will be done between SME's and that they will most likely utilise PDF as the format and email as the transport layer.

 

Why PDF is the perfect format for eBilling and eInvoicing:

1. PDF is the accepted standard for exchanging documents between different parties

A parallel can quickly be drawn in the eBilling space, (readers should reacquaint themselves with the differences between eInvoicing and eBilling).

PDF is the perfect format for bills, statements and other documents that can be dematerialised and delivered over email. It provides the option of password security (see Striata's view on No registration, shared secret usage) that is far superior to "secured with spit", a process that the Post Office still seems to think is a good idea.

2. PDF provides multiple layers for both presentation and data

PDFs can include a data layer or an embedded data file with relative ease - this way, the recipient can extract the data into their accounting system or open it in their favourite tool for editing and manipulation.

PDF technology also allows the embedded data to be extracted from the PDF, combined with user input and then reposted back to a server for processing. This is the same process that facilitates 'One-Click' bill payment directly from within the email or mobile bill, which has also been proven to speed up payments and reduce debtors days.

3. Delivering PDF documents by email helps drive paperless adoption

eBilling adoption rates have long disappointed the supporters of paperless processes. While enthusiasts have registered at eBilling portals, many refuse to turn off their paper safety net. Reasons for this behaviour range from "my accountant needs it" to "I like to have a copy in my filing system". Delivering a PDF document by email allows it to be forwarded immediately and electronically saved and backed up and yes - it can also be printed, if required. This makes the transition to a paperless environment less daunting.

4. Secure PDF processes can facilitate portal registration

Striata is often approached by companies with online portals that are languishing in the mid teens for user adoption. No matter how much marketing the company has applied; where there is a registration process and 'pull' back to a web portal, customer adoption plateaus well short of the anticipated numbers. We've proven time and time again that using a secure PDF process can facilitate portal registration through trusted links.

We do believe that there is a requirement for an online portal, as some customers like to have a history or archive of their documents in one place. In fact, the rise of the consolidator portal is testament to this requirement.

5. eConsent splash pages can streamline the on-boarding process

PDF documents also lend themselves to accepting and storing electronic consent. This is often a key hurdle in the go-paperless process. Multiple layers in the PDF allow the user to be presented with a 'splash' page that requires their consent before viewing the actual document. In this way, the requesting, gaining and storing of the electronic consent is all handled as part of a seamless customer experience, that drives the high adoption rates e-billing managers around the world are battling to achieve.

 

The answer to the question?

So in answer to Friso's question "... aren't PDF e-invoices a great starting point for (1) massive adoption of e-invoicing and (2) a transition to more efficient forms of e-invoicing?"

I say YES! I agree.

Michael Wright
striata.com

What if your eBill could remind you to pay?

As an email marketing and billing provider, I choose to receive most communication by email, including the majority of my monthly bills (except for those vendors that don't offer email billing – SO 'last year'). Every month, when I open an electronic invoice to see how much I have to pay and by when, I end up manually creating a reminder in my calendar, so as not to miss the payment due date and potentially be charged overdue fees. Or even worse, have my electricity or telephone cut off!

Now, I'm the first person to admit that I covet efficiency and the concept of a bill payment reminder would work really well for me. But there's no way I am going to use a web-based Bill consolidator to remind me, nor download an 'app' onto my desktop or mobile - even if it's free, it's just too much work for all my different billers. If I have to log into my Online Banking website to set a reminder (and many banks offer this) I might as well just schedule the actual payment. Hence none of these methods score highly on my efficiency gauge.

This got me thinking . . . what if the eBill itself could remind me - on the appropriate date?

All it takes is a 'Set Reminder' button on the eBill, which enables me to request a payment reminder by email or text. I can select how far in advance I want to be reminded and even an appropriate time of day.

What is sent to my inbox or mobile is something like this:

Payment Reminder: pay City Power the amount of $138.80 by 14/09/11.

What this means to me is avoiding the consequences of a missed payment, which is not only inconvenient, but it could also result in financial penalties or termination of service.

For the Biller, this means increasing the likelihood of receiving my payment by the due date, which for most businesses is an attractive proposition. I suspect Billers would even be happy to cover the minimal cost of the reminder message, as it would improve their DSO.

But the potential for efficiency and convenience doesn't stop there.

With the steady increase of consumers using the Internet and mobile technology to do things faster whilst on the move, it would be a smart 'next step' to enable payment directly from within the payment reminder.

Think about it - not only does the eBill remind you to pay, but you can pay immediately, with just one click or call. Now that's sexy!

The payment reminder for mobile (USSD) looks like this:

Payment Reminder: pay City Power the amount of $138.80 by 14/09/11. Dial *123*456# to pay.

And the email looks like this:

Payment Reminder: pay City Power the amount of $138.80 by 14/09/11. Click here to pay.

My efficiency gauge is going into overdrive!

Interested?

As a consumer, would you use a service like this?

And if you're a Biller, would you pay for the reminder notices?

Alison Treadaway
striata.com

Why send out an RFP? Understanding the why, will help focus the RFP

In a world full of choice, the RFP seems like the perfect process to find that Email Service Provider (ESP) to meet all your goals. Or is it?

Time and time again, this process fails, not in terms of appointing a vendor, but in terms of finding the right partner to implement the best solution for an organisation.

So where does it all go wrong and what's the solution?

This is the first in a two-part guest blog post I recently did for Email Vendor Selection based on finding the perfect ESP for an organisation. It focuses on the reasons RFPs are put together and whether this lengthy process is always necessary.

Before embarking on the RFP process, ask yourself whether the reasons for undertaking this process are sound. Here are a few points to take into consideration before you produce a RFP:

What is your motivation for an RFP?

To get better pricing - if you'd like better pricing from your current ESP, rather go back and negotiate. Sending out an RFP to get better pricing can damage the relationship with your ESP, and remember it's a hugely time-consuming process - not only for you, but for all the vendors involved. If corporate governance requires you to get pricing from a number of vendors, rather prepare a one-pager with your current requirements, then ask for quotes.

To use it as an 'idea and strategy' exercise - you need to be 90-100% sure of the strategy before you invite vendors in. Don't use the exercise to get a strategy. If you are unsure of the direction you want to take, rather find an ESP that can strategize with you. Keep in mind that an RFP won't necessarily highlight the best strategists.

To compare apples with apples - no two ESPs are the same. Email marketing includes a lot more than just features. What is the team structure in the company? Do they have a high staff churn rate? What do other vendors have to say about them? These answers won't necessarily be answered in an RFP process. Do research outside of this process to understand whether the ESP is the right fit.

To tick the technology box - most ESPs provide the same technical service and can give you a list of features that sound great on paper. Again, an RFP is unnecessary here as there are reputable established tools, such as those found on the Email Vendor Selection site where you can compare functionality.

