In an Expert Focus article for Waterbriefing, Chris Cullen, Head of sales and marketing at outsourced customer contact specialist Echo Managed Services, takes a look at the challenges, opportunities and technology-led changes set to usher in a new approach to customer billing.

Chris Cullen: In an age of customer choice, blind brand loyalty is no longer something businesses can rely on to maintain a strong customer base. Increasingly, more needs to be done to earn loyalty, such as providing the better levels of service today’s consumers demand.

 An area of customer service that often frustrates consumers is billing and it is vital that this process is handled efficiently and professionally if businesses are to avoid alienating clients.

 However, research suggests that many businesses are failing, with 77% of consumers experiencing problems with poor billing practices in the last year, through inaccurate bills, incorrect tariffs, or bills that are too complex to understand.

With nearly two thirds of customers saying they would consider switching, or would definitely switch supplier, if they encountered a billing issue, this is a serious commercial challenge for businesses to overcome.

With technology playing an increasing role in business, are there new opportunities that brands can take advantage of to improve how they bill their customers?

And as customer profiles continue to evolve and web-based solutions become more popular, what does the future hold for this key business customer touchpoint?

The customer of the future

Customers are much more informed, critical and demanding than they have ever been.

As a result, brand loyalty has decreased and is far more conditional, for example being dependent on good service and other perks.

As expectations and demands evolve further, service providers will need to focus more on customer insight to give them a clearer picture of what consumers are looking for, and equally, the channels they prefer to receive products, services or updates through.

For instance, according to our research, families on lower incomes – less than £10,000 a year – are more likely to prefer a paper bill (31%), compared to 19% of families earning more than £40,000 a year.

By understanding these trends, businesses will find it easier to build brand loyalty by aligning services to the individual expectations of their customers, rather than through a “best guess”.

Considering how much credence consumers place on the importance of billing, ensuring bills are being delivered accurately, on time, and with transparent tariffs, is one way that brands can build customer loyalty and increase the chances of retaining or gaining customers.

Of course, eradicating all mistakes from business processes such as billing is often impossible, but when they do occur, companies need to ensure they have robust procedures in place so problems can be dealt with swiftly before they escalate, and to avoid making the same mistakes again.

A move towards truly convenient services

For the most part, a common assumption when it comes to billing and customer engagement is that online equals more convenience.

However, it is dangerous to take this at face value and businesses that do so risk alienating portions of their customer base.

It is the case that 57% of consumers prefer to access bills online – and this will likely only increase in the future – but there is still a significant number (24%) who prefer receiving paper bills, while more than one in 10 (13%) prefer receiving bill notifications by SMS.

Businesses must ensure they base decisions about customer convenience from the standpoint of the end user, not what is more convenient or cost effective to operate.

We predict it may not be too long before we start seeing businesses creating “super apps”, which can monitor and serve everything from social media feeds and emails, to account updates and bills.

As technology plays a more prominent role in customer service, could we be heading to a time when consumers are able to access information about their account, products and services at the click of a button, from a single portal giving them access to a multitude of communication channels?

Supporting vulnerable customers

When dealing with billing issues, inevitably the topic of late payment and debt will arise, and from a business perspective, debt recovery in particular. However, while businesses have a commercial responsibility to recoup money they are owed, it is important they realise there is no one size fits all approach to debt recovery, and that on occasion the person they are dealing with may be vulnerable and require specialist assistance.

Everyone is likely to experience vulnerability in their life, whether it be emotional or financial.

With businesses chasing money they are owed, it can be tricky to identify vulnerable customers, especially in circumstances when consumers are not forthcoming about the issues they are experiencing. As communications, including bills, become more digitally focussed and businesses lose an element of human contact with their customers, identifying those who aren’t paying because of vulnerability could become an even trickier proposition.

Taking a more proactive approach to identifying vulnerable customers is key for businesses and this is where data and segmentation plays a crucial role. Companies must ensure that robust policies and procedures are in place to make it easy for contact centre agents to monitor a customer’s progress through the billing and collections process, including noting when a customer moves in and out of a “vulnerable” state so agents can adjust their approach as needed.

But there seems to be a gulf in support that needs to be addressed in the future, with just 3% of customers saying they feel they received proactive support when they were unable to pay their bill.

This is particularly worrying considering our research found that about 12% of customers could be experiencing financial hardship at any one time.

GDPR and data protection laws could lead to problems when it comes to how businesses use their customers’ data to identify which are vulnerable, but this will be a key hurdle that companies must overcome.

The era of the multi bill?

A shift towards multi-utility billing, and service providers offering every service a customer requires from one place seems to be the natural progression of the market, particularly as competition increases and smaller companies look to merge and expand their offering.

The main challenge will be ensuring bills do not become more complex – which is already a bugbear of many consumers. Imagine as a customer not only receiving your gas and electricity bills from one source, but also telecoms and water. Suppliers must ensure that all information is easy to digest, simple to compare and that key messages do not get lost amongst the detail.

A multi-utility bill has the potential to deliver great customer benefits, with bundled service deals available, the convenience of a single billing point and additional perks. A business which can get billing right in a multi-utility world is likely to benefit from both loyalty and advocacy in an evolving market.

Tailor made bills

While consumers already demand more personalised services, we predict that increasing personalisation will be one of the biggest challenges to face businesses in the next few years, and billing is no exception.

Personalised billing could incur more costs for businesses, through non-standard communications, formats, and channels. But considering how important effective billing is for customers, the added value of incurring extra financial costs should not be underestimated.

Our research found that 71% of customers think that online billing has given them more control through easier, 24/7 access to information, plus added convenience. As digital technology improves, they will expect this shift towards bespoke bills to continue.

Online tracking will be a key component in the future

By analysing how customers behave online – including how and when they engage with a business – approaches can be modified to make services more specific to individual customer needs.

Improving proactive communication is also essential for businesses moving forward, like SMS alerts for bills enabling customers to avoid bill shock, and reminding those with busy lives that a bill is due before they forget to pay.

The death of the bill as we know it

Experts have discussed the possible end of traditional billing for several years. As digital interaction becomes a dominant part of customer engagement and technological developments make it possible for consumers to closely monitor their use of particular services – like energy through a smart meter – we could be moving closer to real-time fulfilment in the billing arena.

What remains vital is that businesses ensure future billing procedures and processes continue to engage customers, in order to maintain relationships and avoid escalating issues. Billing is a key part of the customer journey and service providers must evolve to continue delivering great service and add value. Get it right and trust and loyalty will follow.