For most organizations, customer satisfaction levels are an area of constant focus. That's because customer needs and expectations are constantly changing, and keeping up can be a challenge. It's important, though, to always keep customer satisfaction and experience top of mind at your organization. A poor customer experience can lead to other organizational challenges down the line, such as increased staff workloads and slowed collections.

One of the most common challenges currently faced by water utility companies is the issue of rising water rates. In many areas throughout the United States, water utilities are dealing with aging water infrastructures and increasing treatment costs. This creates both collections and revenue issues for the utility, as increasing water rates usually result in delayed payments and, in some cases, customers who are unable to pay their bills at all. Since water utilities are responsible for the costs associated with maintaining and treating water regardless of the revenue they collect, these collection issues lead to disruption in business services and higher bills across the broader customer base. One way that utilities can effectively manage these challenges is by utilizing an online payment platform that engages customers and drives higher self-service rates.

For many utility companies, billing customers and collecting payments can be a challenge. Specifically, organizations struggle with keeping costs down and improving efficiencies as a result of:

• High costs associated with printing and mailing a large number of paper bills
• Significant amounts of time spent manually collecting and processing payments

Creating a positive user experience is about more than your customers – it’s about driving quantifiable business results for your organization. When it comes to online payment systems or Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) platforms, the user experience is one of the most important factors in encouraging customer engagement. And when an EBPP solution is not designed to deliver a positive user experience, the negative results of this can be widespread.