Modernizing In-Person Payments: Kiosk Bridge the Gap for Cash Customers
Cash customers find themselves in a pinch any time they need to pay for an important bill. More often than not, the only in-person payment option for customers is a payment center with set daytime business hours. In other cases, customers have to resort to making payments at 3rd party sites, which usually charge exorbitant fees just to process a payment.
These customers are becoming increasingly disillusioned by the lack of accessible payment options and the added fees they incur just to do business with their local government or utility. The hurdles to make payments for every day services whittle away at the trust between organizations and their customers. The key to winning back their trust: offer secure, modern, payment channels that tear down these unnecessary hurdles so that customers can safely pay for every day services with ease.
Full Functionality of In-Person Payment Channels for Cash Customers
The push into the digital age has left many customers feeling forgotten. But the best in modern, customer-centric technology keeps everyone in mind, including the customers that prefer to do things as they always have.
Reliable and versatile tech provides the same benefits to a customer paying by cash as it does to those who choose to pay by card. Cash customers benefit from the 24/7 access to make bill payments provided by self-service kiosks at locations that are well monitored by surveillance cameras and other security measures. The ability to make cash payments without any fees is another major boost for cash customers, particularly lower-income customers that are often underbanked or unbanked.
DTE wanted to introduce an upgrade to their in-person payment solution that served the needs of all DTE customers. By implementing self-service kiosks, DTE was able to remove the limitations on business hours. Now, instead of a restrictive window from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday, customers can make payments 24/7 by cash, check, or card. Introducing one modern in-person payment channel has allowed DTE to extend greater convenience to all customers, regardless of how they choose to pay their utility bills.
“Having kiosks that are open more hours than 9:00 to 5:00…has been the biggest piece of just giving the same level of convenience to all types of customers that we have. It just makes a lot of the collection aspects easier, but it also makes the customer communication and the customer trust in the channel better. – Justine Schneider, Senior Strategist, DTE
The Immediate Feedback Cash Customers Need
The ability for cash customers to make payments 24/7 at a self-service payment kiosk is a great start, but the benefits of the kiosk goes much further. This fully-integrated payment channel enables customers to get real-time account information and allows them to make payments that post immediately to their accounts. This immediate feedback and added convenience reduces late payment concerns for customers, building greater confidence between them and the organizations with whom they are doing business. And the kiosk can generate receipts right when payments are made so customers can feel confident that their payments went through with proof in hand.
Lawrence Utilities selected CityBase kiosks as the best means to extend these valuable features for the convenience of its customers. Now, their customers can make full or partial payments at any hour and that payment will be put toward the balance of their utility bill immediately with an updated balance to reflect any outstanding amount, if any.
“To have a system that was integrated and provide that real-time feedback, customers knew exactly how much they owed and the due date. It gave them the confidence that their payment was being taken. That real-time integration has eliminated a lot of the double-checking phone calls that we often had to deal with on other platforms.” – Tyler Douthit, Comptroller, City of Lawrence
Continued Support for Traditional Customers
Customers that prefer to make payments in person are not going away. And neither are cash customers. These customers want the same advancements in technology and convenience that their digitally inclined peers enjoy and organizations owe them an equitable approach to payment processing. The self-service kiosk is the prime ingredient to support better in-person payment processing and reconciliation.
