All Consumers
- 50% of consumers are more likely to pay attention to a bill if it comes in the post
- 72% of consumers say it is helpful (and 32% say it is essential) to receive letters
- 30% say it would be harder to manage their finances without letters
- 76% believe they should have the right to choose (74% is the EU average across 10 countries)
- 54% believe they should not be charged more for choosing paper
- 41% believe that paper is better for record keeping
- 83% want to choose between mail and email
- 42% were encouraged to go paperless (half with incentive) but only 24% did
- 57% say they are less likely to miss something if it comes physically
RIP OFF?
A typical bill or statement costs 30–45p to print and post.
Consumers are typically charged £1.67 but it can be as much as £3.
Printing off at home is less environmentally friendly and does not provide you with a legal document.
Vulnerable Consumers
- 4.5 million adults have never used the internet
- This number is disproportionately made up of vulnerable groups, including the elderly, disabled and those living in poverty or rural areas
- 20% of disabled adults have never used the internet
- Only 6% of households have no broadband access but it’s 18% of over 65s, 11% of lower income households and 10% of the most financially vulnerable
- Those in debt are less likely to have personal access to the internet:
- 1 in 5 had no access either through a home computer or smartphone
- 1 in 10 only had access via a smartphone
- 46% of those living with mental health issues reported finding it difficult or very difficult to login to their essential service accounts when unwell
- 70% of those living with mental health issues reported finding it difficult or very difficult to identify key pieces of information on a bill or statement
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE & NEUROSCIENCE
IN A SPLIT RUN TEST WITH 3000 CONSUMERS IN UK…
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82% who received a paper statement remembered it accurately
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32% who received an online statement remembered it accurately
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75% who received a paper statement assessed it accurately
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48% who received an on line statement assessed it accurately
IN A STUDY IN CANADA…
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paper required 21% less cognitive effort to understand
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motivational response is 20% higher with paper than digital
BRITISH STUDIES ALSO SHOWED…
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65% are distracted when looking a something on screen versus 21% on paper
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49% increase in activation of the brain responsible for long term memory encoding
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consumers valued something they could see and touch, 24% more highly than something they could only see