Online Bill Payment

Online Bill Payment or eBilling is the electronic delivery and presentation of statements, bills, invoices and related information that is sent by a business to its customers.  Some of the more advanced Online Bill Payment systems permit customers to electronically settle payment for the goods or services. eBilling is also referred to as EBPP (Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment) or EIPP (Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment).

Online Bill Payment is a common form of online bill presentation and processing of payment transactions.

Quick Online Bill Payment Jumps:

• Different Types of Online Bill Payment Approaches
• Why Consider Online Bill Payment?
• How Widely Used is Online Bill Payment?
• Online Bill Payment's Positive Impact on the Environment
• Striata's Online Bill Payment Solution

Methods of Online Bill Payment

Historically, most companies present bills to the customer via a Web site, using one of the models already discussed. Others offer customers the option of paying directly via email. For these billers, the question becomes: Do you "push" the Electronic Bill to your customer in an email or "pull" her to a Web site?

The pull model requires the customer to log onto the Web site to view an invoice before authorising payment. The push model presents the Electronic Bill in a secure email and allows the customer to authorise payment using a button embedded in the message. Because it does not require log-in, push minimises the cost and overhead of helping customers when they forget their usernames and passwords.

Either way, the bills are paid by credit card or, to reduce the potential for fraud, by draft through an automated clearing house (ACH) that handles the transaction processing. Both methods also include all the things that customers would expect to find in a paper bill: the invoice, company and regulatory data, and information on other company services and offerings. So Online Bill Payment still provides the upselling opportunities that used to share envelope space with mailed bills.

What are the Benefits of Online Bill Payment?

The introduction of Online Bill Payment has enabled many large-volume billers to reduce costs associated with billing their customers (printing, paper, postage). These cost reductions have played an important role in these billers’ ability to maintain a competitive edge.

Online Bill Payment Benefits for Billers:

Online Bill Payment Benefits for Consumers include:

• Convenient access: 24/7 access from any Internet connection.
• Information is secure and confidential.
• Process saves time — customers no longer need to wait to receive their billing statement in the mail.
• Free service (most billers do not charge for the convenience of EBPP)
• Access to historical billing statements, without having to request reprints.
• User-friendly format of billing statement.
• Easy online access and payment of bills.

How Widely Used is Online Bill Payment?

More and more customers are going to their keyboards instead of their mailboxes to collect and pay bills for their homes and businesses. In fact, a majority of customers who have at-home Internet access now say they actually prefer Online Bill Payment to the old paper-based way of doing business, according to the April 2007 Consumer Bill Payment Survey, conducted on behalf of Online Bill Payment vendor CheckFree by Harris Interactive and the Marketing Workshop.

According to CheckFree, the most important aspect of Online Bill Payment is that it provides a way of enhancing the customer relationship. "It's more secure, it's more convenient, and it's faster," she says, adding that when companies implement Online Bill Payment, "they're creating a customer-satisfier."

Online Bill Payment's Positive Impact on the Environment

A new study by Calif.-based Javelin Strategy and Research, found that if all the nation's households just received and paid bills using Online Bill Payment solutions, they'd save 16.5 million trees each year, or the amount of lumber needed to build 216,054 typical single-family homes.

Striata have calculated that for every 500,000 bills printed, the following environmental damage is done:

• 13 tons of paper is used
• 26 tons of trees are destroyed
• 214,000 gallons of water is used
• 25,233 pounds of solid waste is generated
• 780 pounds of air emissions are spewed out
• 65,754 pounds of greenhouse gases are emitted
  
  (Using tools provided at papercalculator.org)

Implementing Online Bill Payment provides a powerful Corporate Social Responsibility message to your customers and shareholders.

Striata's Online Bill Payment Solution

To find out more how Striata can assist in your switch to Online Bill Payment, read our Online Bill Payment Guidelines.