What Customers Want From Billing and Payment Features

www.esource.com Monday, January 3, 2014
What Customers Want From
Billing and Payment Features
Sarah Fiebiger
Senior Analyst, Market Research Services
@ESourceSarah
January 3, 2014

www.esource.com || © 2014 E Source
Top 15 Utility Customer Services & Information Features by Channel
Website (Desktop/ Laptop) Mobile Website/ App IVR
• Contact information
• View your current bill
• Payment and billing options
• Check your account balance
• Manage your online account
• Report an outage or gas leak
• View a summary of your
account information
• Pricing options
• Make a one-time payment
• View your payment history
• Contact information
• Report a power outage or gas leak
• Payment and billing options
account information
• Access outage or gas leak
information specific to your
location
• Reach a live agent
• Your account balance
• Find out if your payment was
received
• Outage or gas leak information
specific to your location
• Whether and when service will be
disconnected
• Start, stop, or transfer service
when moving
• General updates on outages or
gas leak restorations
• Submit a service order
• Status of a service order
2
What’s Important to Residential Customers
Notes: Results from the E Source Residential Customer Service Survey 2013, a survey of more than 1,000 residential customers in the US and Canada.
Questions—”How important, if at all, is it to you that each of the following types of information be available at your energy provider's full (desktop or laptop)
website?”, “How important, if at all, is it to you that each of the following types of customer services be available at your energy provider's full (desktop or laptop)
website?”, "How important, if at all, is it to you that each of the following types of information be available at your energy provider's mobile website or mobile app?",
"How important, if at all, is it to you that each of the following types of customer services be available at your energy provider's mobile website or mobile app?“, “How
important, if at all, is it to you that you hear an option for each of the following types of information on your energy provider's automated phone menu?”, “How
important, if at all, is it to you that you hear an option for each of the following types of customer services on your energy provider's automated phone menu?” The
highest-scoring features are shown based on the top-two box score, which is the percentage of residential customers who selected a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale,
where 1 = not at all important and 10 = very important. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of 34 different features. u
© E Source

www.esource.com || © 2014 E Source3
What Residential Customers Have Used
Top 10 Utility Customer Services & Information Features Residential
Customers Have Accessed
Website (Desktop/ Laptop) Mobile Website/ App IVR
• View payment and billing
options
account information
• View your energy usage history
• View contact information
• View past bills
• View payment and billing
options
• View contact information
account information
• View your energy usage history
• View energy-saving tips
• Hear your account balance
• Hear billing options
• Get extra time to pay your bill
• Find out if your payment was
received
• Hear the date and amount of the
last payment posted
• Set up recurring monthly
payments
• Set up a payment arrangement
to pay off an overdue balance
• Hear general updates on outages
or gas leak restorations
Notes: Results from the E Source Residential Customer Service Survey 2013, a survey of more than 1,000 residential customers in the US and
Canada. Question—"Using the following devices, what have you done on your energy provider's website in the past 12 months? - Mobile device
(smartphone or tablet) - Desktop or laptop computer – automated phone system.” Features that 25 percent or more of respondents selected are
shown in the table. Respondents could select from 30 different features.
© E Source

Electronic Payments are Taking Over
39%
45%
49%
55%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2009 2010 2011 2012
Averagepercentageofpayments
Year
© E SourceNote: Results from the E Source E-Business Metrics Survey 2013.

Decrease in Traditional Payment
Channel Adoption
2012: 2.8%
2011: 3.5%
Electronic, phone IVR
2012: 27.0%
2011: 25.3%
Electronic, websites
2012: 23.4%
2011: 19.0%
Electronic, other
2012: 7.0%
2011: 9.0%
Agent-assisted walk-in
2012: 37.1%
2011: 39.0%
Paper checks, bulk processed
© E SourceNote: Results from the E Source E-Business Metrics Survey 2013.

Rise in Debit / Credit Card Payments
2012: 7.7%
2011: 4.6%
Electronic, bank card
2012: 42.8%
2011: 44.2%
Electronic, other
2012: 43.9%
2011: 49.1%
Non-electronic
© E Source
Note: Results from the E Source E-Business Metrics Survey 2013.

Results from E Source 2013
Utility Website & IVR
Benchmarks
7

Electric and Gas Utility Websites
Features Found on Computers

Electric and Gas Utility Websites
Features Found on Mobile Devices

Features Found on Electric and Gas
Utility IVRs

Best Practice Example: Account Balance (Computer)
Source: Hydro Québec

Account Balance (Computer)
Design Considerations
Best Practices
 Display the account balance in bold or in a different font color on
the first page after logging in
 Make it clear whether the account balance shown is current and if
it reflects recent payments
 Clearly state how often the balance information is updated
 List the bill due date and the date and amount of the most recent
payment on the summary page in addition to the account balance
Pitfalls to Avoid
 Not explaining whether the account balance reflects recent
charges or payments to the account
 Not including information on the last payment made
 Burying account balance information within other text

