The pandemic came to reveal more demanding customers that would easily churn. During this time companies adopted a consumer-centric ‘Expectation Economy’ where Experience was the new battlefield for both differentiation and loyalty. Businesses needed to right-size their spending to both their budgets and new needs, which resulted in the bill transforming by becoming more powerful and engaging, providing the potential to gain a competitive advantage.
Timeline
Mar. 20–Jan. 21
Services
UX Strategy
Product Strategy
UX & Market Research
Current Billing Experience
Three most significant negative emotional reactions to bills.
75%
are bored
Customers don’t feel their bills are useful, relevant, or helpful.
LACK OF UTILITY
65%
are confused
Charges that aren’t clear and don’t make sense cause annoyance.
LACK OF MEANINGFUL EXPLANATION
25%
experienced bill shock
Shock is the most obvious feature of a poor billing experience—higher-than-expected charges undermine trust.
LACK OF REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION
Insights & Planning
The bill communication and presentation provide a quick win and deliver a digital makeover that buys time.
What makes a good digital bill experience?
Research suggested a few key components based on customers’ reactions and current journeys.
We had to take a LEAN approach and concentrate where the most value can be delivered faster—bill communication and presentation.
To frame the audience of this product, we need to understand the emotional aspects of customer experience.
Considering a broader framework, Behavioural Archetypes are richer and more meaningful. They represent a typical example of customer behavior or motivation (emotional response) which is characteristic of a group of people.
UX Strategy
Collect research and benchmark on current bill solutions and customers’ relationship with them.
Define a vision that would work as a guideline for roadmap creation and product evolution.
Define primary customer behaviors by analyzing and defining behavioral archetypes.
Determine the impact those behaviors would have on the experience, which would later translate into a map of features.
Prioritize the potential initiatives and the value proposition to both CSG as a product company and CSPs as their clients.
Determine MVP and estimation timeline.
Showcase the potential growth into other industries and corresponding market cap at the time of analysis.
With personalization it’s possible to minimize negative feelings around bills—customers prefer conversational rather than formal style and dynamic content.
The MVP goal was to demonstrate an experience that focuses in effective bill breakdown, improving analytics and reporting.
The look and feel of the digital bill was enhanced, along with self-service features and more automation.
Key achievements
Outstanding invoices have decreased significantly in the first year, with a 34% acceleration in payments.
(In the United States)
Successful launch of the product with a pilot-client heating lean production. Currently, the Bill Explainer is being showcased to 3M+ customers monthly.
Leading the team towards the MVP has created the ground foundation for product evolution. The same principles are applied today.