The right approach to an RFP:

If a simple feature check is not what you're after, then an RFP may be the right choice for you. To get the most out of this exercise, consider the following points:

1. Look for an ESP that is ideally positioned to help you to fulfil your specific requirements, based on your email marketing strategy.
2. If this is a new company strategy and the process is required from a corporate governance perspective, do your research before going out to RFP.
3. If you're serious about changing your current ESP, make sure to document the reasons for the change (e.g. account management, deliverability, cannot fulfil the entire scope of requirements) and structure the RFP accordingly.
4. Scope out the specific goals that need to be met. Knowing what you want means getting the right questions on the RFP. The feedback from the participating ESPs will be so much more valuable.
5. Meet the potential ESPs before-hand and then use the RFP process to map out the functionality, structure and pricing across these ESPs. Meeting up with ESPs will determine whether they will suit your company culture and if they have the staff required to meet your specific requirements.

Can Asia lead the eStatement adoption evolution?

I was speaking to a group of banking people from fast-developing countries like Indonesia, India and Pakistan at a conference in Singapore last month. Their views on eBilling and eStatements were very similar - adoption rates for going paperless are still very low and they place the blame on low internet penetration. As a result, some banks are postponing eBilling implementation until there is a clear shift in the market towards paperless initiatives.

Recently however, Asia seems to leapfrog the West when it comes to technology adoption – consider mobile phone penetration compared to land-lines. This got me thinking whether the same will happen with eBilling? It seems very likely that Asia could lead the world in eBilling and eStatement adoption as the internet penetration explodes…

Default new customers to eStatements

The Asian banking market isn’t as saturated as it is in developed countries, so there isn’t the same legacy of paper billing to contend with. The massive growth in new banking customers however, provides a great opportunity for bankers to default them to eStatements.

Psychology also plays a role - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (the premise that people must have their basic needs like food and shelter before they seek other things like luxuries and self-growth) works with modern day services too.

What comes first as a person starts earning enough money to enjoy more of the modern conveniences, such as mobile phones, computers, scooters, bank accounts and credit cards? What is the most accessible trapping of modern life? The answer is clearly internet access and an email address. Email provides vital connectivity and it’s generally free, thanks to Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo.

Email is the common denominator

The question is: How many people registering for a new bank-account, taking out a credit card or using a post-paid mobile phone service already have an email address? Logically, it’s a huge proportion!

And whilst it’s certainly true that many developing countries have relatively low Internet penetration – e.g. 7% in India and 12% in Indonesia – they also have huge populations, so these percentages translate to 81 million and 30 million connections respectively. With the right strategy in place, banks can drive eBilling adoption to this connected group and realise ROI within a matter of weeks.

Steps to achieving your adoption goal:

In order to capitalize on this opportunity and improve eStatement adoption, follow these simple steps:

• Ask your customers for their email addresses at every touch-point.
• Make ‘email address’ a mandatory field on all application forms.
• Send out an eWelcome Pack – useful numbers, branch locations etc. via email to every new email address/customer you have; include lifecycle messaging in your online strategy.
• Make eStatements the default for all new accounts and use transactional messaging to further reduce paper communications.

The same processes will work in mature markets too, but developing markets have more ‘low-hanging fruit’ - a large number of new bank accounts.

Don’t let low Internet penetration figures delay the drive for eStatements – maximize returns with a clear focus and robust paperless adoption strategy.

And if you’re not sure how to develop that strategy, then give us a call.

Lessons learned from Citibank's data breach

Earlier this month Citigroup's credit card portfolio was hacked by criminals who apparently exploited a flaw in the browser window. This enabled them to go from one account to many others, capturing names, account numbers, emails and transaction history for roughly 360,000 customer accounts. The Ponemon Institute estimates the average cost of the data breach at $214 per compromised record, or $77 million in Citibank’s case.

Other recent high profile breaches include Sony Online Entertainment (over 100 million records) and Epsilon (they won’t say exactly how many). According to DATALOSSdb; breaches whether through hacking, loss of records or even theft of snail mail are occurring on a daily basis, and it’s not only large organizations that are targets. This month’s list includes banks, insurance and healthcare providers, utilities, government and educational organizations as well as supermarket chains.

“Growing concern about paperless” for consumers

What does this mean for businesses? It indicates that the threat of a data breach is extremely real and should be taken very seriously, but also, it requires companies to address customer concerns about doing business online. A growing fear among “paperless” consumers (and those considering eBilling) is “what if my online account is hacked, changed or deleted and I have no record of my usage or bill pay activity?”. One consumer advocate suggested that we all go back to receiving paper statements in the mail. That way we have tangible proof of all recent activity and payments.

But is going back to paper statements really a viable solution?

It’s an extreme theory, but one that resonates with some people. One of the biggest points of resistance to going electronic is that customers feel they are losing control over their bill or statement. Those that do access bills online complain that in order to manage their many accounts effectively, they need to visit each biller’s website and print or download a PDF copy of their statement from each one. Surely this is more hassle than waiting for the mail to arrive?

Winning the battle against customer resistance with robust technology

Delivering an encrypted copy of each statement directly to the customer’s email inbox is the most applicable solution in the market today. Regardless of what happens online, customers can print or save (in an encrypted format) a complete history of their relationship with their bank or biller. With its additional security features, such as including an authentication section at the top of emails and email personalization, the customer’s fears of phishing are alleviated. Customers can also decrypt, view and save documents offline, which reduces security threats of malware and spyware.

Distributing your billing / statement information to email inboxes, rather than consolidating all history and activity in one place, may serve to dilute the threat of criminals looking to hack your eBilling portal. Just as important, is winning the battle against customer resistance to going paperless, especially in the wake of increasing concern over data breaches.

Don’t let other companies’ data breaches reduce your eStatement adoption

The answer to customer’s fears of losing control over their documents is to “deliver” a tangible electronic copy of everything you send to your customers today in a more secure format than paper mail or online presentment – an encrypted attachment to an email.

Push the documents to your customers and all resistance will crumble.

Saving trees – killing the Post Office

Canada Post employees recently went on strike – after two weeks and with no end in sight, companies in Canada are using this opportunity to migrate customers to eBilling at a rapid rate. Although the driver here is actually hard cost savings, the outcome is that there will be even less paper bills and statements and hence less revenue for Canada Post, resulting in more cut-backs and downsizing. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

The centuries old postal system is under significant threat – but is that our problem?

Death of an institution

In the last five years, the US Postal Service has seen its mail drop by 43.1 billion pieces. No business can survive such a radical drop in demand for its services and hope to continue business as usual.

In the UK there is constant talk about privatising the Royal Mail. In fact, this has been going on for years, with downstream access already doing the bulk sorting and distribution for thousands of businesses.

What the post office always had was a monopoly on the last mile. No-one else wanted to have the headache of employing feet on the street, but the internet has created an entirely new delivery mechanism that is fast replacing traditional print and post. Of course, the consequence of this is the constantly declining volumes of corporate mail and the reality of a shrinking business model.

Every business knows that when faced with declining revenues, you need to reduce costs and cut your cloth accordingly. I guess the unions (in the case of Canada Post) and thousands of people involved in post office business models make this a difficult process.

