According to the study, consumers want a bill payment experience that is as easy, convenient and intuitive as a push of the button. Security and speed are the drivers of decision-making with satisfaction as the key outcome.
Consumers want a fast and easy way to pay bills. Not only is payment processing expected to be faster, but the payment interaction is expected to be faster as well. One in 4 households report using the non-registered ‘guest checkout option’ at biller sites for convenience and to avoid entering passwords. More than 8 in 10 households surveyed say that real-time or same-day processing is important to very important.
More than 27 million bill payers are more concerned about security than they were a year ago. In terms of consumers’ perceptions of the most secure ways to receive and pay bills, bank bill pay and biller direct options are virtually tied with 32% and 33%, respectively. These are followed by mail with 25%, email with 8% and nonbanking sites with only 2%.
Providing multiple bill payment options increases satisfaction and the link between payment options and customer satisfaction strengthened significantly in the past twelve months. Overall, 7 in 10 respondents say that options for multiple ways to pay increase their customer satisfaction. Paperless electronic bills are a top satisfaction driver with 66% of consumers surveyed indicating receiving electronic bills increases their satisfaction with billers. Another 36% say the availability of paperless electronic bills makes them less likely to switch to a competitor.
The survey was completed by 3,001 consumers, representative of US checking account holders 21 and older responsible for paying household bills. The Survey’s sample represents approximately 110 million households using the internet.
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