Bank customers who use online bill payment have higher average account balances and are more loyal users of Internet banking services than other online banking customers.
About 12 percent of online banking customers paid at least one bill through their bank's online bill payment service in the period studied, which represents a 42 percent rise in the number of customers since first-quarter 2002.
The comScore analysis, reaching fourth-quarter 2002, revealed that users of online bill payment services hold an average account balance of about $4,800, double the $2,400 carried by the average online banking customer. Further, comScore found that younger and higher-income consumers are more prone to use online bill payment services.
“The rate at which consumers are adopting online banking and bill payment services ranks these two activities among the fastest growing on the Internet,” said Mike Sinco, director of analytics for comScore Financial Services Solutions. “However, individual banks are achieving varying degrees of success in bringing customers online.”
Among the 11 major banks studied, Bank of America leads in the adoption rate of online bill payment with more than 25 percent of its online customers making an online bill payment in the fourth quarter. Bank of America also leads the industry based on overall number of active online customers, followed by Wells Fargo and Citibank.
Fleet has shown success in converting a relatively high percentage of online customers to using its online bill pay service.
ComScore also found that online bill payment users were more than twice as likely to remain active online banking customers as non-bill payment users. Customers who did not use their bank's bill payment services showed an online attrition rate of 34 percent, compared with 16 percent for those who were active bill payment users. Attrition is defined as a consumer who was an active online banking customer in Q2 2002, but not an active online customer at the same site in Q4 2002.
The analysis is based on the comScore Global Network, which captures the complete Internet activity of a representative cross-section of more than 1.5 million global Internet users.