Luddite behaviour

Unionised post office workers are the 21st century equivalent of the Luddites; their strikes are the modern day equivalent of destroying the mechanised looms that put them out of work. However, as with the Industrial revolution, there is a fundamental change afoot. Any industrial action by post office workers plays into the hands of eBilling companies and once the ‘genie is out of the bottle’, it’s hard to get it back in again - very few people go back to paper once they move to eBilling.

Post Offices around the world are reviewing their business models (we see their consultants on our website every week.) Bills and statements, once the mainstay of postal volumes, are rapidly moving to electronic delivery. For the post office to reinvent itself, it will need to embrace the connected world we now live in. It’s getting some help from ecommerce - home delivery of purchases (a possible future headline - “Amazon saves the post office”?) But is that enough?

Spare a thought for the postman

When considering eBilling, we weigh up environmental and costs savings vs. paper production and cost of distribution. The fact that the post office is now a shrinking business model is proof that many more businesses are realising the benefits and ROI associated with eBilling and are actively migrating customers from paper to electronic documents.

So while you enjoy the eBilling benefits of instant delivery, one-click payment, soft copy storage, interactive sorting and graphing and consequently saving a few trees, spare a thought for your local postman, his job is under threat. But as the cliché goes – it’s not personal, it’s just business.

Is it time to end Usernames & Passwords forever?

Do you hate usernames and passwords as much as your customers do?

Choosing and remembering multiple usernames and passwords for eBilling and self serve portals is a poor customer experience and incredibly expensive for billers. It is furthermore one of the most significant barriers to paper suppression.

Uniquely chosen usernames and passwords are intended to make websites secure, but instead, billers are simply passing the responsibility of security onto their users. In many instances, this is accompanied by predatory terms and conditions (read this blog post: Check the small print, you assume all the risk)

In truth, consumers do an extremely poor job of securing their access:

• One in ten still regularly use the word 'password'
• One in four use their mother's maiden name
• 15% use a pet's name and 10% a child's name
• Only 3% use a random password
• 30% of users have forgotten their password

Source: TNS/OneVu 2007

Customers just don't want it!

Customers are constantly telling us that the username and password process is not desirable. The December 2010, InfoTrends eBilling Report showed that 61% of consumers surveyed said that remembering multiple unique usernames and passwords remains a barrier to paperless adoption.

Not convenient for billers either

One of the biggest complaints from billers utilizing self-serve portals is the thousands of phone calls to their call centres every month from customers who have forgotten their login details. Each call costs the biller an average of $3.50 to $8.00. Online self service was meant to be cheaper and more convenient. Unfortunately in many cases it is neither. This is particularly so in circumstances where the customer rarely visits the biller's portal. This includes utilities, insurance companies and telecommunication service providers.

To date, the primary reason for customers visiting a biller's website was to make a payment. With the trend moving away from biller direct to internet banking bill pay, even this reason is dissipating.

Does eBilling have to come at the cost of customer convenience?

If username and password authentication is a poor customer experience, expensive for the biller, as well as a security risk; then how does one protect sensitive customer information and deliver on convenience, while moving to a paperless eBilling solution? Is there a way to provide an eBilling solution that is secure, cost efficient and most of all – convenient enough for the customer to turn off paper?

While it is in the interest of the biller to pull customers to their website in order to cross-sell and up-sell other goods and services, inconveniencing the customer in the process seems paradoxical.

If billers could truly deliver the bill electronically (as opposed to creating a 'fetch' scenario), they would also have a way to market to that consumer intelligently, and most importantly, in a cost effective way that is actually more convenient for the consumer.

Should additional self-service be available on the biller's website, then you can always drive them there after satisfying the primary purpose of bill delivery.

Creating the best possible customer experience:

1. Gain consent from the customer to go paperless without requiring a website registration.

2. Eliminate website registration (the number one barrier to paper suppression) by auto registering the customer at your self-serve portal and let them know that you have done so.

3. Utilize two to three simple questions to authenticate their portal access (think about when you called your bank recently, chances are they asked you 3 to 4 simple questions about yourself that only you could logically know the answers to).

4. Only ask them to choose a username and password if they are going to access the website very regularly and the question process in point 3 above is too lengthy for daily use.

For example: If I'm only visiting my insurer's website a few times a year, then asking me 2/3 simple questions is far more convenient than asking me to remember a username and password I chose 6 months ago. If I am accessing my Internet Banking more than once a week, then of course in this instance a username and password is the more convenient option.

Customers will turn off paper as long as it's convenient to do so, and while redundant authentication processes remain, eBilling adoption just won't happen.

Let's end consumer frustration and expensive customer care phone calls once and for all.

Email is very much alive and kicking

In the wake of social media, instant messaging and any other alternate and efficient means of communicating - one would surmise that email must be taking a back seat. However, many of these new technologies rely heavily on email for registration and notifications relating to their service.

While Facebook has 500 million active users, email makes Facebook look like a poor cousin in comparison. With no technology currently available to replace the messaging and notification capability of email, I see many more fruitful years of content filled emails ahead.

Some points to consider

Yes, it is true that around 80% of all email sent worldwide is SPAM, but how much of that SPAM actually reaches a user's inbox? SPAM filters have become incredibly sophisticated. But it's important to keep in mind that SPAM won't go away if people stop using email, it is channel agnostic and will merely follow people to their next choice of messaging channel (and in many cases, it already has.)

Yes, email is an old technology but email is not static - there are regular advancements in this space (Google's priority inbox, is one of the latest examples.) However, email must continue to innovate to keep pace with additional digital communication channels and I am confident it will.

Email is not dying

Recent stats in a blog published by Royal Pingdom go even further to prove that email is far from dead. Impressive numbers of email users of the world's largest three webmail services include Yahoo (Yahoo Mail) with 340 million users and Microsoft (Hotmail) with 450 million users (user numbers as per Doubleclick ad planner)

The statistics become even more compelling when coupled with information on how these services contribute to overall website traffic to their respective domains.

Gmail gets 23% of the traffic to Google.com.
Hotmail gets 39% of the traffic to Live.com.
Yahoo Mail gets 20% of the traffic to Yahoo.com.

What stands out is how large these percentages are in terms of total traffic to each domain. For Google and Microsoft, webmail traffic accounts for the second highest source in domain traffic and Yahoo Mail contributes more traffic to Yahoo.com than any other single contributor.

If any of these companies chose to discontinue their webmail services, they would suffer financial devastation through the loss of advertising revenue and valuable user behaviour statistics. They would also lose the ability to influence user behaviour through additional offerings such as Google Buzz.

Email is still the people's choice

Where does this bring us? Email is still very much alive and kicking! Choice has become the order of the day. People can choose their preferred medium of communication and while it doesn't pretend to be the best at everything, email delivers on many functions where alternatives just don't quite make the grade yet.

How is email working for you?

Nicola Els
striata.com

Postal costs rise – eBilling costs fall

The Royal Mail has implemented another increase in postal costs in the UK. Increases between 10% and 13% were applied from 4 April 2011. I say “another” because the costs of postage seem to rise every year, generally far in excess of inflation. It stands to reason that the use of eBilling as an alternative to paper is on the rise and as more and more billers and customers move to eBilling, these costs are dropping.

