This video makes it clear! People want a paper option.

Submitted: The Two Sides Team October 31, 2013

Kudos to the team at Keep Me Posted for a great video that spells it out…with a British twist!

A group of charities, consumer watchdogs and postal operators in the UK recently launched a new campaign to stop banks, utilities and telecoms firms from forcing their customers to use paperless billing. The “Keep Me Posted” campaign warns that switching bills and statements to digital channels is not always suitable for a “large proportion” of UK consumers, but businesses have been looking to switch transactional mail to electronic channels in order to save on cost. Sound familiar?

The Keep Me Posted campaign wants businesses to adopt a “Right to Choose” pledge demonstrating their commitment to allowing customers to decide how they receive their important communications.

So why do we care here in the states? Because the UK campaign highlights many similar statistics that we have seen here in North America through a recent, independent survey and helps bring those results to life. The outcomes are comparable and can have a global message and impact.

For example, as pressure to go paperless from banks, utilities, telecommunications companies and other service providers grows, a majority of U.S. consumers want to keep the option to receive paper bills and statements, according to a nationwide survey conducted for Two Sides US by research firm Toluna. Similar results were also found in an earlier National US survey conducted by Infotrends on behalf of Consumers for Paper Options and in the UK by Two Sides U.K.

We think our US survey results speak for themselves…and for people in support of paper correspondence options:

64% of consumers say they would not choose a company that did not offer a paper bill option.

88% want to be able to switch between electronic and paper bills without difficulty or cost.

72% agree that print and paper can be an environmentally sustainable way to communicate if responsibly produced, used and recycled.

50% of consumers either do not believe, feel misled by or question the validity of claims like “Save Trees, Go Paperless” and “Go Green, Go Digital.”

Over 84% of people agree that e-billing and e-statements are being promoted to save costs.

91% of consumers say they are unwilling to pay for paper bills.

44% prefer to receive bills by postal mail only.

59% of consumers would refuse to switch to electronic bills and statements or would not take action when asked to do so.

50% of consumers read their bills and statements received both electronically and by postal mail; only 15% read bills which they receive by email only.

34% of consumers are clearly ‘home printers’ with 20% printing up to 20% of their bills and 8% printing between 80% and 100% of their bills. 66% don’t print out any bills at home.

If you haven’t already, check out the full survey report. It is available to Two Sides members at http://www.twosides.us/Members-Only-Page

And let us know your thoughts on the “Keep Me Posted” video!

Phil Riebel
President, Two Sides US