Three things consumers now expect from their billing experience

When it comes to billing experience, customers now expect three key things from their bills. Based on the results of Calvi research, Laura Broers reveals what customers expect from their bills today.

Billing experience (BX) is a critical component of the overall customer experience and a key point of differentiation for smart communications service providers (CSPs). But what do customers expect from their bills today? According to Calvi research, customers want their bills to deliver three key things.

1. Customers want efficient self-service

Customers worldwide expect to be able to access their bills via an app on their mobile device. According to Calvi research, 70% of customers now expect self-service options to be available in their CSP’s app to enable them to buy, change or cancel products & services, adjust their bundles and so on.
Top tip: one of Calvi’s European clients reduced bill-related calls by 25% after upgrading their in-app billing experience.

2. Customers value increased customization and visualization

Customers expect personalization to extend to all touchpoints and deeper into the experience. Bills are no exception. Not only do they expect bills to ‘talk their language’ and clearly display information, but they want them to highlight what’s interesting to them personally. Visually displaying trend graphs and total amounts used or spent are other popular features of today’s more personalized bills.
Top tip: one of the world’s leading CSPs saw a 23% decrease in early churn rates after implementing a more personalized BX approach to the first bill they sent to customers.

3. Customers expect the right amount of detail (and no more)

Most customers don’t want 30 pages of itemized bills. Instead, they’d like to have sufficient detail (a summary bill) to check if their bill is as they expected it to be, with the option to access more details via their mobile app or online bill portal if they need to. This saves customers time, and helps them focus on anomalies and overages rather than on expected charges for bundled services.
Top tip: lowering the effort of customer interactions lowers the cost. According to Gartner, a low-effort interaction costs 37% less on average than a high-effort interaction by reducing repeat calls, escalations and channel switching.

Who’s getting BX right today?

A North American CSP that Calvi recently worked with is a great example of an organization who’s getting it right. They decided to go ‘the extra mile’ to address a common problem their customers were experiencing: not understanding partial or prorated charges on their first bill. Not only were these charges confusing and frustrating for their customers – who told them they hated this unclear billing experience - but 43% of their customers also told them they didn’t want to have to speak to a customer service representative to clarify the charges.

The CSP decided to tackle this issue by investing in better email communications, adding interactive calendar visuals to their emails to help customers understand the new charges.

By treating BX as an integral part of CX, the CSP managed to impress their customers with something that had previously been a cause of irritation, as well as reducing the burden on their contact center. When asked, 100% of their customer panel participants loved this new approach to BX. A win-win all round.

To find out how Calvi can help you quickly and with minimal disruption optimize and innovate your BX, contact us!