Best Practice Example: Account Balance (Mobile)
Source: Duke Energy

Account Balance (Mobile)
Best Practices
 Optimize the secure portion of your website for viewing on a
mobile device
 Display the account balance in bold or in a different color on the
first page immediately after login
 Allow customers to log in to their account from the home page
Pitfalls to Avoid
 Not including a date and time stamp when the account balance
was last updated
 Failing to list important information—such as the bill due date, a
link to pay online, and the amount and date of the last payment—
directly on the account summary page
 Not explaining the differences between last billed amount, total
amount due, and current balance

Best Practice Example: Account Balance (IVR)
Source: Duke Energy

Account Balance (IVR)
Best Practices
 Include the “as of” date for the account balance; this helps the customer know whether
the account balance reflects the most recent payment
 Provide differentiation between account balance and amount due, if the customer is on
a payment plan (such as budget billing)
 Give options for information and tasks related to account balance, such as repeating the
balance, late fees, last payment received, date of the next meter read, date and amount
of the next payment due, or making a payment
 Provide clear, concise, logical menu options such as “Payments and account
information,” then “Current balance” or “Account and billing information,” followed by
“Account balance”
Pitfalls to Avoid
 Requiring callers to enter too many account verifiers or making the verification process
too long
 Hanging up on the customer after the account balance is provided
 Transferring a customer to a customer service representative or asking them to go to
the website to find the account balance
 Playing marketing messages that prevent callers from getting to the account balance
option quickly

Best Practice Example: Make a Payment (Computer)
Source: Wisconsin Public Service

Make a Payment (Computer)
Best Practices
 Allow customers to pay their bill online without registering or logging in and without having to sign up for
paperless billing
 Provide a variety of payment options, including by credit or debit card, by checking account, and both
one-time and recurring payments
 Enable customers to store their payment information for ease of use in the future, preferably after
they’ve conducted their transaction
 Make the page formatting appealing by including graphics, having a clearly labeled Make a Payment
button, using a font that’s not too small to read, and having minimal text on the page
 Allow customers to change their default bank easily for payments and automatic withdrawals
 Include easy-to-read instructions or graphics on how to identify routing and account numbers on
checks, and how to find the customer account number on the utility bill
 Clearly present processing fees to the customer in advance if they are required
Pitfalls to Avoid
 Failing to provide information on how quickly the payment will post to the account
 Charging fees for payments, even if they are third-party fees
 Making it confusing to find the Make a Payment feature by referring to it by its vendor’s name or using
verbiage that is not intuitive to users (such as “Pre-authorized Payments”)
 Placing excessive advertising—such as banner ads and other marketing messages—on the Make a
Payment pages, which can be disruptive and confusing
 Having successive steps open new windows during the payment process rather than staying in the
same window

Best Practice Example: Make a Payment (Mobile)
Source: TXU Energy

Make a Payment (Mobile)
Best Practices
 Include a link to pay the bill in a prominent position on the home page and on the Account
Summary page after customers log in
 Optimize the Make a Payment features for mobile devices by automatically detecting that
a mobile device is being used; using small screen space appropriately; increasing text
size; using bold, high-contrast type; and having large, colorful buttons
 Allow customers to pay online without logging in and without paying a fee
 Autopopulate account information for customers who log in to make a payment so they
only have to enter the amount and date they want to pay
 Include information about any fees, including the fee amount, before the customer begins
the payment process
 Provide graphic illustrations of where to find the needed information on the check and the
customer account number on the utility bill
Pitfalls to Avoid
 Failing to ensure that pages load properly on a variety of mobile devices
 Forcing customers to use the full website or sending them from a mobile website to the full
website to make a payment on a mobile device, instead of providing a fully mobile-
optimized online payment process
 Not providing information about when the payment will post to the account

Best Practice Example: Make a Payment (IVR)
Source: PPL Electric Utilities

Make a Payment (IVR)
Best Practices
 If using a third-party payment provider, transfer the caller directly to that provider
 When using a third-party provider, do not require callers to authenticate within that
system if they already authenticated within the utility's IVR
 Notify the customer of the fee amount, if any, for making a payment by phone, and
do so before the payment process begins
 Provide a specific prompt like "make a payment" instead of vague phrasing like
"payment options"
 Offer customers the option to both make a one-time payment and set up recurring
payments
Pitfalls to Avoid
 Making customers call a separate number to pay the bill
 Hiding the pay-by-phone option in a menu full of options that are not relevant to the
task
 Having options that sound similar so the caller is not sure which one to choose
 When transferring the customer to a third-party payment provider, allowing the third
party to hang up on the customer if authentication information is not available rather
than transferring them to a customer service representative

Questions?

Sarah Fiebiger
Senior Analyst, Market Research Services
303-345-9126 sarah_fiebiger@esource.com
For More Information
Have a question? Ask our experts: www.esource.com/question

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