By Sarah Reubens, Senior Director, Business Operations, Paymentus
The bill payment space has transformed rapidly over the past few decades, with buzzwords like modernization and innovation driving much of the conversation. But there’s one term that has become a staple for everyone at Paymentus: payment inclusivity.
Simplifying the bill payment experience for all payers is a conversation we have almost daily with our clients, who do an amazing job of prioritizing inclusivity for their customers. Recently, City of Baltimore partnered with Paymentus to fulfill Mayor Brandon M. Scott’s initiative to modernize local government processes.
Baltimore Transforms Its Billing and Payments
With nearly 2,000,000 bill-paying residents and businesses, Baltimore, Maryland serves a wide array of financial needs. The inherent economic diversity presents quite the challenge, especially given that Baltimore offers more than 25 city-related online payments.
Mayor Scott’s vision centered around one principle: leave no resident behind. Ambitious, for sure, but also in keeping with his administration’s goal of modernizing the government. Limited options offered by its legacy provider impaired the ability to make convenient cash payments or take advantage of innovative offerings such as digital wallets. The Paymentus partnership changed that completely.
Post implementation, Baltimore boasted a variety of new ways to pay including American Express and Discover credit and debit cards, PayPal, PayPal Credit, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay digital wallets, and cash payments accepted at local Walmarts (Walmart Bill Pay).
Additionally, convenience-drivers such as AutoPay, eBills and Pay-by-Text were added, as well as a Spanish-language option for all bill pay capabilities and services.
The Power of Payments Choice and Control
While people can often be resistant to change, the change offered by Baltimore was immediately welcomed by residents. A few stats taken from the first 90 days post-launch shows the success of Mayor Scott’s initiative:
Digital wallets accounted for 8% of overall transaction volume (and growing)
IVR payments per month nearly tripled
Discover and American Express accounted for 17% of all credit card transactions ($16M volume)
AutoPay also experienced immediate adoption, with nearly 25K AutoPay transactions recorded in the first quarter. What’s especially encouraging is that Baltimore’s growth was achieved organically. Residents transitioned to the new payment options without marketing prompts, proving the necessity and appeal of the convenience, choice, and control of the expanded billing and payment solution.
The Baltimore Billing & Payments Blueprint
There are two key takeaways for organizations seeking to bill better:
- Maintaining a focus on payments inclusivity. We have talked at length about YouX and the need to serve cash-preferred customers, but the need for inclusivity cannot be overstated. Expecting customers to change their behaviors or adjust their schedules to pay a bill is a recipe for late payments. Baltimore’s performance has proven that if you work to meet every payment preference, customers will react positively.
- Modernization is not disruptive. The term “modernization” may sound imposing but with the right billing and payments partner, it can be an immediate performance enhancer. Evidence of this is seen in the adoption metrics showing that Baltimore residents quickly took to the new system offered by City of Baltimore. And while Baltimore was able to achieve these results without a dedicated marketing effort, Paymentus clients promoting their new system using our complimentary CAST offering have experienced adoption rates beyond those relying on organic growth.
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