How to Increase Paperless Conversion Through a Utility Provider Consortium

Companies long for their end customers to switch their paper bills to paperless as they aim to reduce ever-increasing postage and document production costs.

After two decades of efforts, however, most studies show that 50 to 70 percent of customers still get their bills on paper. While customers agree that paperless is better for the environment (64%), most have yet to switch.

A survey of end customers shows the top three reasons for not switching to paperless bills:

1. Logging into each company’s website regularly, along with maintaining login credentials for each, is a hassle. (46%)
2. Navigating each website is different; some of them are cumbersome. (43%)
3. New bill email notifications get buried in the inbox or spam folder, resulting in late payments. (37%)

A Customer-Friendly Consortium

Cubby Paperless consolidates bills into one online location. With one login, customers can view all their bills from all their providers. Survey respondents saw value in Cubby’s approach (97%) and many (91%) would switch more of their paper bills to paperless if their bills were on Cubby.

Having bills from a single company posted on Cubby does not attract customers and will not change their minds about paperless delivery. But finding bills from four or more companies on Cubby will change customer behavior for all their companies.

In each geographic area, such as a city, a consortium of utility providers who post customer bills to Cubby will benefit all the participating service providers. Through the cooperation of the utilities such as the electricity, water, natural gas, sewer, trash, phone, and cable providers, the residents of a city could receive all their utility bills in one place.

As customers recognize the value of Cubby, they will switch off paper, not just for one utility, but for all of them, thus reducing postage costs for all utilities. Customers who are already paperless will also benefit by having their bills in one place, reducing late payments, and enjoying a more satisfactory customer experience.

Organize a Utility Consortium

Get a utility consortium organized in your city by contacting Cubby, info@cubbypaperless.com.

Research for yourself: Find more details about the numbers cited in this article and about unmet customer yearnings for consolidated bill facilities in this white paper, Overcoming Customer Resistance to Paperless Bills and Statements.