Convenience comes tops for consumers

The objective behind the research was to help electronic bill payment and presentment service providers such as banks and financial institutions to facilitate the growing consumer interest in online bill payment services and to assist with the evaluation of new ideas that will serve in overcoming the current barriers of mass adoption.

Through this intensive research, it has been confirmed that consumers are in favour of paying multiple bills through a single location as opposed to making individual payments directly at each biller's online site, not to mention having to go to each one of the shops. Majority of consumers mentioned a few benefits they enjoy about online bill payment such as efficiency, better control of finances and the convenience that comes with it.

According to the majority of current users who were interviewed, the key advantages of online banking were the ease and convenience of being able to make payments anytime and anywhere. The speed and enhanced control of the point-and-click process came second in the survey. A noticeable positive reaction from the research participants was the benefit of an online payment history, the huge savings from buying stamps and envelopes and more especially doing away with spending hours in long queues.

As the research was conducted with current online payment users and non-users in the United States, it has been founded that non-users are lacking knowledge around online payment and were rather confused about the process. Gary Byrne, vice president of technology at MasterCard Southern Africa said that this is the case with South African consumers. Participants were also concerned about the security of online payments and the privacy of transactions. The research also revealed the concerns that are seen as barriers for the adoption of online payment like the registration and set-up procedures, reliability and the costs involved versus paper checks.

"This research has made prominent, the need for education in the online payment segment. During the research a simple step-by-step demonstration of online payment was conducted and the interest levels among participants rose substantially. There is no doubt that online payment is gaining traction among consumers as they look to new technologies of streamlining their day-to-day finances and budgeting" concludes Gary Byrne.