TAWPI @ NACHA Payments

Posted by Mark Brousseau

During a luncheon presentation for journalists at its Payments conference in Seattle, NACHA shared some key takeaways from its PayItGreen Survey 2010:

Less paper equals less unhappiness!
• Respondents expressing lower levels of satisfaction with primary bank or credit union also report lower “electronic only” rates for key financial institution accounts
• This overall finding extends to billers as well
• Proportion of dissatisfied/neutral customers doubles as ‘electronic’ behavior decreases

In billing, minimalism is everything
• Focus on eliminating clutter, reducing paper waste and easy access to statements

For bill payment, expediency is the bottom-line
• Reduction of time and effort emerges as the primary driver

Don’t rule out the opt-out, because most consumers are OK with it
• 6 out of 10 respondents are open/neutral to billers/banks shutting off paper statements automatically

“Double-dipping” – when consumers receive a bill via paper and electronically – occurs more than twice as often with financial services accounts compared to other billers

Among various types of financial accounts, checking and card accounts leads in paperless while others lag farther behind
• Accounts such as investments, lending and insurance have lower rates of paperless

In general, financial services companies lag their non-financial services billers in getting customers to go paperless
• Some sectors such as utilities need particular attention (perhaps bankers can help their corporate clients!)

Providers can improve paperless behavior with particular site or product changes
• Make higher mention of trying to sign up online but finding the process to be too complicated
• Are twice as likely to not trust their provider’s web site
• Worry over not having access to archived statements as well as a need to be in control over finances

What do you think?