There may be compelling evidence that
switching from paper to online bill payments is environmentally
friendly, but when it comes to motivating UK consumers to kick the
paper habit a cash incentive is a bigger incentive.

This, perhaps not unsurprising, fact was revealed by a survey of
online banking users commissioned by UK electronic bill presentment
and payment service OneVu.

According to OneVu, 31 percent of respondents rated receiving an
incentive or discount from a biller as the most likely reason for
using an online billing service, with just 17 percent being
influenced by a reduction in the risk of identity fraud and only 6
percent by environmental considerations.

“What is interesting is that consumers are increasingly savvy
and they understand that organisations can make considerable
savings by eliminating paper bills,” commented OneVu’s CEO Miles
Quitmann.

“The research suggests that they feel some of these savings
should be passed on to them rather than just the shareholders.”

In response to the survey results, OneVu will run a pilot
programme in spring 2009 in conjunction with a number of leading
water utilities offering consumers a chance to win a significant
cash prize if they register for the service.

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Offered by three UK banks, OneVue’s service is branded as Bill
Manager through Lloyds TSB and Bill Management through Royal Bank
of Scotland and NatWest.

However, the appeal of online bill payments is not purely
mercenary, with 46 percent of respondents stating that it was the
convenience of having everything in one place that was most
appealing aspect.

OneVu is a joint venture between UK transaction processor
VocaLink and US payments technology vendor Fiserv’s online bill
payments service CheckFree.