Epayments

Chase Ends Last Major Experiment with Scan-and-Pay Bill Management

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Chase Bank, Epayments

PaytrustEffective Monday, Chase Bank will end its four-year experiment with so-called scan-and-pay bill payment (download the email announcement below). Popularized in 1999-2000 by Cyberbills, PayMyBills.com, and PayTrust, the service allowed users to have their mailed bills redirected to the service provider where they were scanned and posted to a website. Users were alerted to the new bills and could pay them through a variety of methods.

Download final email announcing the termination of Chase Bank's "Premium Plan" total bill management service

As demand failed to materialize, the three service providers all ended up under Metavante ownership. Last year, Metavante sold the remaining PayTrust business to Intuit. Chase was the only major bank to offer the service, using it as the premium option in a three-level product line (see OBR 82, p. 8).

Analysis
This is a service that sounds great on paper, but is too complicated for the benefits provided. Winning electronic bill payment services need to provide quick payback with a minimal learning curve. That's what so nice about CheckFree's new system that allows users to add a new biller by simply entering the biller's phone number.

While the few users who took the trouble to redirect their bills and set-up automated payments were quite satisfied, it was just too much trouble for all but a fringe group of highly-organized computer-savvy types, the kind of person who is a long-term user of Quicken. So it makes a lot of sense that the sole remaining provider of the service is Intuit.

—JB

 

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

U.S. Bank Splashscreen Announces Bill Pay Improvements

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Epayments, US Bank

Usbank_splashscreen_1U.S. Bank, with more than 1 million online banking customers, just went live with CheckFree’s latest bill payment system (see OBR 113, p. 11). The improvements were communicated to current customers via a splashscreen the first time they went into the bill payment system (click on the inset above for a close-up).

The changes were also highlighted on a splashscreen after online banking login (see inset below). Customers also received a letter with similar information.

Improvements

  • Much better user interface
  • Integrated checking account balance
  • Faster payments for some merchants, some with same-day delivery
  • More customer-friendly terminology such as "biller" instead of "payee"
  • Slick add-a-biller function keyed off phone number (which really works, I added myself as a biller by typing my phone number, clicking "enter", confirming that it was the right address, and clicking again…took about 10 seconds!)

Analysis
The reason for this article is to highlight the effectiveness of splashscreens for communicating important new information. PayPal has been using this technique Usbank_splash_main_1practically since inception and we’ve commented on it a number of times in Online Banking Report.

We are now starting to see the technique at other financial institutions. We believe it’s an extremely effective technique for two reasons:

  1. Users are surprised to see a screen they weren’t expecting, so they are naturally curious to find out what’s going on.
  2. Users are forced to navigate past the screen in order to do their banking, usually with a button at the bottom of the screen; so they have little choice but to scan the content.

However, you have to be careful not to overuse it. Anything more than once per month and users will start clicking past it like they do with most advertising intrusions. 

If you are not using this technique, talk to your website development team, or outside platform provider, about how to incorporate it into your online marketing mix.

—JB

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Banking Bill Payment Guarantees

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bill payment, Citibank, Epayments, Service

Checkfree_logoWe believe a strong bill payment guarantee is crucial, not only to the credibility of your epayments program, but by implication, to your entire online banking offering. CheckFree has offered its logo up for years, but your customers want to know what YOU will do for them; most would prefer to know nothing about CheckFree.

And your guarantee needs to be visible to both online banking users and those just thinking about it. One of the best ways to increase visibility is by creating a "bill-pay guarantee" icon that users can click through to learn more about it.

Citi_billpay_logo_1 One of the better examples is at Citibank (inset) on its logon page. When you click on the logo, a small popup appears (click on the thumbnail below):

Citi_billpay_guarantee_1*

This guarantee has great copy, you can tell the marketing department was heavily involved. Rather than just reiterating the rather droll performance guarantee,* the bank also highlights several benefits:

  • No hidden charges, in other words, unlike "free checking," bill pay really is free
  • 24/7 service with "fast response"

*Citi’s bill-pay guarantee states that payments will be processed within 24-hours and delivered to payees according to the schedule, or the bank will pay for any fees incurred.

—JB

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

First Brochure Focused on a Single Online Banking Feature

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Epayments, Personal Financial Management, Wells Fargo

Wells_fargo_my_spending_reportTen years after becoming the first bank in the world to post customer statement data on a website, Wells Fargo’s in-branch collateral shows just how far the online banking industry has matured.

