Young People Struggle with Paperless Bills, Too

It's not just our elders who grapple with the complexities of modern online bill-presentment. Even the youngest and most tech-savvy among us experience difficulty managing their electronic bills. Today, we're shining some light on the misconception that only older folks are uncomfortable with the biller direct model of electronic bill presentment.

When was the last time you struggled to recall the password for a biller's website or changed devices and couldn't answer the security questions? If you're in the 18-29 age group, chances are this tale is familiar. Even the digital natives are having trouble.

It may surprise companies to find their youngest customers struggling with remembering important details like due dates, minimum payment amounts, account numbers, or login credentials. Digital natives get their bills electronically, and yet, their experience is far from smooth.

It's counterintuitive. You would assume that individuals brought up during the age of digital technology are super-comfortable with its use. Companies presume the Gen Z and Millennial segments of their customer base will thrive in the world of electronic payments. But that's not always the case. 

Difficulties younger customers encounter when accessing and paying bills highlight a need for billers to improve the customer experience in electronic bill presentment and payment. Customers of all age groups are seeking transparency and simplicity in financial transactions. They want pertinent information to be easily accessible, not hidden in a maze of web pages, repetitive authentications, or complex procedures. They want choices about how they experience bill presentment, and they expect companies to give them the ability to select a method that works best for them. Though they may believe they are on the cutting edge, billers don't always offer the flexibility necessary to meet the needs of all their customers.

Why Young People Aren't Happy with Paperless Bills

While electronic bill presentation is supposed to make life easier, the experience can sometimes leave younger customers feeling less than satisfied. Consumers often see the typical biller direct model as impersonal, leaving customers feeling more like a number in the system than a valued customer. The process can seem isolating and intimidating.

Not that electronic billing is ineffective. Many customers are quite comfortable with the standard biller direct bill presentment model. Unfortunately, a growing number of customers are not, and they comprise enough of a company's business to warrant an adjustment in bill presentment strategies.

Consumer discomfort lies in the effort required to view and pay credit cards, utility bills, mortgages, car loans, student loans, and other obligations. The rigid biller direct model forces young consumers, who detest friction in their lives, to interact with a plethora of biller websites and their individual methods and processes, just to pay their bills. 

The younger generation wants more than a biller-controlled document presentment option. For a better customer experience, companies need to expand their existing systems to meet the needs of a large and growing segment of their customer base. The focus should be on developing models that give consumers more choices besides only paper or biller-direct electronic delivery platforms. They must promote customer engagement, personalization, and offer flexibility around the bill presentment process. 

Evidence of Inadequate Bill Presentment Options

Many of your younger customers struggle with paperless bills as you currently produce them. An analysis of late payments is one indicator. According to a study conducted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, young adults aged 18-29 are more likely to make late payments on their bills compared with older age groups. This suggests they may have difficulty keeping track of due dates and managing their electronic bills effectively.

In a study conducted by PayNearMe, 19% of adults (more than any other age group) said they paid a bill late because the online bill pay process was so complicated. Frustration kept them from completing the payment.

Customers under 40 years of age are most likely to cite difficulty with remembering passwords or navigating bill presentment websites as a key contributor to missing payments.

Another piece of evidence is the prevalence of overdraft fees among young people. A survey conducted by the Pew Charitable Trusts found young adults are more likely to incur overdraft fees on their bank accounts. This could signify they are not closely monitoring their electronic bills and may be unaware of the funds available in their accounts to cover the payments.

Over a third of young adults aged 18-29 describe their bill management and paying experience as "disorganized". We can attribute part of the organizational problem to the chore of juggling online access requirements and to the varying navigation clicks required by consumers as they interact with a collection of biller-direct websites.

85% of people experience challenges with current solutions for receiving and organizing paperless bills.

Anecdotal evidence from customer complaints and online forums also supports the idea that biller direct bill presentment may not be the best approach for Gen Z and Millennials. Many young people express frustration with the complexity of electronic billing systems, annoyance with logging into multiple websites, and difficulty in finding important information, such as due dates. These complaints indicate that young people face challenges with paperless bills. Companies may find it necessary to augment their biller direct platforms with something that helps improve the bill-paying experience for their younger customers.

Bill Presentment Consolidation: Cubby Paperless

Cubby Paperless' innovative bill consolidation platform brings a young consumer's bills together in one easy-to-manage space. 

With Cubby Paperless, your customers can view their bills from all companies in one place, organized by due date. The platform groups a consumer's electric, water, internet, credit card, loan, and other bills together, providing a clear, comprehensive overview of their expenses. They can forget about keeping track of digital bills scattered across different platforms. Cubby Paperless does the work for them.

Consolidated bill presentment solves the problems that managing multiple biller direct websites creates for a group of people that avoids hassles and embraces convenience over many other priorities. They compare their experiences with different companies and are not hesitant to jump to a competitor or broadcast their dissatisfaction on social media when things don't go smoothly. Companies cannot afford to ignore this aspect of their customer relationships.

The monthly bill-payment activity is the most consistent touchpoint companies have with their customers. Crafting this important interaction to fit the frictionless desires of their young customers goes a long way toward forging a healthy and enduring customer relationship.

To improve the overall customer experience, companies should prioritize personalized electronic billing systems, not just the digitization of the billing process. Cubby Paperless seeks to make handling digital bills more hassle-free. By offering a consolidated platform, it simplifies bill payment and makes it a less daunting task for digital natives. This is not just an electronic bill presentment platform; it's a tool designed to aid patrons in becoming organized and efficient bill-payers.

The pains of electronic bill management cut across the age spectrum. It's not just your grandma who might be troubled with the modern ways of bill presentment, but perhaps your college-going niece or nephew as well. A user-friendly customer experience is key, no matter how young or old the user might be.