Both models are volume dependent and include both fixed and variable costs. As the volumes increase or decrease, the average costs adjust. The good news for eBilling is that the volumes are going up (and consequently costs down), but the bad news for postage is that the postal infrastructure costs are being spread over fewer statements and bills and hence costs have to rise.

eBilling – the Tipping Point

There has been talk of a “tipping point” for eBilling where there is a significant increase in adoption rates. The tipping point should not be confused with the milestone of the majority of bills being delivered electronically (i.e. > 50%). The tipping point may be reached before or after this event, but it all depends on the eBilling model adopted.

In 2009 we said that billers following the portal (pull) model could expect roughly 5% growth per year, whilst email (push) billers could expect growth rates of 10% - 15%. These stats have proven accurate each year.

We have also said that portals and email complement one another – in fact we believe that there will always be 3 ways to deliver bills: Print, Pull and Push.

It’s a matter of choice and customer convenience

Some customers will never change – and you will need to print their bills until they are no longer customers.

Some customers like the idea of being pulled back to a portal where they can fetch their bills as and when they want to.

But most customers just need to see the amount due and when they have to pay by; and pushing an email bill to them is perfect solution.

We are seeing a significant rise in the number of calls from billers that implemented a portal and are now looking to add Push email billing to the delivery mix to enhance their paperless adoption rates.

Email is also a very simple way of making bills accessible on a mobile device, without the additional costs of redeveloping a portal to render correctly on different mobile phones (not to mention iPads and tablets).

Do any of these statements apply to you?

• We can’t afford a 10% increase in our statement costs.
• I’m worried about achieving our paperless adoption targets this year.
• We offer paperless billing but our customers aren’t signing up.
• We’re having to increase our marketing spend to get customers to move off paper.
• I’m not sure how we are going to meet our cost reduction budgets next year.

Give us a call and ask us to assist you with saving costs, reducing paper and migrating customers to paperless billing and make sure that the only one to feel the effects of the postal increase is the Post Office!

Michael Wright
striata.com

When it comes to eBilling, are you just ticking the box or making it work commercially?

As I travel around Asia talking to companies about eBilling and looking at what eBilling solutions have already been implemented, it strikes me that the whole eBilling business is mired in misleading projections and statistics, and in many cases, apathy. Surely this is a key reason why so few people actually utilize eBilling, and why so few companies actually save money when implementing it. "In what ways?" I hear you ask! Well, I'll explain…

Let's start off with what the end-customer – the recipient – is told. Generally eBilling is sold to the end-customer as being environmentally friendly. In Asia we have GreenBills, GreenPost and other such names for electronic bills and statements, yet we know that the real reason companies implement eBilling is cost-saving. I'm not suggesting that we stop pushing the environmental aspect, but let's be honest, it's efficiency that's driving the change too.

Convenience and ease of use drives customer adoption

People appreciate efficiency, and if that efficiency actually contributes to the customer experience; the ease of receiving, opening, filing, printing (if necessary) and paying the eBill, it's going to be popular. But dressing up an inconvenient, time-consuming "log in to our portal and search for this month's bill" solution, as an environmental initiative isn't going to work for any except the greenest of customers – the rest will stick with paper, thank you very much!

eBilling portals don't drive paper turn-off – email billing does

How about the eBilling portals themselves – both corporate and consolidator portals? Just how many customers have signed up for the service? Or more importantly, how many paper bills have been turned-off? You could argue that this is commercially sensitive information and can't be divulged, but is that really the case? Contrary to this, I can quote 68% paper turn-off for Wesbank eStatements in South Africa, or 12% turn-off in 10 months for City of Tallahassee Utilities in North America - clients of Striata that aren't shy about telling the world how eBilling has helped them realize their paper turn off targets. Occasionally analyst reports come out with figures that show average eBill portal adoption rates of 2-3% per year, which maybe explains why some don't quote hard figures…

Choose an eBilling solution that works for you and your customers

And finally there is internal reporting and target-setting within the companies themselves. I've spoken with consultants working on a government eBilling initiative with a target of 5% paper turn-off in 3 years. Another example is a major utility that was looking for 2-3% paper turn-off per year. These are figures that they're hoping for – not necessarily figures that they'll reach! Hey, some people are probably getting bonuses for achieving adoption rates that would result in us having strong words with our paperless adoption consultants!

CFO's are being misled into believing that 2% or 3% adoption is good and all that can be expected, even though the business case just won't add up with figures like that. Why would they do this? I think it's partly due to my last observation: apathy.

In many cases, it seems that eBilling is implemented because "everyone else" is doing it, and it's more a case of ticking the box rather than actually trying to make it work commercially. Once the solution is implemented, it's often left to stagnate. Adoption is rarely the responsibility of one person – it's more likely a small part of the Marketing department's remit and so the savings never accrue. There's a hope that there will be a return on the investment, but not really an expectation.

What can be done about this? Doing some proper research on eBilling before deciding on what solution to implement is a good start. Establish what paper turn-off rates can be expected? Understand what has worked well in similar companies or what you need to do differently to be successful? Set tough but achievable adoption targets and make someone responsible for hitting them. Look to provide an eBilling service that your end-customers will want to use, not feel forced to use. Don't play at eBilling – work at it!

Want to know what eBilling adoption rates you can really expect?

Keith Russell
striata.com

Check the small print, you assume all the risk!

Have you ever wondered why customers resist signing up for eBilling and auto pay? Primarily they ask "What's in it for me?"

Assuring customers that it is safe to switch to paperless billing and payments should be a pre-requisite, surely? Apparently not, as I found out this week.

Do you read the small print or Terms & Conditions for every website before signing up to use their online services? You probably should.

When I tried to enroll at Verizon's online portal this week, I read through its Terms & Conditions and was stunned by what was there - especially coming from a $100 billion telecoms giant that (apparently) places so much emphasis on providing the best possible service to its 94 million customers.

Here are the Terms & Conditions that Verizon forces customers to agree to (copied word for word from their website):

"Online Billing
To the extent you utilize Verizon online services, you acknowledge and agree that Verizon makes no guarantee that communications or transactions conducted online will be absolutely secure. You further acknowledge and agree that there may be system failure that may limit your ability to use the online services. You agree to assume all risk and liability arising from your use of Verizon online services, including the risk of breach in the security of the communications or transactions you conduct with Verizon online. You understand and agree that Verizon online services are provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, whether expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or otherwise."

And it gets better!

Even if you agree to these ridiculous terms, here's what you're up against when deciding whether or not to sign up for Automatic Bill Payment - which is by far their preferred method of receiving / taking payment from you.

Please carefully read the Terms and Conditions for the Automatic Bill Payment (ABP) option:
By enrolling in, using, or paying for Verizon service by ABP, you agree to these terms and conditions:
4.1. I understand and agree that Verizon is not liable for erroneous bill statements or incorrect debits/charges.
4.2. If a billing error occurs, Verizon is responsible for correcting, if and when, I notify Verizon of the error.

