- The goal of combining CCM and EBPP is seamless, secure, and personalized omnichannel customer experiences that speed up time to payment and accelerate cash flow.
- An integrated CCM and EBPP platform creates the necessary foundation for success.
- A consolidated platform enables other best practices including customization, digital options, and leveraging data for continuous improvement.
Combining customer communications management with electronic bill presentment and payments offers the potential to deliver just the types of fast, easy, seamless and secure experiences that customers want and that build loyalty over time.
Unfortunately, the reality for most companies falls far short of the ideal. Instead, companies put customers on a communications and payments obstacle course made up of:
- Disconnected systems and vendors
- Uncoordinated communications and messaging sent by different departments and business units
- Payment processes segregated from billing and other communications
- Kludgy payment sites and customer service that frustrate customers
Proven, technology-enabled best practices for integrating and leveraging CCM and EBPP solutions can go a long way towards removing these obstacles. Better customer experience is a key driver of on-time payments that strengthen operating margins, cash flow and revenues.
The goal needs to be providing seamless, secure, and personalized omnichannel experiences for customers. Best practices for achieving these experiences include creating a unified CCM and EBPP platform, prioritizing personalization and digital options, embracing digital-first forms of payment such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal, and leveraging data for continuous improvement.
Strategically integrating CCM and EBPP solutions
It’s critical to develop an integrated, capabilities-rich foundation. Once companies have the right integrated CCM and EBPP capabilities, they can make the most of their communications and payments programs to improve CX, payments and repeat business. Instead of cobbling together a series of point solutions, companies should:
1. Create a single, unified platform.
Companies will gain unmatched control, agility and visibility by integrating billing, other customer communications and consumer payments on a single, centralized platform. The platform also must easily integrate with other company systems including CRM and accounting. This approach eliminates internal data silos, ensuring all departments, from finance to customer service, have a consistent view of customer interactions.
2. Center the platform around a communications command center.
By consolidating on a cloud-based omnichannel CCM platform for enterprise use, companies can:
- Improve coordination, consistency and management across print and mail, email and SMS/MMS channels.
- Simplify growing operational complexity as they add customers, brands, products and services, and communication types and channels.
- Save money and reduce delays by making document changes instead of relying on vendors.
- Enable timely compliance with self-service updates.
- Increase employee productivity and satisfaction.
3. Ensure integrated EBPP software is robust and versatile.
Choice, convenience and ease of use are just as important with payments as for billing and communications. To remove barriers to payment and engage more customers, companies should make it simple to manage accounts and bills online, including:
- Accept secure payments via ACH, credit card, debit card, PayPal and digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Offer one-time or scheduled payment options.
- Automate recurring payments.
- Set up payment plans.
- Provide 24/7 self-service tools
4. Prioritize security and compliance.
To earn and keep customers’ trust, companies and their CCM and EBPP providers must follow rigorous security and privacy measures. All communication and payment processes must comply with federal and state laws and regulations where applicable, including HIPAA, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI DSS.
See the case study Vacation Ownership Leader’s Shift to Single CCM Platform Reduces Call Volume and Increases Self-Service Bookings.
5. Personalize and streamline experience.
Companies can leverage data from the integrated platform to personalize content and delivery channels for bills, payment reminders and confirmations and more. Companies can take advantage of billing statements by coordinating with other departments to include targeted offers for related products, payment plan options, or energy-saving tips on a utility bill. Giving customers a range of payment channels and methods and the ability to set up automated payments and payment plans makes the process more flexible and convenient.
Integration also provides important opportunities to remove extra steps to engagement and payments. For example, companies can embed secure payment links and buttons in emails and texts and add scannable QR codes to mailed communications. These integrations are simple to create and manage from a single platform.
6. Optimize for digital and mobile.
With more people opening bills, handling accounts and making payments using smartphones and other mobile devices, it’s critical that layouts, navigation and downloading speeds of emails, text messages and payment portals are designed for small screens. For example, including a QR code on statements for easy mobile phone access and including a short link directly to a personalized payment page in SMS messages can drive engagement and speed up time to payment.
7. Leverage automation.
With a single content library and programmed business logic, companies can edit a field or disclosure, and it will automatically populate the change in all affected documents. Companies also can automate sequencing of communications across channels, so if an email statement or text payment reminder remains unopened for a set number of days, a paper version will automatically be printed and mailed or a digital follow-up sent.
8. Analyze and refine.
A consolidated solution also enables consolidated performance tracking and reports for such key metrics as delivery and open rates, digital adoption, and payment timing. This data provides valuable insights for continuously improving billing, communication and payments strategies.
The integrated platform enables companies to securely, efficiently and effectively cater to each customer’s definition of seamless, personalized CX. It’s the key to moving beyond routine billing and payments with limited impact to strategic outreach that engages and satisfies customers for better business results.
Looking for an integrated CCM and EBPP solution? Please contact us.
