At last it is official: E-mail is addictive! Whether at work, at home, or on holiday, people constantly check their inboxes and often cite it as their main reason to go online in the first place.
Emarketer.com reports that according to a new study:
* 42% of users check their business e-mail while on holiday;
* 23% check their e-mail on weekends
* 53% of business users check their e-mail six or more times during the working day; and
* 34% of users check their e-mail constantly throughout the day.
This is not surprising - e-mail is an indispensable tool for both business and personal use. Not only is it immediate, cost-effective and convenient, but e-mail is also the chosen vehicle for the exchange of confidential and privileged information with colleagues, partners, clientele and others.
In many instances, Web pages are sent via e-mail. This means that users are not surfing the Web as often as before. In fact, you could say that the 'inbox' has taken over as the "most visited" Web site on anyone's list.
"E-mail is the perfect medium for electronic billing," says Mike Wright, CEO of The E-mail Corporation in Johannesburg. "Customers can now receive their invoices and statements via their most frequently visited 'Web site', their inbox."
E-billing is traditionally performed in two ways - Bill Consolidation via Web presentment and Direct Billing via e-mail.
The "Bill Consolidation" model has been touted as the most convenient method of presenting invoices and statements to customers. The reason being that customers have to access only one Web site in order to receive all invoices and statements, as well as to make all payments.
Sounds good, but there is one problem: not all invoices are received at the same time each month. Certain payments, such as car repayments, are due at the beginning of the month, and other payments, such as electricity, telephone, cell phone and clothing accounts, arrive on different days each week. Customers therefore have to access the consolidator's site repeatedly throughout the month.
In addition, customers find receiving a statement via e-mail decidedly more convenient that waiting for a Web site to download. Should they wish to pay their account, they simply click on a payment hyperlink within the mail, which will take them directly to the relevant payment site.
In choosing which model to adopt, billers need to take into account the needs of the customer; will their customers be content waiting for a number of invoices and statements to be presented on the Web before accessing the site, or will they want to view each statement in detail as soon as it arrives?
"Probably both," says Wright, "depending on their behaviour with paper bills. Some people open their invoices and statements the moment they appear in the post. Others shove them in a drawer until payment is due. In our experience, e-mail is the best method of delivery. Customers then have the choice of whether to view the statement immediately or read it at a later stage."
Forrester Research predicts that "as the demand for EBPP grows, bills will be distributed wherever the customers choose".
And if current trends are anything to go by, customers will choose their inbox.
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