Then I got over-charged…

To make matters worse, Verizon did actually make a mistake on my account, to the tune of a $250 over-charge. Having spoken to no less than 4 different call center agents, I was told the only way its "billing system" could resolve the issue, was for me to pay the full amount, including its error and then have Verizon credit my account.

The point of this blog post is not to highlight Verizon's shortcomings, nor the lengths its lawyers have gone to in order to protect the company from lawsuits, but it does raise one incredibly important question….

How difficult are you really making it for customers to go paperless?

Speak to a Striata Adoption Expert today to find out the right way to transition customers from paper mail.

Barrie Arnold
striata.com

eBilling greenwashing is hogwash

eBilling is "green" – everyone knows this. It's a truism so obvious and self-evident that it is hardly worth mentioning. So, for eBilling to be attacked as 'greenwashing' seems disingenuous to say the least, especially coming from a lobbyist bought and paid for by the very industry suffering from eBilling's success.

Recently "Two Sides" (a lobbying initiative by companies in forestry, pulp, paper, inks and chemicals, pre press, press, finishing, publishing and printing) started beating their drum about the "Greenwashing of eBilling". They maintain that in the UK 45% of major banks, 70% of telecoms, and 30% of utilities risk greenwash sanctions for claiming that eBilling was "green" without verifiable proof.ⁱ

The issue that upsets them so much is that the banks, telcos and utilities are enjoying substantial cost reductions from moving to electronic billing and therefore can't claim to be doing it for altruistic environmental reasons like saving the planet and lowering Co2 emissions.

And they are particularly upset because their bankrollers are seeing revenue decline as customers choose to "Go Green" by going paperless. It seems to be a fairly self serving argument – but I guess that's their job.

It is interesting that Two Sides are not disputing that eBilling is more cost effective – but they are harping on the technicalities that the organisations making the claims have not done the "verifiable research" to back-up the "green" claims and therefore could be "contravening the latest CAP code (Committee for Advertising Practice) which states that environmental "claims must be supported by a high level of substantiation".ⁱⁱ

Of course to some people it may not seem that obvious that an email is going to result in less pollutants than a piece of paper. There are no trees to cut down, no effluent waste water and no solid waste in the production of emails.

Two Sides point out that the data centres are needed to host and run the eBilling processes consume vast amounts of power but interestingly enough they don't provide any verifiable research to back this up. Common sense would dictate that the power consumption is not a significant factor in comparing the "green" credentials of eBilling vs. paper & print as similar servers would be used in both process, except in the case of eBilling there are no massive printers to run and no network of delivery trucks to distribute the documents – eBilling uses a tiny piece of an existing network (the internet) and such a small proportion of the end users computer power as to be statistically negligible.

Two Sides goes onto say that "Print Media... being based upon a renewable and recyclable material, may be the sustainable way to communicate."

What a load of Hogwash!

Just because trees are a renewable resource doesn't mean that paper is a sustainable way to communicate. This is so self-serving it stinks more than the sulphuric smell that pervades pulping plants.ⁱⁱⁱ

In its submission to the European Commission on Electronic Invoicing, Two Sides urged the Commission "to recognise the economic benefits derived from the paper, printing and postal... as thousands of jobs and livelihoods are wholly or partly dependent on the wider paper, printing and postal industries", i.e. please don't eat our lunch.

Unfortunately for Two Sides, the cat is well and truly out the bag on this one. eBilling saves costs as it turns off paper. Market forces will dictate that businesses drive down costs and eBilling is a prime opportunity to do that. If this means that the bankrollers of Two Sides feel the pinch – that's just normal business – there's no use whining about it.

As for the 'verifiable research' you only have to visit www.papercalculator.org to work out the environmental benefits from switching from paper to email. In addition, here are a few links that provide more information and proof that paper is a messy business:

• Paper recycling: exposing the myths
• Energy Efficiency for the Pulp and Paper Industry
• Environmental impacts of the paper industry
• Water pollution as a result of paper and pulping production

---

ⁱ http://www.twosides.info
ⁱⁱ http://www.cap.org.uk
ⁱⁱⁱ http://www.rfu.org

Part III: Why & how email delivery is succeeding, where eBill Consolidators are failing:

My first two blog posts on this subject dealt with why consolidators here in the US will never work. In today's post, I cover the comparison between eBill / eStatement consolidators and true electronic delivery solutions:

There are five primary areas where email delivery of bills and statements succeeds, where consolidators have and will continue to fail.

1. Biller and consumer critical mass:

Why consolidators fail: To benefit consumers; consolidators should have the majority of a customer's bills in a central location. Due to the size of the US biller market this is simply impossible.To date, even mature consolidators that have been building a base for several years, have failed to exceed 20% of the average household's bills. The new entrants to this segment are yet to realize the futility of this endeavor.

On the flip side however, biller's won't subscribe to a service without a significant percentage of their consumers already enrolled. A true chicken and egg scenario.

Why email delivery succeeds: As the bill is delivered directly into the customer's inbox, it makes no difference whether it is one email bill or several a month. Just like in the physical mail scenario, getting one bill or many is just as convenient for both biller and recipient. Most importantly, it gives each and every biller the ability to deliver bills to their customers, without the need for a location to gather a critical mass of consumers.

2. Registration / enrollment:

Why consolidators fail: A recent survey conducted by InfoTrends showed that of the 1,042 consumers surveyed, 61% said that remembering multiple unique usernames & passwords remains a significant barrier to paperless adoption. Convincing the majority of consumers to register on biller's websites has proven to be an insurmountable marketing feat. For the consolidator however, it's even worse, as the customer has to have many pieces of information at hand for each biller at that location. Add to this the fact that consumers do not want another mailbox nor to have to choose and remember yet another username and password.

Why email delivery succeeds: Quite simple - there is no registration process. The bill arrives in the customer's existing email inbox and is opened using a secure 'shared secret' (not a password, rather personal details known to the biller and the recipient). There is no need to choose or remember anything. There are also no marketing dollars required to drive the customer to sign up for anything.

3. Paper suppression:

Why consolidators fail: For a consolidator website to be considered successful at paper suppression by any biller, they will need to achieve suppression rates in excess of 10% per year, per biller. Currently statistics show that less than 5% of consumers enroll at consolidator websites and 50% of those still don't go paperless - the math cannot hope to add up.

Why email delivery succeeds: By delivering the bill or statement as a securely encrypted email attachment, the recipient can opt to go paperless with just one click - no form to complete, no website to visit, no username & password to complete, in fact, nothing to do at all except simply receive an email.

4. Bill stuffers / electronic marketing:

Why consolidators fail: Due to the website nature of viewing bills at a consolidator, within a multi-biller environment and along with the fact that the biller does not have any ownership of the viewing real estate, marketing to consumers at consolidator websites is a considerable challenge, if offered at all. There is certainly no advanced personalization possible.

Why email delivery succeeds: It is automated and extremely cost effective to insert and overlay marketing messages into the body of an email, the white space of the bill and entire pages inserted into the secure attachment. Furthermore, this can be personalized down to the individual recipient, resulting in a bill marketing tool that is significantly more powerful than the paper bill, the biller's own website and definitely any consolidator.

