Missed payments aren’t always intentional — customers forget or they think they’ve already paid. Credit collection is part of doing business, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, with the right collection strategies, you can get paid quicker and deliver a better customer experience.
This starts with going beyond just sending emails and making repeat phone calls. These tactics help, but oftentimes customers ignore your efforts and tell themselves they’ll take care of it later.
To help you create strategies that shorten debt repayment time — and protect your revenue — while maintaining a positive customer experience, here are five collection strategies to get you started.
Collection strategy #1: Use interactive voice messaging to improve customer contact rate
You might remember that in the not-too-distant past, the collection process started with a letter or email reminder followed up by a combination of phone calls and more emails.
The result? Even though these strategies are proactive, they don’t guarantee that customers will see or hear your messages. Phone calls are missed or ignored, and emails might end up in a junk folder never to be seen.
Since 95% of households in the UK have a cell phone, a more proactive collection strategy is to use interactive voice messaging (IVM) to contact customers.
After receiving a personalized text message, some customers will call in with questions about their outstanding debt.
How this strategy works
Send customers an automated, personalized message reminding them about payment. When they call in, IVM takes customers through self-serve options using keypad input. If needed, customers can transfer to a live agent.
