Customer attrition is always a big issue for certain types of service providers, and it is even more acute during these tough economic times. But online account management and automatic, electronic payments can significantly reduce customer churn for service providers such as telecommunications companies, wireless providers, credit card issuers, ISP providers and other recurring billers.
   For some companies, attrition runs as high as 35% a year (even the best ones post 15%-a-year turnover). But most of this business billers are driving away themselves. In a recent study, thirty-five percent of customers who changed their primary service relationship cited billing errors as the reason.
   A major step towards improving customer satisfaction, therefore, means making fewer billing errors and improving billing-related problem resolution. Online account management helps billers empower customers to monitor and manage their own accounts.
   For most billers, online account management, combined with electronic payments, has proven to deflect or eliminate a significant share of customer calls into service centers. Some companies have used online account management to eliminate the need for 15% to 56% of inbound service calls, with an average deflection rate of 33%. The savings that accrue from this change are the main reason why most online account implementations are built around self-care and electronic payments.

Building in Self-Care

   The best entry point for designing a self-care offering centers around the reasons why customers call you most. A robust online account management system allows customers round-the-clock access to answers and service without any "hassle." Online self-care features should give your customers control over their own account management, including for example the ability to customize their billing profile, resolve payment disputes, and schedule on-time or automatic payments.
   By building online account management features onto the website, billers can strengthen and extend their customer relationships, ensuring that customers take a more active role in managing their account. What's more, customers who return regularly to the biller's website to initiate payments and check on balances, also contemplate offers for other products and services. On each of these occasions, the biller can cross-sell, up-sell, and offer a host of loyalty-building electronic dialogs designed to increase retention and add value to the customer's experience.
   Online account management is the biller's equivalent of a bank's automated teller machine (ATM). When a person uses an ATM to make a withdrawal or a balance inquiry, he is acting in place of a bank teller. The end result is the same, but the transaction is more cost effective for the bank and the customer appreciates the added convenience and control provided by the ATM. Online self-care can empower your customers the same way to act on their own behalf--in effect, to act as an employee of your company, serving (and satisfying) themselves.