United Water Turns Off Paper Bills with Striata Email Bill Presentment and Payment

Aug. 3, 2009 - PRLog -- United Water launched “Go Paperless eBilling” with Striata and Western Union Financial Services in December, 2008.

United Water provides water services to 7.3 million people in the United States, with billing territories in Idaho, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, among others. Customers can now receive their United Water bills delivered securely into their email inbox, and make one-click payments, without the need to register online, choose and remember a username or password, or link to any website.

“The biggest barrier to paperless adoption for billers is getting customers to register at their website. It requires expensive and sustained marketing. History has shown that over a 3 year period, no more than 10% of consumers on average, will do so. By removing this requirement and proactively delivering the bill via email, United Water is able to drive quick and significant paper suppression, as well as offer an experience to the consumer that is far more convenient than either the paper bill or an online billing portal”, says Garin Toren Chief Operating Officer, Striata.

The eBill is an exact replica of the paper bill and also includes the innovative Striata BillPay, one-click electronic check payment facility directly from within the eBill itself, at no cost to the customer. Payments are processed by Western Union Financial Services, United Water’s payment processing partner. Credit and debit card payments can also be made through Western Union for a nominal convenience fee.

Ilinca Ford, Director of Corporate Service Development for United Water comments, “Our strategy is to improve the consumer billing experience while at the same time driving forward our goals of sustainable development and environmental consciousness. The Striata Email Bill Presentment and Payment solution allows us to dramatically improve billing convenience and reduce our paper mail volumes, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and considerable cost savings.”

Recipients are able to view and pay their bill with just two clicks - the ultimate in convenience. Striata email bills are also viewable on Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices.

The Striata Email Collection team is working closely with United Water to gather customer email addresses and gain permission to deliver eBills in this manner. Less than 2% of recipients have selected to revert back to a paper bill after receiving their United Water eBill via email.

Striata monitors email inbox penetration and click tracking on marketing offers within the eBills. Striata deliverability specialists ensure that 99.6% of United Water eBills are successfully delivered.

“Our target is to have 18% of all of our customers go paperless within 18 months - a goal that we feel is very achievable. We have seen Striata achieve this with other Utilities and are confident we can do just as well,” says Ford.

About Striata

Striata’s Secure eDocument Delivery and Email Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) are solution sets that deliver a rapid reduction in operational costs, quicker payments and an enhanced customer experience.

Striata revolutionizes the way bills, statements, policies, collection notices, letters, paystubs and other high volume system-generated documents are delivered and paid. Registration requirements are eliminated by emailing feature rich, interactive, encrypted documents directly to the inbox and enabling innovative 1-click electronic payment from within the document itself. Direct email delivery of bills and statements dramatically increases customer adoption of electronic documents, paper turn off and ePayments. This enables Striata’s clients to achieve rapid ROI; complement their existing self-service and e-communication strategies; significantly reduce paper output and to meet their carbon footprint/environmental impact targets.

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As a leading international provider of electronic messaging since 1999 with more than 200 blue chip customers, Striata has operations in New York, London, Sydney, Johannesburg, Hong Kong and partners in North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia Pacific.