In a recent blog post, we discussed the benefits of improving the online payment experience. We detailed how a good online payment experience can decrease customer service calls, lower print and mail costs, speed up collections, and improve customer satisfaction. Now that you have a clear understanding of why a good user experience for online payments is to important, the next step is learning how to identify the Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment platform that will drive the best user experience for your customers.

Keeping up with customer expectations is a challenge for most organizations, particularly when it comes to creating a good user experience. Customers expect a simple and consistent experience throughout their entire interaction with your organization–from visiting your website, to engaging with customer support, to making an online payment. And as user experience increasingly becomes a primary differentiator for many organizations, it’s more critical than ever to get every interaction right.

There's no denying that, in a relatively short period of time, the world has changed significantly. These changes have impacted everything from how we do business, to how we conduct everyday activities like shopping for groceries or paying bills, to how we interact with family and friends. In times of uncertainty and crisis, we are all under increased pressure to do the right thing–for ourselves, our organizations, our customers, and our families.

Water is crucial to life. Without it, humans would not survive for more than 3 to 4 days. But access to clean drinking water is not free. Research from Michigan State University published in 2017 reveals water rates have increased by 41% since 2010. And if rates continue to rise in the next 5 years, then 46.08 Million US households won’t be able to afford water. In 2019, further investigation by Bluefield Research shows that the combined US monthly water and wastewater bill amounts to US $104 average per household when adjusted for inflation. A study conducted by the American Water Works Association also indicates that low-income households must spend an average of 9.7% of their disposable income and/or work 9.5 hours at minimum wage to pay for basic water and sewer service. In an effort to help wrestle the growing crisis of water affordability in the United States, WaterSmart Software and Invoice Cloud have partnered to provide ratepayers a suite of self-service tools to manage rising water costs.

Consumers’ needs are constantly changing, but one thing remains the same—they expect an outstanding user experience (UX) every step of the way, from customer support to online payments. When it comes to making payments online, customers want to pay their bills whenever and wherever they want, and on the device of their choice, without the hassle of roadblocks like a one-time registration. In fact, lack of exceptional UX in the payments industry can lead to reduced customer satisfaction, lower electronic payment adoption rates, and increased staff workloads.

In 2020, providing a great customer experience is about meeting customers' ever-changing expectations. Customer experience has become a primary differentiator for many companies, and this extends to the payment experience. Your customers want to be able to make payments any time, anywhere. Your organization should enable them to self-serve on the channels they use most often – whether that's online, over the phone, or even text.

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.