With the introduction of PerfTech’s in-browser messaging platform well over a decade ago, ISPs immediately realized the opportunity to address overdue subscription payments with their customers in a non-confrontive manner. In early June of this year, a top-tier ISP redesigned their late bill pay messaging to convey new policies and achieve prompt engagement. Due to the sensitive nature of late bill pay, the campaign is delivered in two stages: the first announces the “important account notice” and asks whether the active recipient of the message is the account holder; the second message, if triggered by a “yes” to the first question, explains the consequences of missing payment and presents options to pay.
If triggered, the second message creates urgency by explaining that if payment continues to be past due, the subscriber will lose any promotional pricing currently in effect and be downgraded to a slower level of service. No mention is made as to how soon the consequences take effect. Several options are included in the message to take prompt action: an ISP phone number to call in a payment, and action buttons to pay in store, pay online, or be reminded. During a four-month period June through September, more than 250,000 late bill messages were delivered to unique subscribers, with results as follows:
Account Holder? Response percentage
Yes 44.6%
No 55.4%
Expanded Message to “Yes” Responders
Action Response percentage
Pay in store 0.6%
Pay online 22.1%
Remind me later 17.6%
Total response 40.3%
Note that while over 40% actively engaged with in-browser responses, more than 22% took immediate action to pay. And since PerfTech’s platform is not able to track those subscribers who viewed the displayed phone number and called the ISP directly, the actual engagement rate had to be even higher.