Australia Post is pleased to be offering its customers a new choice for paying bills by piloting state-of-the-art mobile payments app, Sniip.

General Manager Payments and Financial Services at Australia Post, Deanne Keetelaar, said Sniip’s mobile payment technology means customers can pay their bills from their smartphones within seconds.

“Australia Post is very excited to be working with Sniip on this pilot project, which supports our commitment to continually improving the bill payment experience for customers,’’ Ms Keetelaar said.

“We will initially be offering our customers the ability to pay bills from selected billers using Sniip and seeing how they respond. Sniip has proven through its current billing partners that bill payers see the need for a simple user experience that is both secure and fast,” she said.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sniip, Damien Vasta, said the company was excited to be working in partnership with Australia Post, introducing the new payment option via a simple scan of ‘Post Billpay’ barcodes, which currently appear on many bills.

“We see it as a great vote of confidence that Australia Post is working with us to offer Sniip as a bill payment option to its vast customer base,’’ Mr Vasta said.

Sniip offers substantial benefits to billers including cost savings compared to other payment methods, quicker payments and conversion to paperless bills via in-app push notification of bills to users.

“With Sniip now available as a payment tool, users can scan the “Post Billpay” barcodes and pay their bills within seconds, eliminating the need to enter a long account number, reference number or bank account details.

“The Sniip integration makes payments easier and safer on a mobile, allowing customers to manage their bills more efficiently in-app and reducing instances of misplaced bills, forgotten emails and late payment fees,’’ Mr Vasta said. “We’ve already helped customers including Brisbane City Council and Queensland Urban Utilities to improve the bill payment experience for their customers and we look forward to extending this to Australia Post.”

Mr Vasta said that with an estimated 80% of Australians owning a smartphone, and people using them for almost everything they once did on a desktop, offering customers the ability to both receive and pay a bill on a mobile is simply responding to a market need.

“There is a consumer expectation that everything can be accessed on a mobile, and everything should be easy to use. Paying a bill is never pleasant, but Sniip has tried to offer customers the ability to make it happen quickly and easily,’’ Mr Vasta said.

Mr Vasta said that 88% of current Sniip users paid their bills before the due date, which is considerably higher than the national average for billers. The Australian-developed mobile payment app has been well received by the market, growing transaction volumes by 15% quarter-on-quarter since 2016.