5. Mobile:

Why consolidators fail: Navigating a mobile website or downloading an app is just inconvenient, a poor user experience and requires pre-registration. In addition, paying through a mobile website is an even worse experience than just viewing it. (To date no consolidators have offered a mobile option, but we believe that in 2011 there will be a first attempt.)

Why email delivery succeeds: An email attachment can be opened on any email capable device, without the need for the recipient to do anything. In addition, the same email will be waiting on the recipient's computer for viewing later. Payment can be initiated with just a single click.

And finally it is relevant to point out that where new consolidator entrants are in start-up / concept stage, secure electronic document delivery via email has been successful in 14 countries (including the USA) for 12 years, for more than 250 large Billers and Financial Institutions, including 3 of the top 10 banks).

When considering your paper suppression strategy, do you go with a new idea that has never worked before, but is at best a 'nice' idea, or do you chose a direction with a decade of referencable, proven success stories?

Garin Toren
striata.com

Another day, another phishing scam

I've seen hundreds of phishing emails over the past couple years. Some brilliantly written; others that wouldn't fool the clichéd blonde in a bar.

The good ones can be tricky to recognize: they seem to come from a valid service provider, are exact replicas of a real communication, and I reluctantly admit, are rather professionally done.

The bad ones are just that: BAD - Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, broken images, inconsistent messages. I even received one branded as if from Bank A, but with a call to action for Bank B. Very confusing, and hardly likely to dupe anyone.

But yet these scams must have some level of success or the crooks would hang up their HTML and look elsewhere for easy targets.

The problem is that so many Internet users are just that: easy targets. Some believe that because they don't understand "technology", they can't arm themselves against digital-media fraud. In reality, many of the techniques used to recognize a phishing attempt, have more to do with common sense, than with being an Internet super-user.

The only way to avoid being a victim of phishing is to educate yourself.

How can you tell if an email is fraudulent?

• Fraudsters don’t know who you are. 99.9% of email phishing is “spray and pray”, so the email is actually not directed at you personally. They happen to have your email address, but they have no other personal information about you. Don’t respond or interact with any email which is not addressed to you personally in the body of the email.
• Fraudsters want your personal information. The purpose of a phishing email is to get information from you that enables access to your money. A phishing email will ask for your personal security information, such as your ATM pin, or your credit card number and pin. Banks will never send an email requesting your ATM or card pin. Any communication that asks you for your internet banking login or password, or anything to do with an ATM is a scam.
• Fraudsters pray on ignorance. A phishing email is designed to look real, but there are always ways to recognize fraud. Online commerce, internet banking, email statements are all the way of the future. Which means that, unfortunately, scams will also be part of our future online experience. Get informed. Don’t be a passive Internet user.

Use common sense.

If the content of an email seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files, regardless of who sent them. Don’t email your personal, financial or password information, EVER.

Stay on top of announcements from your Bank about their email communication and Internet Banking policies. Banks regularly update their fraud notices, as well as provide fraud detection software and tips on how to avoid becoming a victim.

If you do receive a suspicious email, take the time to report it to your Bank’s fraud division – all relevant information in this regard, as well as contact details should be on your Bank’s website.

Alison Treadaway
striata.com

eBilling horror stories! Do you have one?

An interesting story appeared in my Google Alerts a little while ago regarding an eBilling problem in Texas. What made it interesting to me was that the company involved – a water utility – had done many good things with regards to their eBilling, but fell at the last hurdle and ended up disconnecting an innocent customer. Not good for public relations! The full story is here.

In brief, when eBilling was introduced the utility sent out paper and eBills to the customer for a few months, before defaulting her to eBilling. In general, this process improves the eBilling adoption rate dramatically - reducing paper and postage costs and is good practice – as long as you know the customer is receiving the eBills! It turns out that this particular customer's email address was 2 years out of date, and she never received any eBill or notice that she was being defaulted to eBilling. To make matters worse, the utility noticed that the eBills weren't being paid and so occasionally sent out paper bills to "catch up", which were received and paid on time. But they then continued with eBilling until they disconnected her…

eBilling is not just about sending electronic bills…

Clearly whilst the eBilling platform was probably successfully sending out eBills, the required read-receipt and delivery reporting wasn't in place. Clearly the processes dealing with exceptions weren't water-tight.

In a similar story but much closer to home; my friend got a call from her bank today telling her that payments toward her new credit-card – issued in September – had never been received and over US$400 in late fees was now due. It turns out that she thought she'd set up a direct debit payment (and hadn't – so that's her fault), but had also signed up for eStatements. These eStatements necessitated following a link back to a website and a log in to view the statement, and she'd just never bothered to do so as it was too much trouble (and hey, it was being paid automatically anyway, wasn't it…?) Did the bank not know she'd never viewed an eStatement? Should alarm bells not have started ringing after the first credit-card bill wasn't paid rather than 4 months later? Seems not!

The poor water customer in Texas had to pay a substantial reconnection fee but thankfully for my friend, her late fees were waived. However in both instances the customer ended up inconvenienced, disgruntled and dissatisfied with the electronic billing process.

Both of these stories show how the delivery of an eBill is only the start of the eBilling process, not the end of it! Convenience is critical to ensure eBills or eStatements are actually viewed. Monitoring of delivery and read-receipts is required, as is having automated processes set up to deal with issues. An eBill bounces? Then automatically send the customer an SMS… No reply to that? Then send a paper bill and get the call-centre to follow-up with the customer. And before eBilling begins, the adoption process has to be fail-safe but optimized to ensure the highest possible paper suppression rates.

Is it all starting to sound a bit more complicated than just attaching a PDF bill to an email? Then speak to the experts who have been doing it for 10 years…

Keith Russell
www.striata.com

Do you have what your customers want…. Mobile eBilling?

I can't think of any other consumer technology news that has been more eagerly anticipated in the US recently, than Verizon announcing that they will be introducing the iPhone in February 2011. While one analyst report estimates that 25 million Verizon iPhones could be activated in 2011, Verizon Wireless is conservatively predicting 11 million new iPhone users this year. On a global scale, the introduction of the CDMA version of the iPhone would open up approximately 550 million potential new customers (134 million in India alone), according to the CDMA Development Group. A massive gauntlet has just been thrown down to developers of Android devices as well.

The ramifications for all of this on eBilling are HUGE!

Whether you're an avid smartphone user (like me), an occasional mobile internet user, or someone who only uses their phone for calls and SMS text messages, the allure of the smartphone is undeniable. Opening the floodgates to the web and more importantly, email (by far the most used consumer technology application) means that your customers who, today receive paper bills, will be far more accessible.

Mobile eBilling and the World Wide Web

But wait… is your website configured and optimized for mobile users? Or will they just see a very small, unreadable version of their eBill? As companies desperately try to convert their customers to paperless communications in a bid to reduce costs, are they paying enough attention to how consumers connect to the web?

Most banks and billers have built their portals without this in mind. Have you ever tried to log-in and view / pay a bill from your phone? The whole experience is not for the technology or security averse, especially when the same exercise usually involves 10 steps and many mouse-clicks to complete on your regular computer screen.

