EXPLORING PAPERLESS ADOPTION OF BILLS, STATEMENTS, AND OTHER CRITICAL DOCUMENTS
Doxim partnered with the analyst firm, Keypoint Intelligence, to get a view on whether organizations in North America are meeting their paperless adoption targets, as well as the tactics used to drive adoption, and the barriers to achieving those targets.
Keypoint Intelligence completed 110 in-depth interviews across financial services, healthcare, and utilities providers to determine the state of paperless adoption for bills and statements, and other critical documents, in North America.
Are organizations meeting their paperless adoption targets for bills and statements?
Interesting that over 80% of respondents said they are meeting or exceeding their paperless adoption targets for bills and statements specifically. This percentage is made up of 49% who say they are simply meeting their targets, and 33% who are exceeding them.
These organizations attribute their success in paperless adoption for bills and statements to:
Better Customer Experience: 53%
Effective Multichannel Marketing Strategy: 41%
When split between the vertical markets, both financial services and utilities selected ‘better customer experience’ as their number one tactic; while Healthcare favored ‘making it easier for customers to switch’ as the top tactic to increase paperless adoption for bills and statements.
Tactics for achieving paperless adoption: bills and statements
Q17: You stated that you are meeting paperless adoption targets for at least one aspect of transactional communications. How are you achieving these targets for the delivery of bills and statements?
Financial Services (N=5)
Better customer experience (64%)
Meeting security and privacy concerns (49%)
Effective multi-channel marketing strategy (47%)
Healthcare (N=14)
Making it easy for customers to switch (51%)
Better customer experience (49%)
Effective multi-channel marketing strategy (46%)
Utilities (N=5)
Better customer experience (44%)
Setting realistic goals (44%)
Making it easy for customers to switch (41%)
N = 121 Enterprise Respondents that are meeting or exceeding paperless adoption targets for bills & statements
Source: Doxim CCM Vertical Market Study (US): Keypoint Intelligence 2021
Of the organizations that are not meeting paperless adoption targets: what are the barriers mentioned most?
There are some organizations still struggling to make the transition to paperless due to the many barriers they face during the process. 33% of organizations say their primary barrier to paperless adoption for bills and statements is that the process is not “easy enough for customer to switch” – this was cited by respondents in financial services and utilities. Again, healthcare providers had a different barrier at the top of their list – that of “compliance concerns.”
Barriers to achieving paperless adoption: bills & statements
Q18: What is keeping you from achieving your paperless adoption targets for bills and statements?
Financial Services (N=5)
Not easy enough for customers to switch (40%)
Not easy enough for customers to use (40%)
Lack internet consensus on our strategy (40%)
Healthcare (N=14)
Compliance concerns (36%)
Not easy enough for customers to use (29%)
Restricted by regulations in our industry (29%)
Utilities (N=5)
Not easy enough for customers to switch (60%)
Not providing attractive incentives (60%)
Challenges around capture/maintenance of email addresses (40%)
N = 24 Enterprise Respondents that are not meeting or exceeding paperless adoption targets for bills & statements
Source: Doxim CCM Vertical Market Study (US): Keypoint Intelligence 2021
Are organizations meeting their paperless targets for other critical documents?
There was no significant difference in the state of paperless adoption of bills/statements and adoption rates for other critical documents.
The responses related to meeting paperless adoption targets for “other critical documents” were similar to those for bills and statements. Tactics to meet or exceed targets were the same, as were the barriers to adoption cited by those not meeting their targets.
What are the top three tactics to achieve paperless adoption targets in the next two years?
When asked about their tactics to achieve paperless adoption targets for bills and statements in the next two years, the results were as follows:
Making it easier for customers to switch: 48%
Creating a better customer experience: 46%
Educating customers on the benefits of paperless adoption: 37%
Do incentives motivate customers to adopt paperless processes?
The incentive most used to drive paperless adoption is that of providing ‘interactive statements’ (43%). This is not surprising, as interactive digital experiences are proven to enhance customer experience and increase engagement.
The second most mentioned incentive (42%) was to offer reduced monthly/annual service fees, with ‘offering additional services free of charge’ coming in at third (40%).
19% of respondents said they do not offer any incentives to customers for going paperless.
Incentives for going paperless
Q35: Which of the following incentives does your organization offer customers for going paperless?
Interactive Statements: 43%
Reduce monthly/annual service fees: 42%
Additional services free of charge : 40%
Free credit monitoring: 37%
Biometric authentication: 24%
We don’t offer incentives: 19%
Don’t know: 1%
N = 147 Total Enterprise Respondents
Source: Doxim CCM Vertical Market Study (US): Keypoint Intelligence 2021
Although both reduced fees and free additional services are financial incentives to go paperless, the more direct, unsubtle approach of ‘charging a fee for paper statements’ was low on the list of tactics to promote paperless adoption for both bills and statements, as well as other critical documents.
