Case study demonstrates the dramatic effect of online bill payment on customer profitability.

In a new case study, Bank of America’s Free Bill Payment Campaign, Celent looks at how Bank of America built the business case for offering bill payment service for free and making it the focal point of its online banking service.

The report examines the steps Bank of America took that lead up this event: the strategic alliance with vendor Checkfree, the profitability time series it conducted over a two and a half year period, and the marketing campaign it conducted to promote the service.

"By analyzing over 300,000 customers over a two and a half year period and using sample groups to control for over 40 variables Bank of Americabuilt the business case which is at the core of the success of the free bill payment campaign" said Alex Brutin, retail banking analyst at Celent and author of the report.

"The decision to trade its own bill payment platform and services for Checkfree’s bill payment solution proved another important step by enabling Bank of America to support the huge growth it experienced once the marketing campaign got under way" says Brutin. The report provides a detailed insight in to how Bank of America was able to double the number of active users to two million in less than a year, far outpacing its competitors.