More than ever, people enjoy—and expect—the ability to pay for goods and services with digital options that are secure, streamlined, and convenient. A recent survey found that 73% prefer to shop and pay with digital methods, including in-app and peer-to-peer payments.

While government has traditionally been slower to integrate new technology (according to recent data U.S. Bank has collected, 53% of government finance professionals have said that their payment strategy is either “not very advanced” or “not advanced at all”), flexible cost reduction strategies make now the right time for government agencies to rethink how they serve their citizens.

Our internal data shows that government finance leaders have seen “customer satisfaction” and “expense management” decreased the most in the last 12 months, but offering omnichannel digital choices that save people time and money can help government institutions become more responsive, resilient, and trusted. Even the Federal Government recognizes “Government must be held accountable for designing and delivering services with a focus on the actual experience of the people whom it is meant to serve.”

Governments are uniquely positioned organizations because they provide services for every person that lives in their community. Unlike retails and services businesses, they can’t pick a typical persona and optimize their payment options to fit their ideal customer. Governments must offer options that cover everyone, so today we want to walk through different types of folks that may live in your community, discuss the ways they like to pay, and consider options that will allow you to offset new costs of payment acceptance.