Transcript Slide 1

Utility Payment Conference
Mobile Payments: Giving Customers More Choice and Ease
of Payment Using Text Messaging
Nikki Lappin
Lori Beck,
Remittance Processing Supervisor
Director, Product Management
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Agenda
1. Payment Vendor Solution
2. Northwestern Energy Overview
3. Pay by Text Implementation and Results
4. Marketing and Best Practices
5. Next Steps
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Payment Solutions
Payment Type
One-Time
Web Banking
Payment Channel
Real-Time or Batch
Data Centers
One-Time & Recurring
Utility
Biller Direct
Consumer
Posting
Funding
Reporting
Noting
© 2010 Western Union Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names referenced in this material are the property of their respective owners.
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Money Mind Set Index
Quarterly study first created in Q4 2008 to understand and longitudinally track
how current economic conditions affect consumer behaviors and emotional
mindset regarding bill payment, debt, and personal finance issues
Online quantitative survey
3,000 targeted respondents based on representative proportions of geography,
gender, age, income and ethnicity as compared to the overall US population
Plan now for Gen Y payment preferences1
Gen Y’ers prefer less costly self-service channels like online banking, ATMs and
mobile banking
2 in 5 Gen Y consumers have already tried mobile banking
Mobile banking security less of a concern
More likely to carry unlimited wireless phone plans
More likely to own a Smartphone (Smartphone owners are
the stickiest mobile bankers)
1Gen
Y Mobile Banking, by Javelin Strategy & Research, April, 2009
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Text Messaging
SMS (Short Message Service) is most commonly
referred to as Text Messaging
Text messaging allows a message to be transmitted
from one cell phone to another
As of March 2010, 74% of the U.S population has
a mobile phone
The number of smart phones (iPhone, Droid,
Blackberry) are up from 20 to 27% of the mobile
population. Smart phone users are heavy users of
text messaging.
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Text Messaging, Web Browsing and Downloading by Segment
Text Messaging is the most common use across all consumers
91%
92%
iPhone
80%
87%
Smartphone
63%
35%
81%
Hispanic/Latino
27%
17%
80%
Gen Y
20%
14%
75%
Mobile bankers in the last 90
days
46%
29%
66%
More than $100K
30%
16%
Text messaging (SMS)
58%
All consumers
17%
Downloading applications
9%
0%
Browse web pages
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Percent of Consumers
Q45: Which of the following mobile phone
features do you use? (Select all that apply)
July 2009, n= 89, 375, 478, 487, 1,498, 3,000
Base: All consumers with mobile.
© 2010 Javelin Strategy & Research
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Text Message and Data Plans
The number of consumers signing up for unlimited plans is increasing
25%
Both unlimited data and text
21%
17%
None, I use a prepaid/disposable phone
N/A
15%
Unlimited text only
13%
6%
Unlimited data only
3%
38%
Under contract, with neither unlimited
data or text
2009
2008
54%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Percent of Consumers
Q22: What type of wireless plan (data and text)
do you currently use? (Select one only)
July 2009, March 2008, n= 3,000, 2,314
Base: All consumers with mobile.
© 2010 Javelin Strategy & Research
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How Bill Payment is Changing
Pay by Text services allow consumers to easily initiate their
payment using their phone's text messaging service based on
payment information entered online
Consumer enrolls via branded IVR or Internet site – no
sensitive information is transmitted via text
Biller provides service provider a customer (MAM) file
containing customer account number, due date and amount
owed
Text Message can be sent a configurable number of days
before due date
Consumer replies to the text message to pay their bill
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Pay by Text Consumer Experience
Consumer
enrolls via
IVR or
Internet
Consumer enters
cell phone number
and email address
(optional) into IVR or
Internet
Consumer
enters payment
information into
IVR or Internet
Consumer
receives text
message on cell
phone when
payment is due
Consumer
replies to text
message to
complete
payment
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Participating Carriers
When the consumer
enrolls in the Pay by
Text service, a
verification is done on
the mobile number to
confirm the carrier. If
the carrier is
supported, the plan is
saved to the
database.
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Pay by Text Sample Messages
Enrollment Complete
Payment Due
Bill Alert. Welcome, you are
enrolled. Txt STOP to end, HELP
for info or 866-316-3360. Msg freq
dpnds on accnt setngs. Std msg
chrgs apply..
Bill Alert.NWE bill
$XXX.XX+$X.XX fee due. Rply
YES NWE to cnfrm processing as
u specified. 866-316-3360 if dont
recve cnfrm msg.Txt STOP 2 end.
STOP
HELP
Bill Alert. 866-316-3360. You will
no longer receive any messages
from WU to your phone..
Help: Bill Alert. For info 866-3163360. Msg Freqncy dpnds on
accnt sttngs. Msg&data rates may
apply. Text STOP to end.
