The Los Angeles Clippers basketball team is building a new stadium. Owned by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the team is aiming to develop an unparalleled fan experience. They’ve thought about nearly everything. Fans will find it easier to use the restroom thanks to more than 1500 touchless restroom fixtures. Their seats will have more legroom. They’ve purchased a giant two-sided halo board. And, the stadium will feature grab-and-go concessions with no checkout line. The goal: to ensure fans spend as much time as possible in their seat enjoying the game.
The grab-and-go concession technology was first piloted by Amazon at their Amazon Go stores. Essentially, it makes payment easy by leveraging your phone as an identifier and “watching” what you put in your basket. Then, they automatically charge those items to your credit card or another account when you leave. It’s convenient and saves time.
Like the Clippers, health insurers should examine their payment portal to ensure it delivers the best consumer experience. With that in mind, here are 7 characteristics of a great premium billing payment portal:
Mobile Friendly
According to Statcounter, more than 55% of global web traffic in 2021 occurred on a mobile device. If your premium billing payment portal isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re potentially alienating half your audience. Creating mobile-friendly sites isn’t particularly difficult anymore. If you want to ensure every member can easily make a payment, ensure that your payment portal is mobile-friendly.
Recurring Payments
One of the obvious goals of any premium billing process is to ensure that you get paid on time. One of the best ways to ensure an on-time premium payment is to offer — and promote — the ability to create a recurring payment. However, it’s also important that you allow a member to pick from a list of dates when that payment will be made. Why? Because people may have cash flow issues and want to wait to make their payment until they know they’ve gotten paid. So be sure to allow recurring payments and give members three to four dates to choose from when initiating that payment.
Single Sign-On
Nobody likes creating multiple passwords for one site. If you use a third-party premium billing and payment portal, you must use a single sign-on to enable users to access the third-party payment portal. With single sign-on, users that login to your member portal can click and link, have their credentials sent to the payment portal and view their invoice or payment information. It’s a streamlined process that simplifies the billing experience for your members.
Invoice Presentment
It’s an obvious requirement for a payment portal, but you’d be surprised at how many portals don’t allow you to view and download your premium invoice. So make sure your members can view and save an invoice when they visit your payment portal. Doing so can save fulfillment costs. Instead of mailing premium invoices, you can email members a notification, they log in to your member portal, review a PDF of their invoice, and make a payment.
Billing and Payment History
Payment portals exist not only to enable members to make a payment but also exist to enable members to view their billing and payment history. Ensure your premium billing payment portal includes both a member’s billing history and their payment history. If you’re already presenting invoices on the payment portal, it’s relatively simple to create an archive of those invoices with an interface to view them.
Payment Options
If you want members to make a payment on time, you need to offer them as many payment options as possible. That means the ability to pay by check or ACH and the ability to pay with all the major credit cards. We even offer a cash pay option where members can take their invoices to retail locations across the US and pay with cash. It’s a great solution for low dollar value premiums for un- or underbanked populations.
Appropriate Branding
You’ve likely spent decades and lots of capital building your brand. So ensure that it’s front and center on your premium billing payment portal. If you have multiple brands, make sure your portal has the appropriate brand. Keep in mind that your brand is more than just your logo. It also includes things like fonts, colors, and even the language you use. So make sure your payment portal accurately reflects your brand. Doing so not only gives members the confidence they’re on the right payment portal but also reinforces your brand image.
Certifi’s health insurance premium billing and payment solutions help healthcare payers improve member satisfaction while reducing administrative costs.