Instead of putting a generic online banking brochure in the branch, which would hardly get a second look these days, at least in our Seattle neighborhood, the bank has created an entire take-one brochure showcasing its innovate new feature My Spending Report that we looked at Feb. 17.

The My Spending Report brochure is a statement-stuffer sized 4-panel, 4-color creation printed 2/05 and entitled:

Look at your finances in a new way.

Also on the cover:

Introducing My Spending Report, exclusively from Wells Fargo.   

Inside, the left panel explains the spending report and cross sells credit and debit cards with an umbrella program called, The SmartSpender Plan, which includes:

  • My Spending Report
  • WellsProtect fraud protection
  • Wells Fargo Rewards on select card accounts

The right panel shows a screenshot of the report depicting checking, debit card, credit card, and bill payment activity.

Update on Website slacking
In February, we were critical of the bank for announcing a new feature that had no visibility on its website. That has been corrected. Now the first result for a a search for "My Spending Report" links users to this explanatory page.   

— JB

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Billeo’s Business Model is B2B

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Billeo, Desktop Presence, Epayments

We finally had a chance to talk to Billeo founder and CEO, Raj Lalwani. First last Thursday, then a followup demo today.

I am happy to report the CEO is as impressive as the software.

And it turns out their business model is more B2B than B2C. Billeo will be custom-designing toolbars for banks, credit card issuers, other ecommerce players, such as retailers, travel booking sites, and yes, even billers. They hope to announce a HUGE customer win in the next few weeks. 

We think this application has great promise

We will dissect the company in the next issue of Online Banking Report (available online approximately April 12).

Previous articles can be found here.

— JB

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Update on Billeo Bill Payment Toolbar

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Billeo, Desktop Presence, Epayments

Billeo_billboardSince our <a href="initial report on Billeo, we’ve been using the system to pay and view bills. It’s a new category of software we’ll call toolbar-ware.

The primary user interface is an toolbar located near the top of Internet Explorer. Many of the toolbar functions call-out web pages from the Billeo server, so as you use the program it ends up being a mix of website and toolbar functions. It’s actually a bit confusing for the new user.

Part of the reason it’s not as intuitive as the Google or eBay toolbar, is that the user must learn an entirely new approach to tracking their billing. Whereas, with eBay and Google, most toolbar users are already well-versed in the nuances of using those popular sites.

Billeo_adsWe’ve also discovered their business model, running Google-like ads that run on the right of the page as you use the program. Click on the screenshot above to see the entire page. See left for the advertising section only.

Currently the advertisers running on the Billeo Billboard are ING Direct, The Wall Street Journal, Quicken Loans, and Value Line. The advertisers all stayed the same during our testing.

Bottom line: It’s a great program, and we recommend banks consider developing a similar toolbar which also incorporates banking functions, or licensing this one from Billeo. We’ll be publishing a complete review of Billeo in OBR #116, published in mid-April.

For more information:

—JB

Editor’s Note: Billeo was named "OBR Best of the Web" in the second part of its series on E-Payments (OBR 119) published in June 2005. 

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Quantifying Online Interbank Transfer Volumes

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Epayments, MasterCard

We’ve been tracking the developments in account-to-account transfers closely, in preparation for an upcoming Online Banking Report on the subject. It’s tough to get a handle on the actual dollar volumes, so we were pleased to see American Banker’s Daniel Wolfe quantify the market size.

In Friday’s article (subscription required), MasterCard’s TowerGroup payments analyst, Beth Robertson is quoted as saying that in 2004, $730 billion was transferred via account-to-account transfer (i.e., a funds transfer from an individual’s account at one financial institution to the same customer’s account at another). That amounts to more than $7000 for each of approximately 100 million U.S. households. All but a billion or so was initiated off-line.

But the online portion is growing. CashEdge the leading supplier of online account-to-account transfers, expects to process $6 billion in 2005, that’s about $200 annually for each of the 30 million or so U.S. online banking households. However, fewer than 50% of those households have access to online account-to-account transfers.

—JB

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

“My Spending Report” from Wells Fargo

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Epayments, Images & Online Archives, Personal Financial Management, Wells Fargo

2005 is off to an innovative start, first the launch of Billeo, a toolbar-based bill payment manager. Now, Wells Fargo puts a little sizzle into its online banking steak, with a preformatted spending report, ala Quicken, appropriately named, My Spending Report.