I'm not suggesting for a second that the personal computer is becoming redundant, but isn't the whole point of being able to check emails and connect to the net from the palm of your hand, intended to make your life more efficient? So that you have more time for the things you want to do (Unfortunately paying bills doesn't often fall into this category.)

Striata's new mobile one-click payment solution

How cool would it be if you could view a PDF of your bill right on your phone, and tap your screen to make an instant payment, then file the bill in an email folder, all in less than 60 seconds? Talk about convenience! (not to mention billers getting paid quicker).

This is exactly what Striata launched at FinovateEurope this week. Striata's new mobile one-click payment solution is an industry first, enabling bill recipients to see how much is owed and conveniently make an instant one-click payment directly from any internet enabled mobile device. More good news: it doesn't require billers to spend anything on optimizing their portals for mobile users.

Striata continues to blaze a trail of innovation in paperless communication solutions. For more than a decade, we have had a very clear focus on providing both individual (B2C) and commercial (B2B) consumers with more convenience and ease of access to handling tasks that to date are predominately paper based.

Coincidentally, in a recent research report by InfoTrends entitled The Future of Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment in North America, 2010, companies surveyed said the most effective strategy for driving eBilling adoption was "marketing the convenience".

Isn't it time to put your money where your mouth is? Talk to a Striata specialist today about what enhancing customer convenience will do for your business.

Barrie Arnold
www.striata.com

10 eBill Presentment & eStatement predictions for 2011

Despite all the activity and market hype surrounding eBilling and eStatements for the past 7 years and in particular in 2010; we believe that 2011 will not herald anything really significant. Unfortunately we expect it to be a "more of the same" year.

Here's how we see it playing out:

1. Billers will yet again fail to suppress any meaningful percentage of paper bills: Over the past 3 years, billers in North America have managed to turn off an average of 2% to 3% of their total paper bills per year. This year will be exactly the same with the exception of those billers that have been driving paper suppression for 5 years or more, and are now approaching 15% paper suppressed, they will see a diminishing increase as they move beyond the innovator and early- adopter segments of their customer bases.


2. Banks will fail to turn off more than a few percent of paper statements: Unless banks come up with a way to electronically deliver statements; paper turn off rates will disappoint yet again in 2011. Read this previous blog I wrote on why 82.639% of internet bankers will not turn off paper statements.

3. Biller electronic payment will continue to migrate to internet banking: The trend of electronic bill pay migrating away from Biller Direct websites to internet banking bill pay will continue. The migration will not only continue here in the USA but will gather momentum somewhat in 2011 in other first world countries.

4. Banks will fail in their attempts to gain critical mass in 'presenting' bills within internet banking: The math doesn't add up and billers don't want it. For the same reasons why other consolidators of bill presentment will always fail, so too will banks that try to do the same thing. Which leads me to my next prediction...

5. eBilling Consolidators will fail to gain significant traction: I recently wrote a blog on why eBill consolidators will always fail. This coming year will be no exception.

6. We will see the first negative paper suppression incentives and a subsequent consumer push-back: As has been tried many times internationally, charging people for a paper statement / bill not only has immediate, vocal, churn inducing and dramatic customer push-back, it also has only minimal paper suppression success. Nonetheless we'll see some major billers go down this ill-advised path over the next 12 months.

7. Positive incentives for paper suppression will continue to have disappointing results: It has been proven time and time again that if your only paper statement / bill alternative is to view and download an electronic version from a website, then incentives will have little to no appeal to the mass consumer market.

8. New 'push' players will emerge in the US market: Being the only game in town is no fun. After hearing about it for ages, we really do expect one or even two new "push" players to launch in the US market. We are also hoping that the handful of billers who have told us repeatedly that they are developing push eBilling themselves will actually go ahead and go live this year.

9. Billers and financial institutions that rolled out email document delivery and email billing programs will enjoy another 12% paper suppression increase: Both the US and Canada will see the public launch of top tier consumer brands deploying a 'push' strategy.

10. Email will continue to clean up its act: Email has seen dramatic improvements these past 24 months with regards to inbox functionality, auto-organizing, spam control and deliverability. We expect this trend to continue and strengthen in 2011.

In conclusion

Perhaps the only noticeable occurrence in 2011 will be the lack of traction of the two new biller consolidators in the US market. We can therefore expect 2011 to be a foundation, building year for 2012 with consolidation amongst vendors, mobile strategies gaining some penetration and yet another 10% of 'me-too' billers building and launching self serve portals in the vain hopes of suppressing paper and postage.

And finally, Striata US grew by 40% in 2010 and we aim to exceed this considerably in 2011 with at least 40 new bank and biller clients.

Do we have it covered? What are your predictions for eBilling in 2011?

Garin Toren
Striata USA - Chief Operating Officer
striata.com

Why eBill consolidators will always fail

There has been a lot of press recently about yet another eBill consolidator start-up. What's different this time however is that they have generated enough hype to get the analysts excited and buying into the idea.

As far as we can see the user interface is pretty slick, but outside of that, it's seems to suffer from the same issues as all consolidators that we've seen before.

Let's start by defining eBilling success from the biller's point of view:

• Maximum customer satisfaction;
• Full control over the bill and delivery medium;
• A majority of electronic payment;
• Intelligent marketing capabilities;
• Mobile capable by default;
• Paper bill suppression

Every consumer biller we meet has these success criteria, and success is only achieved when these are all satisfied.

So why can't a consolidator model meet these requirements?

1. Attaining critical mass is simply impossible:
In order for a consolidation location to be successful, more than 50% of the consumer's bills should be there already when they arrive for the first time. In fact, 75% would be optimum. This is where the chicken and egg scenario begins. Billers won't come on board without consumers using the location and consumers won't sign up if the billers aren't there.

I live in arguably the most connected city in the USA and both my bank consolidator (BOA) and CheckFree can only offer me 2 of my 11 household bills. This is further exacerbated by the sheer size of the USA. A consolidator would need to literally sign up in excess of 10 000 billers to even get close to the 50%. This is quite simply impossible.

2. Registration / enrolment is a major barrier:
Approximately 55% to 75% of North American consumers are signed up for internet banking, have multiple email addresses and a Facebook account. As the biller direct self service portals have experienced, a maximum of 25% of consumers will register on their websites (and this takes 5 years to achieve). Of those, on average only a quarter will go paperless (5% to 9% of total customer base), unless paperless is a condition of registration-which does encourage paperless, but radically reduces enrolment.

What consumers don't want is yet another location to visit and register, as well as another username & password to remember.

Today, in the USA , most banks offer very efficient bill payment capability and as it takes less than two seconds to open a paper envelope to see my amount due or bill detail, what possible incentive could there be to make this experience 20 to 30 times less convenient?

3. Consolidators do not have biller control:
Bill delivery is directly linked to bill payment - most consumers will only pay their bills when they receive them. With paper,, billers have total control over the creation and posting of their bills. Similarly, by using their own websites along with notification emails, they achieve this (albeit to a much smaller audience). Having your bill available through a consolidation partner is 'outsourcing' this timing in many instances. Consumers may wait until they have more than one bill available at the consolidator website before choosing to login and view them.

4. The proof is in the end result - poor paper bill suppression:
Customer satisfaction is touted as the number one billing priority. Yet it is paper suppression that drives almost 100% of the eBilling cost savings. Without paper turn off you may as well not offer eBilling, as it then simply adds to your total billing costs. Consumers are happy to pay their bills through their internet banking.

In order to consider an eBilling program a paper suppression success, the biller needs to turn off a minimum of 10% paper per year, every year, up to 50% (it slows after this).

Consolidator solutions only achieve 3% paper suppression on average per year, and plateaux at approximately 12% at best (after 5 years).

5. Billers are not prepared to lose this key marketing touch point:
Unlike paper, inserting intelligent marketing into a self service portal is a significant challenge. Furthermore, it is only applicable to the minority of customers who choose to use the portal. This is even more so in the case of a consolidator website where billers effectively lose the ability to market to their consumers. As we all know, the bill is, in most instances, the biller's only touch point with the consumer. Are they prepared to lose this to go paperless? Over the past decade, all the billers that we have spoken to tell us they most definitely are not.

6. Not mobile ready:
The majority of consumers are not going to download an app or visit a mobile website just so the biller can turn off the paper bill. There is just no compelling reason for them to do so. So for any mobile strategy, to achieve paper suppression success, it has to be mobile ready by default: The recipient must be able to view their eBill on their mobile device without having to pre-register or download anything.


To sum up; it's not going to happen:

It is our view that no website based eBill consolidator will ever succeed in a market as large and diverse as the United States, no matter how large the hype or marketing budget. If the likes of Fiserv / CheckFree (after 8 years and almost unlimited budgets) cannot get it right, it's simply impossible that any start-up can, irrespective of a good UI and significant funding.

The only way billers (using the consolidator model) are going to get more than 30% of their customers paperless, is to make it mandatory and deal with the customer backlash - a strategy we strongly advise against.

The solution? It takes 4 fundamental changes:

1. Eliminate the registration barrier by offering intelligent one-click eConsent (no username & password to chose and remember).
2. Deliver the electronic bill directly to the consumer without requiring them to link back to any website, in a way that is also mobile device capable by default.
3. Include one-click electronic payment without the need to pre-register or visit any website.
4. Intelligently insert marking and regulatory notices - just like you do in the paper world, only at 95% less cost.

Most importantly... - do not ask the recipient to do anything to receive their eBill. If you think the above is impossible, ask a Striata expert today how it can be done.

Dispelling the myths around email security

In previous blogs I addressed the benefits of presenting electronic documents via self service portals / Internet banking websites vs. their inability to achieve paper suppression.

Whether you choose to deploy a 'Push' or a 'Pull solution; security and risk are key to determining a successful strategy. Today I want to address what makes a "push" eDocument delivery approach the better choice when weighing up the risk and security factors. But before I do that, let me dispel some myths about email security that I've recently heard mentioned.

Click here for a comparative on ‘Push’ vs. ‘Pull’ and how these solutions complement each other

Email security myths dispelled:

MYTH 1: Email can be stolen en-masse at an ISP: I've heard some winners in my 15 years in this industry but this takes first prize. Yes, email can be stolen at ISP's in the same way your money can be stolen at the bank by bank employees. I know a few ISP Executives who would take some affront at this accusation.

MYTH 2: Email can be stolen en-route: Email can be stolen en-route in the same way a USPS vehicle can be hijacked and your physical mail stolen. It’s possible but incredibly difficult, expensive and most importantly, a serious crime. Unlike a USPS truck however, for a fraudster to locate a specific email would be like finding a needle in a haystack the size of Montana. On top of which they then have to brute force attack the encryption (more time & money.) The result of which is then a PDF copy of one consumer’s bill or statement. The reality is that even if one knew how, it is simply commercially unfeasible to do so (far easier to simply hijack that truck or steal your mail from your postbox.)

MYTH 3: PDF attachments trigger spam filters: Simply not true. Spam triggers spam filters. And if you send spam with PDF’s then these will also be blocked.

'Push' eDocument delivery - the better choice

Striata has delivered billions of secure electronic documents for over 11 years, in 14 countries and for over 250 major Financial Services, Telecommunication, Utilities and Corporates, including 3 of the top 8 banks in the world.

From a security and risk perspective, 'Push' eDocument delivery is the better choice. As major players in this field, this is how we address it:

The Striata eDocument Delivery process has four security areas:

1. Email Address Verification – Explicit knowledge that your customer email addresses on file are accurate and current. For those who aren't; we have the Striata Email Address Verification program, which uses email and mobile phone text messaging to confirm and gather email addresses.
2. Striata eConsent – The process of gaining intelligent & compliant consent to go paperless, with just one click. Once the sender has an accurate and current email address, a highly personalized and Sender Authenticated eConsent email is sent to the consumer. There are two buttons in the email body, one to consent to go paperless and one to decline to do so – the recipient just clicks on one of them. There is no website to visit, no enrollment form, no choosing & remembering of usernames & passwords
3. Striata Sender Authentication – The recipient has intuitive knowledge that the sender is who they purport to be. Other than the various technology elements like SPF Records. DKIM etc, Striata utilizes a multi faceted approach to creating this intuitive trust. These include:

• Actual sender’s domain: The message comes from the sender’s address: for example. This should always be the actual address and not a spoofed one (if you had to do a reverse DNS lookup you would find the sender’s verifiable domain.)
• Subject line: We include the recipient's name in the Subject line
• Salutation: A full greeting is used: Dear Mr. John Smith
• Striata Authenticated: In the body of the email is a highlighted area which contains two to five partial pieces of information about the consumer. This may include physical address, account number, primary phone number etc.

4. Recipient Identification – The sender is assured that only the intended recipient has access to the secured Document content. There are two major ways (levels) that the sender is ensured that only the intended recipient can gain access to the secured information (bill, statements etc.)

• Access to the email inbox: Email accounts are very well protected by physical access to a device or in most cases through a username & password.
• Knowledge of a 'shared secret': In addition to the previous layer, Striata Secured PDF's are encrypted with a minimum of 128 bit RC4 encryption. The PDF is decrypted through recipient knowledge of a 'shared secret'. This is a partial piece of information known only to the sender and recipient. (Last 5 digits of a Social Security Number is a good example of this.)

It is very important that these two security layers are viewed hand in hand. The PDF is not in a publically accessible location and can only be decrypted by somebody who has BOTH access to the email account and who knows the 'shared secret'.

Peace of mind that the message is genuine

The combination of all of the above is what gives consumers explicit and intuitive trust (without any education) that the message is genuine.

In conclusion – when executed correctly, the processes and methodologies described above result in a security landscape that is significantly more secure than a two field password protected website. Most importantly however, is that these processes are many, many times more convenient for the end consumer, and, as we all know, convenience equals customer satisfaction.

Garin Toren
Chief Operating Officer, America
striata.com