In mid 2008, the City of Tallahassee, Florida, chose Striata to enhance its electronic communication initiatives.
The City of Tallahassee Utilities, a locally owned municipal utility, launched a successful customer awareness program to collect email addresses for a full roll-out in November. After just five months, Striata’s adoption strategies have assisted the utility company to turn off 7% of its total paper bills.
Keeping the focus on gathering email addresses from new and existing customers will ensure that the City of Tallahassee Utilities matches or exceeds the average paper turn-off rate of 15% per year for Striata’s clients (five times the industry average).
“Our customers have been asking us for electronic billing, as well as a no-fee electronic payment option and the Striata SmartBill is a great solution,” said Reese Goad, Director of Utility Business and Customer Services. “The SmartBill is part of our overall e+ initiative to provide programs, easy to use tools, technology and information to our customers and community, helping them save energy, water and money as well as help preserve our environment.”
The City of Tallahassee Utilities’ SmartBill is an electronic (paperless) billing option that is offered to all utility customers who can opt-in to this time and money saving, environmentally responsible alternative for their monthly utility statement. Inside the SmartBill, Striata BillPay - a unique no fee electronic check payment solution powered by Western Union Payment Services - allows customers to pay their utility bill with just one click. Payment takes place directly from within the email bill itself, without customers having to click through or login to any website.
When customers sign up for the SmartBill, they receive their monthly utility bill directly into their email inbox as a fully personalized email with a secure attachment. The SmartBill includes a summary of charges, the actual utility statement (an exact replica of the paper bill) and additional information that can help customers save energy, water and money.
