By Gauri Subramani

This post is the first in a two-part series on bill formatting and the benefits and downsides of paper bills versus online billing.   Read part two here.

Billing typically isn’t at the fore of contact centers’ ‘to do’ list or customers’ minds, but the accuracy and accessibility of bills can have a significant impact on customer service. Misunderstanding about billing is problematic for both the service organization and for customers, and can even result in (unnecessary) customer contacts.

If a company reformats its bills without explaining the changes, customers can easily become even more confused and frustrated. They might not even realize it’s a bill and instead toss it out, thinking that it’s junk mail. Or, if they read it and don’t understand it, they’re forced try and figure out what has changed.

A customer might even call the service organization to get answers to their questions, driving up the cost-to-serve for the organization while simultaneously taking a hit to the customer experience.

Why the hit to the customer experience? Well, as we know, customers with high-effort experiences have a much higher likelihood of being disloyal. A customer who has to spend time figuring out something as simple a bill will substantially increase the their effort level, especially if they have to actually make a call to the company to figure it all out.

The good news is that contact centers aren’t powerless in this situation; bill design is often their responsibility. We’ve found that 83% of the time, bill design falls under the umbrella of customer service. Changes to bill layout can be made in ways that don’t irritate customers or inconvenience customer service.

When launching a new bill layout, companies should inform customers of the alterations using inserts that are included with the new bills or sent even before the new bill is mailed for the first time. Offering online support that deals specifically with changes to the bill is also a cost-effective way to avoid increased contact center traffic.

Either sent through the mail or available as a feature on the company website, an example of the old bill and new bill with differences highlighted can help customers see what changes have been made. In a discussion on the CCC Customer Experience Forum, member companies that preempted customer questions stated that they prevented a large (over 10%) increase in customer service inquiries about the new bill.

Regardless of how your company decides to communicate bill changes, it’s important that customers understand:

• That the new bill is actually a real bill and not junk mail. Something as simple as the company’s logo with the statement ‘redesigned bill enclosed’ on the envelope can help the custom realize that the bill is legitimate. Avoid using “Act now!” or any verbage that typically appears in junk mail.
• What, if anything, has changed about the layout and where the information they are used to seeing has moved. A table detailing where the key features of the bill can be found or a diagram that underlines important things for customers to pay attention to can do this effectively.
• Any new terminology or phrasing that appears. A bulleted list of “Important Terms” with accompanying definitions is a concise way to clarify confusion.
• Whether costs are itemized differently. An illustration of a sample cost breakdown accompanied by a brief description of each line can help do this.

I’m sure this list of tips isn’t exhaustive, so what have your experiences been with making changes to paper bills? Are there things your company has done that have or have not worked? More about the details of bill delivery and the pros and cons of e-billing to come in the second post of this series!

Related posts:

1. Putting E-mail in my Delete Box
2. 6 Myths About Customer Loyalty
3. Are Customer Service Commitments Just Nice Words?