The implementation of a new billing and payment system can present both an exciting opportunity and challenge for billers and customers alike. For Round Rock, migrating to the Paymentus billing and payment solution meant expanded ways for customers to pay their water, sewer and garbage bills.
Round Rock worked with the Paymentus Client Adoption Success Team (CAST) to create a host of marketing materials including an incentive campaign and a campaign aimed at increasing in-store cash bill pay adoption. In this CAST Q&A highlighting top marketers from the world of billing and payments, Gabrielle Williams, Lobby Manager/Supervisor – Billing & Revenue, shares her approach to developing a marketing strategy, best practices for supporting implementations and why CAST was an essential element to Round Rock’s success.
Q: Gabrielle, thank you for your time. We know that any type of change – good or bad – is likely to cause disruption for customers. Knowing that their experience will ultimately be better through the expanded payment options now available, what was Round Rock’s main marketing goal?
A: Our primary goal was to inform customers about the new payment options available, make it easier and more convenient for them to manage their payments, and communicate the launch of our sweepstakes (incentive program).
Q: Having a clear goal from the outset really simplifies the process of building effective campaigns. Once you had a vision, how did your team approach the marketing and promotional aspect of your strategy?
A: Our marketing strategy centers around clear and consistent communication that highlights the practical benefits of our service. This has significantly increased customer engagement. We aim to make every interaction with our customers as straightforward and informative as possible, utilizing a mix of digital marketing, direct mail and community outreach.
Q: When analyzing this multi-channel approach, which channels did you find to be particularly effective?
A: It’s not necessarily the channels but the approach. We’ve found that a multi-channel approach produces the best results. Digital platforms, including social media and email campaigns, allow us to reach a broad audience quickly and effectively. At the same time, physical materials like buck slips, postcards and posters have been instrumental in reinforcing our message, especially for customers who may prefer or need paper-based communication.
For instance, we found the most success with the launch of our new payment portal. We communicated the benefits of this new portal using direct mail and digital efforts like email newsletters and social media. This comprehensive approach made it easier for customers to understand and adopt the new portal and payment options, leading to a significant increase in digital payments.
Q: How has CAST enabled you to support this multi-channel strategy and help Round Rock achieve its goals?
A: CAST was pivotal in our journey. They helped us design advertising materials that communicated our new payment options to our customers. Their assistance in providing promotional materials for our sweepstakes initiative, aimed at encouraging customers to sign up for autopay, was instrumental.
We also offer in-store cash bill pay at local retail stores, which may require a bit more explanation. Having CAST professionals provide this type of expertise has really helped both our customers and staff best understand the benefits of in-store cash bill pay.
Q: When it comes to working with CAST, what was that experience like and would you recommend them to a fellow utility?
A: Our experience with CAST has been excellent. CAST has been instrumental in providing the marketing materials needed to effectively promote our sweepstakes and inform customers of our new payment options. Their responsiveness and commitment to meeting our deadline was outstanding. They consistently delivered everything we needed on time, which was crucial to our campaign. I highly recommend CAST to anyone looking to enhance their marketing efforts – they bring expertise and reliability.
Q: Lastly, after having been through an implementation and launching several CAST campaigns, what’s one thing you learned that you wish you had known before?
A: One key lesson we’ve learned is the importance of simplifying the customer experience. Making things easy and intuitive for customers leads to higher engagement and fewer issues. Additionally, we’ve learned that incentives, like our sweepstakes, can be highly effective in driving behavior change, such as increasing AutoPay sign-ups.
CAST delivers full-service, complimentary marketing support to help organizations increase customer awareness and drive the adoption of your most cost-efficient digital payment methods and channels.
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