Coral Springs, Fla. – Making billing and payments a seamless operation lets companies leverage their data to personalize interactions and communications channels to meet customer preferences, according to Integrating Communications and Payments Improves Customer Experience, a new white paper from Nordis Technologies, an innovator in customer communications management (CCM) and electronic bill presentment and payments (EBPP) solutions.

The white paper discusses why billing and payments are prime opportunities to deliver a better experience that can drive repeat business and referrals—and even influence whether customers pay their bills in full.

Customers prefer to do business with companies that make their interactions frictionless, easy and convenient: 70% said connected processes are very important to winning their business, according to Salesforce. Connected processes are equally important to keeping their business, especially when it comes to billing and payments, according to Ronnie Selinger, founder, CEO and president of Nordis Technologies.

“Once a customer makes a purchase, secures financing, receives medical care, or completes any other transaction, the most important ongoing interactions are billing and payments,” says Selinger. “The entire billing and payments experience can determine how satisfied and engaged that customer remains.”

Personalization improves CX
Connecting customer communications management, print/mail and electronic delivery with digital payments technology can make the process smoother, easier and more personalized for consumers. Personalizing offers, information and interactions is becoming a business requirement: 76% of consumers expect businesses to know their needs and expectations, says Salesforce.

For billers, integration improves consistency, collaboration, and compliance. Other benefits include:

Increased data security. Improves security and lowers risk by sharing customer data with just one solutions provider instead of multiple vendors.

Better customer service. Documents created and sent in CCM automatically present in the EBPP, making bill presentment seamless. Customer service reps can view current or archived statements to answer questions or accept payments and consumers can access them from payment portals as well.

Consolidated reporting. View, produce and analyze integrated billing and payment reports. Instead of needing to generate and reconcile multiple reports, the integrated system produces a single report on balances, accounts receivables, IVR dropped calls and a host of other data.

Easier ways to pay. Coordinate messaging on transactional documents about electronic payments, such as encouraging automatic deductions or offering payment plans. Leverage multiple omnichannel touchpoints throughout the billing cycle, including email due date reminders with a link to payment portals or deliver e-statements into digital wallets and enable payment with a few taps.

· Automated channel changes. When customers pay online using some EBPP systems, they can self-select new communications preferences, such as switching to ebilling. That change is automatically updated in the CCM solution and can increase digital opt-in rates and reduce print and postage costs. 

For more insights, download the free white paper, Integrating Communications and Payments Improves Customer Experience.