Paperless bills are no longer a nice-to-have — they’re a strategic imperative. For billing organizations, the decision to go paperless offers more than just environmental benefits. It’s about reducing operational costs, improving customer satisfaction, and streamlining internal processes.

If you’re one of the many billing and payments professionals wondering how to get started on your paperless journey, it’s important to start by evaluating your current state.

But first, let’s take a step back to talk about what paperless billing actually is and what results it can produce for organizations like yours.

What is Paperless Billing and Why Does it Matter?

Paperless billing refers to the process of delivering bills and collecting payments entirely through digital channels. Instead of printing and mailing paper statements, organizations send electronic bills via email, text, or online portals. Customers can then pay using digital methods like credit cards, ACH transfers, or mobile wallets.

The benefits are clear:

• Lower operational costs from reduced printing and postage
• Faster payments and improved cash flow
• Enhanced customer experience with convenient, self-service options
• Environmental impact through reduced paper waste

But achieving 100% paperless adoption doesn’t happen overnight. It requires the right infrastructure, communication strategy, and user experience.

Evaluation: Is Your Organization to Go Paperless?

For the impactful benefits it offers, encouraging paperless billing among customers may seem like a no-brainer. We agree! But before you jump in with both feet, it’s important to consider what your organization needs (or what it already has) that can make an increasing in paperless billing enrollment manageable.

To help you assess your readiness, we’ve compiled a checklist that covers the essential areas every billing organization should evaluate. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the key criteria:

✅ Infrastructure & Technology

What you’ll want to consider: Is your platform secure and scalable enough to handle increased digital volume?

When you start promoting paperless billing to customers, you naturally want them to enroll. But not all systems are ready to accommodate an influx of digital bills being sent (and, likely, digital payments being made in return). If your existing system doesn’t utilize a scalable infrastructure like SaaS technology, you could be looking at interruptions to your daily operations.

Not sure is your system is SaaS or not? Use this guide to tell the difference.

✅ Customer Communication

What you’ll want to consider: Are you using multiple channels (email, text, etc.) to promote paperless billing?

No two customers are the same, so you shouldn’t use one way of communicating to your entire customer base. To get your paperless billing options in front of as many payers as possible, you’ll want to enable a few different channels for promotion.

Send emails, texts, leave voicemails, or even hang posters in your office. (QR codes are a quick, easy way to get customers visiting your office to enroll in paperless billing.)

✅ User Experience

What you’ll want to consider: Is your platform mobile-friendly and accessible to all users?

If some customers are unable to access your digital billing and payment options, it will be difficult to make headway on your paperless journey. Evaluate if your current payment system is accessible to all users.

Does your payment system adhere to the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)? Are you providing multiple ways to access digital bills and digital ways to pay? For instance, while only 81% of the American population has access to a laptop or computer at home, 98% of Americans have mobile phones. Can those customers receive a digital bill on their phone or make a payment on their phone, easily and without issue? These are important considerations when evaluating your organization’s readiness to promote paperless billing.

✅ Performance Monitoring

What you’ll want to consider: Can you track your digital adoption rate and campaign performance?

Whether it’s for executive leadership or your own performance monitoring, it’s important to be able to track how successful your push for paperless has been. Are you currently able to track how many customers are enrolled in paperless and demonstrate the impact on your organization?

For instance, Truckee Meadows Water Authority was able to reallocate funds to improving infrastructure and stabilize utility rates after saving $160,000 annually in print and mail costs, all from running a successful “Paperless Billing Opt-in” campaign among their customer base.

Get the Full Checklist

Want to see how ready your organization is and what steps you can take to successfully embrace paperless billing?

Get instant access to our paperless preparedness checklist to evaluate your current capabilities and uncover opportunities to start drive digital adoption.