The bank's press release says its patent-pending, which we can only hope is a marketing gimmick.

Here's how the bank describes the service:

…combines spending transactions from a customer's check card, credit card, checking account and bill pay in one convenient place, accessed through a secured, online banking session and updated automatically each day. Electronic and bill payment transactions are organized by familiar categories such as gas/automotive, groceries, ATM withdrawals, etc.

Analysis
We will see more and more innovations around data delivery as banks try to differentiate their online services and add value. The stream of banking data available online is begging to be organized, analyzed, flagged, and reported.

Quicken has been doing it for 20 years, but it's more appealing to many users, especially younger ones, to integrate personal financial management right into banking websites.

Slightly Off-Topic Rant
Despite a well-crafted press release, don't bother visiting Wells Fargo's website today to learn more about My Spending Report. Not only is there no homepage link, the site-search function contains no relevant links either. So much for integrating PR with your website.

—JB

If you'd like to learn more about the how personal finance functionality is penetrating online banking, check out Personal Finance Features for Online Banking: Why “My Spending Report” trumps free bill pay on the subject from our sister publication, the Online Banking Report.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Bill Payment Toolbar from Billeo

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Best of the Web, Bill payment, Billeo, Desktop Presence, Epayments

Billeo_click_to_enlarge Just when you thought the banks were gaining an upper hand in the electronic bill payment battle, up pops a newcomer with a fresh approach. Take a moment to check out Billeo. An odd name, but so is iPod, and it seems to be working pretty well.

We haven’t used it yet, so these comments are preliminary, but "on paper" this company and its approach appear to be winners. (One caveat: the business model is unknown, and the privacy policy is a bit ambiguous when it comes to the issue of adware. We’ll keep you posted on what we find out.)

Billeo is a free toolbar-resident application that plays "virtual assistant," enabling more convenient and controlled direct bill payment at vendor sites. The toolbar also serves as an e-wallet simplifying online point-of-sale transactions.

Analysis
The toolbar contains several unique features, one of which is extremely impressive, the ability to save screen captures of transaction receipts. The application also includes payment reminders, a payment register, and a personal "bill payment" email address for users.

There are several familiar names associated with the startup. Nancy Langer, a former exec at Metavante, is the president. The advisory board includes Eric Dunn, formerly with Intuit, Shankar Srinivasan co-founder of Cyberbills, and Scott Loftesness of Glenbrook Partners.

We’ll dissect the new service in Part 2 of our upcoming Electronic Payments Report in Online Banking Report.

—JB

Editor’s Note: Billeo was named "OBR Best of the Web" in the second part of its series on E-Payments (OBR 119) published in June 2005. 

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Pricing Online Bill Payment

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bill payment, Epayments

We just sent our latest report, “Pricing: The Fee vs. Free Controversy” to the printer. It should arrive in your mail in a week to 10 days.
In the report we look at the widespread practice of offering of online bill payment free of charge. You can read the report for our detailed conclusions, but suffice it to say, we are not wild about this trend. Online banking and bill payment provides significant value. And without a tangible revenue stream, it’s difficult to make the appropriate investments in the channel. We think bank customers will actually be better off in the long run if they shoulder at least a portion of the extra costs of a robust online banking service.
Free bill payment is particularly vexing. Here’s a service that runs circles around the paper equivalent. Users can save time, save money (postage, late fees, and check printing fees), can improve bill tracking and budgeting, and make their financial life easier. And, if the electronic payment doesn’t post at the biller on time, the bank and/or processor will go to bat for them to resolve the problem. Try doing that with a paper check that’s “lost in the mail.”
So why do banks insist on providing this beneficial and costly service free of charge? They are doing it for the “relationship” value. No doubt users love getting something for nothing. And we won’t dispute the correlation between bill pay users and higher household profitability. But so what. You can correlate higher profits with any service designed for a well-heeled audience.
The bigger question is this: Is free bill payment, costing $50 to $100 per customer per year, the best way to gain more loans and deposits from your best customers? It may be, but there may also be less expensive ways to achieve similar results, such as lifetime transaction archives or more account security options.
It’s a tough call.
If you’d like to learn more about the future of online bill payment, check out the Online Banking & Bill Pay Forecast: Current, future and historical usage: 1994 to 2016 from our sister publication, The Online Banking Report.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook