With the rise of digital banking and more concern about the environment, we are turning to an increasingly paperless world. Financial institutions large and small are printing far fewer statements or in some cases, not printing any. Instead, they are offering various e-statement solutions. Account holders and members are accepting and welcoming the change.

Why Use e-statements

The banking industry has discovered that e-statements create advantages across a variety of financial services industry uses. Digital statements provide faster access to account information and reduce the likelihood of identity theft. Not only is the statement available sooner than a paper statement, but it’s delivered in a simple way -- email. Finally, an e-statement never has to be shredded, and it has a tiny carbon footprint. All of these advantages can help you encourage your account holders to make the move to e-statements.

E-Statements save money

A first-class letter today costs 55 cents. Sorting and other discounts available to large mailers can take that rate down 35-65%. However, paper statements remain considerably more expensive to send than digital.

Think about the costs. A 20% increase in postage gives a financial institution with 30,000 statements an annual increased cost of more than $20,000. By sending e-statements, even with a small adoption rate, the financial institution can reduce or eliminate those costs. As the adoption rate rises, the cost of a postage increase virtually disappears from the financial institution's calculations.

Cybersecurity protections for e-statements are strong

As account holders do more online, their concern about digital privacy — and yours about providing it — continues to grow. Account holders give you incredible amounts of highly personal information. They expect that you will protect it. Fortunately, not only has digital banking become cheaper, but it also continues to be secure.

From email services to operating system controls, sending digital mail to your account holders is more secure than ever. Stronger protections, such as mandatory password changes and two-factor authentication increase the protection of your account holders' digital information.

Digital Is Instant; Mail is Slowing Down

The US Postal Service announced in October 2020 that in order to reduce its costs, physical mail delivery will be slower for the foreseeable future. Combine intentionally slower delivery with a 55¢ first-class letter and you have a decidedly undesirable service. Digital, on the other hand, is virtually instantaneous and the costs continue to go down.

Account Holder Preferences

Many of your account holders may have once been reluctant to receive items from you electronically. But as of 2021, more than half now prefer to receive most communications digitally, including statements. Encourage adoption by making your digital services easy to use.

Include explanations of your e-statements on your website and add training videos for more complex services you make available to them. Create a digital archive of every e-statement of an account holder available so they have a better overall experience.

Think Beyond the e-statement

Cost Savings Through New Technology

Digital contact with your account holders allows you to increase efficiency while bringing costs down. You may not want to entirely digitize the experience, but many functions can be easily handled through digital contact. Doing that allows you to devote actual person-hours to the more complex problems best solved with actual human intervention.

Among the cost savings measures you can use are:

•          AI chatbots for a portion of customer service inquiries

•          "Smart" forms to reduce error rates on submitted applications

•          Automating processes to reduce labor costs

Deeper Account Holder Connections through Technology

As your account holders give you more information every day, make use of that information. Data analytics can help you understand what it is your account holders want and how they want to receive it. Make sure, too, that your account holders can digitally access your services across all channels.

Any service they can reach online should also be available and fully usable as a mobile app. Give them as many services as you can. Online account origination and loan applications will tie your account holders more closely to you.

Conclusion

There are a number of ways that you can encourage your account holders to adopt e-statements. First, consider making the statements more digital-friendly. Don't just duplicate the format you used for paper statements. Instead, use graphics and other design features to make the digital statement more informative and more accessible to the user. Likewise, if you can allow your account holders to make edits in their e-statements that will personalize the experience, they will be more likely to prefer them over paper.

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Ready to get started with increasing your e-statement adoption? Larky can help. Use customized push notification messaging to encourage your account holders to move their statements to digital format, all delivered directly through your mobile banking app. Contact us or schedule a demo to learn more and see Larky in action for yourself!