Get More Bang from Your Bill Design 

How Better Bill Design Drives Better Utility Customer Engagement 

On average, consumers open 95% of their bills, and 85% read them multiple times. With such a high open rate, it’s clear that utility bills are an exceptional opportunity to engage customers.  

Whether you want your customers to conserve energy, shift consumption to off-peak hours, sign up for eStatements, or accelerate payments, now is a critical time to evaluate your bill design and learn how to use it as a canvas for better engagement.  

Improving Engagement with Bill Design 

The key to engaging customers with bill design is to present personalized information in a clear and actionable way. Here’s how: 

Account Summary and Usage Details 

All customers want their bills to include accurate data that is relevant to them. Utilities can use bill design to increase engagement and provide customers with clear, easy-to-understand information about their usage, amount due, billing status, and more. In turn, this can decrease calls to customer support, increase loyalty, and accelerate payments.   

Account Messaging 

In addition to accurate summaries and usage details, good bill design should highlight important information about the customer’s account. For example, your bill can include messaging about the customer’s individual monthly billing status. Details can range from an update on meter readings to a past due or shut-off message. You can also deliver updates to customers enrolled in budget billing or payment plan programs. 

Easy Ways to Pay 

Simplifying how a customer pays their bill is critical to reducing customer pain points and ensures you get payments on time. An organized ‘ways to pay’ section on your bill removes the need for your customers to research how to pay, with details on all available channels. In addition, your bill design can direct customers to your website for information on policies, procedures, and rate information.  

Instant Access 

Today’s customers actively seek mobile-first engagement because it gives them direct access to bills and other digital notifications instantly – anytime, anywhere.  

And the benefits? Utilities that use a mobile-first approach to billing see higher open rates with accurate, personalized data targeted to the right customers.  

Marketing Messaging / Targeted Campaigns 

When redesigning your bills, we also recommend designating specific areas for marketing messages or targeted campaigns to deliver compelling and relevant information to every customer. You can add this messaging to designated blocks on the bill, unused white space at the bottom of the last page, or you can append inserts to the file to save costs.  

Some examples of marketing messages and/or targeted campaigns include: 

• eStatement Adoption & Paperless Billing: Messaging on your bill to help promote paperless initiatives to reduce costs and increase digital adoption rates.  
• Programs & Initiatives: You can use this essential document to drive customers toward important products, services, and programs. 
• Educational Facts: Customers appreciate information that increases their knowledge and understanding, especially in areas that help them alter their behavior to benefit them as a consumer.  

Curious to know more about bill design? Check out The Guide to Successful Bill Design: Close the Experience Gap for more on utility bill design best practices.

Keep the Concept Current 

Knowing what information to present to your customers is one thing. Knowing how to present it is another. Identifying the right font, colors, and even language is a wonderful place to start. However, that’s not all there is to excellent design. 

Working with a partner who understands best practices will only take your bills to the next level. Whether you use a proven template or return to the drawing board, a trusted partner can revive your bill design to incorporate every detail.  

Not Just ‘Another Bill’ 

A successful bill re-design centers around including the information your customer needs to consume and the information you want them to consume. When done right, your bill not only improves customer engagement but also benefits your utility’s bottom line.  

Good bill design causes customers to complain less, with customer call centers receiving fewer concerns and questions. Utilities can encourage behaviors and promote programs that increase service levels and reliability. You can also see a reduction in page count, which means a lower statement production cost.