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45
Percent of U.S. Adults Will Be Using E-Billing and Payment Applications
by 2005
Consumer adoption of Internet-based billing and payment applications
continues to increase, as 22 percent of the U.S. adult population
will be using these applications by the end of 2002, up from 16
percent in 2001, according to Gartner, Inc.. At the end of 2005,
the number of consumers using online account management and e-billing
applications will have grown to 45 percent of the U.S. adult population.
"The overwhelming success has been in the credit card industry
where Web-based applications offered by card issuers take the concept
of monthly bill presentment to the next level - online account management,"
said Avivah Litan vice president and research director for Gartner.
"Web-based applications enable timely and interactive communication
of customer account data and, therefore, have much more value than
old paper-based processes and batch delivery of static monthly bills."
Credit-card issuers are the most savvy of marketers and the most
advanced in customer service, and Gartner analysts said other consumer
billing sectors have much to learn from them.
"Applications in which consumers interact directly with billers
have earned at least 20 times the adoption of the recent bill-consolidator
model that requires consumers to change normal interaction patterns,"
Litan said.
Gartner analysts said that consumers prefer viewing and paying
their e-bills directly at biller Web sites rather than registering
for a consolidated model at their bank's (or other service provider's)
Web site, where they can only receive two or three of their major
bills. Credit card issuers and telecommunications companies have
been the most aggressive in developing e-billing Web sites and developing
customer service functionality around them.
Banks are the most trusted consumer service providers on the Internet
when it comes to running an identity or e-wallet service. Consumers
are distrustful of these services in general, no matter who runs
them, and believe that their information is neither secure nor private
in identity or e-wallet databases.
"Consumers care much more about privacy and security than
they do about the convenience features offered by identity services,"
said Litan. "Identity services are marketed to consumers on
the premise that they eliminate the hassle of repetitive Web-site
registrations. But compared with privacy and solicitation concerns,
consumers do not find the registration process excessively annoying."
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