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Pay by Text Reporting
Sample Report
Pay by Text enrollments
and payments are available
for viewing along with all of
your other payments
through our current
reporting tools
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Non-Utility Case Study
Pilot launched in May of 2009
Marketing used: CSR fact sheet and Internet messaging
Data shown is through September of 2010
Enrollment
Almost 6000 consumers
have signed up
By Payment Type
ACH: 2746
Credit Card: 1919
ATM: 1277
By Channel
Internet: 4546
Findings
50% of PBT consumers
using the Extranet shifted
to the Internet as their
channel preference.
For those receiving
notifications, the Internet
is the primary channel
used for payment.
ACH adoption is greater
than other payment types.
IVR:
A large number of consumers are using this as an alerting process and then
going to the IVR or Internet to pay
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Agenda
1. Payment Vendor Solution
2. Northwestern Energy Overview
3. Pay by Text Implementation and Results
4. Marketing and Best Practices
5. Next Steps
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Northwestern Energy Overview
Service Population
395,500 electric customers
265,200 gas customers
Customer accounts
492,079
Number of bills
6.1M annual bills and notifications
Revenue
$971M
Billing frequency
Monthly
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Northwestern Energy Payment Goals
Provide additional self service payment options (targeting the younger generation)
Experience (We wanted to gain experience while we had the opportunity with
SMS, we felt that by doing this project we could gain experience using a smaller
carrier list. We feel that this option will grow and more carriers will be added).
We had a great deal of concern about Verizon not being a carrier but felt it was
best to move forward with smaller carriers
Reduce mail payments which reduces costs
We believe the more mail costs increase the more electronic payments will
increase
With reduced mail payments and increased electronic payments we believe when
we need to purchase knew equipment that our cost for replacement will be much
lower
Over the past 5 years NorthWestern Energy has seen a yearly 2% decrease in
mail payments and an increase with electronic payments
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Agenda
1. Payment Vendor Solution
2. Northwestern Energy Overview
3. Pay by Text Implementation and Results
4. Marketing and Best Practices
5. Next Steps
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Implementation Process
Launched on 7/29
IVR and Internet were modified to include Pay by Text enrollment
Product certified with wireless carriers so no 3rd parties were
involved in implementation
Thoroughly tested with employee enrollments during UAT cycle
Added same day online banking payment option
Added American Express as a payment type
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Northwestern Energy Pay by Text Data
Payment Types
All payment types
available on the IVR and
Internet are available
through Pay by Text
ACH
Credit Card
ATM
Enrollment
By Payment Type
ACH: 112
Credit Card: 49
ATM: 4
By Channel
Internet: 21
IVR: 144
Findings
The payment type
preference is ACH.
Channel with most
adoption is IVR.
There is not enough
data to show
consumer trends and
behavior changes.
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Agenda
1. Payment Vendor Solution
2. Northwestern Energy Overview
3. Pay by Text Implementation and Results
4. Marketing and Best Practices
5. Next Steps
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Available Marketing Touchpoints
Web Messaging
Email Messaging
IVR Messaging
“Say goodbye to envelopes and
stamps! With our web and
phone bill payment options,
paying your ABC Company bill
is quick and easy. Press 4 now
to be transferred to our
automated payment system or
go to www.abccompany.com
and select ‘Pay My Bill’.”
Envelope Messaging
Statement Messaging
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Best Practices
Employees were encouraged to enroll
Where an email address is available, each new enrollee also
receives a confirmation enrollment email in addition to the text
message
Notify consumers in multiple ways about new offering. We have
utilized the following marketing options to date:
Statement Messaging
Web Banner
CSR Promotion
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Future Marketing Campaign
A new campaign has been created
Use existing consumer communication touch points:
Web Banner
Statement Messaging
Payments Brochure
Newsletter Article
CSR Q&A Flyers/Posters
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Agenda
1. Payment Vendor Solution
2. Northwestern Energy Overview
3. Pay by Text Implementation and Results
4. Marketing and Best Practices
5. Next Steps
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Next Steps
Add Verizon as a supported carrier
Continue marketing to increase adoption
Research additional mobile channels
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Pay by Text Benefits Summary
Additional self-service payment channel
Convenient option for consumers on the go
Simple enrollment process
Easy for consumers to use
Cutting edge service
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Thank you!
Nikki Lappin
Lori Beck
Northwestern Energy
Western Union Global Business Payments
406-497-3210
212-361-5655
[email protected]
[email protected]
©2010 Western Union Holdings, Inc. The WESTERN UNION name, logo and related trademarks and service marks, owned by Western Union Holdings, Inc., are registered and/or used in the U.S. and many foreign countries. This material is
confidential and is proprietary to Western Union and is not to be reproduced, disclosed, or used except in accordance with program license or other written authorization of Western Union. Any use, copying, manipulation, or reproduction of Western
Union trademarks, logos, or material created by Western Union, its subsidiaries, affiliates or its business units, in whole or in part in any medium for any purpose whatsoever, is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Western
Union. This information piece shall not be considered an offer, final terms shall be reflected in the Agreement signed by both parties.
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