When Five O'Clock Became Five O'Clock Again: How Prime Community Management Made Online Payments the Easy Choice
Prime Community Management wanted more homeowners to pay online. But telling people to change how they have always paid was never going to be enough.
So Prime took a different approach: make the better option easier to understand, easier to access, and easier to use. Then make sure the team is ready to help.
Within roughly three months, the pushback had faded and online payments became a normal part of how homeowners managed their accounts.
Make the easier choice obvious.
Prime did not position online payments as a mandate. It showed homeowners what they gained.
Pay when it is convenient. See the activity on your account. Know the payment went through. Set up recurring payments and stop thinking about it every month.
"We position online payments as the easiest, more reliable method. Not necessarily as a replacement."
Jessica Jerome, Head Accountant, Prime Community Management
The message was not you have to do this. It was this is why it's easier.
Technology alone does not create adoption.
Prime led the change through communication and education: emails, mailings, QR codes, and conversations. Employees were prepared to walk homeowners through the process when they needed help. Instead of employees collecting payment information themselves, they helped homeowners learn how to complete their payments online.
Prime was not simply moving a transaction from one place to another. It gave homeowners the ability to manage their payments entirely themselves.
About three months later, it was normal.
There was pushback at first. Some homeowners preferred checks. Others were accustomed to paying by phone.
Prime continued to explain the change and help residents through it. Soon enough, online payments became routine.
Homeowners gained convenience. Accounting gained efficiency. Fewer manual payments meant fewer physical checks to process and less employee time spent handling transactions.
For Prime, the broader CINC experience has also helped change the rhythm of accounting work. Jessica says monthly financials that once could take until around the 15th are now completed, verified, approved, and delivered to board members by the 3rd or 4th. She attributes that broader improvement to CINC, including online payments and online account access, rather than online payments alone.
This led to greater efficiency across the organization.
"I can actually leave work at five and come back at eight o'clock in the morning and know that we're okay."
Jessica Jerome, Head Accountant, Prime Community Management
The bottom line.
This is how better technology makes work less tedious and more meaningful.
Prime led the charge in improving the homeowner payment experience, ultimately gaining time back in their day.
*Jessica attributes this broader improvement to CINC, including online payments and online account access, rather than online payments alone.