For too long, collections case management has been a one-size-fits-all activity. Past-due customers have been lumped together in one homogenous group and all treated in the same manner—despite being individual people, with individual preferences, and an individual personal context. But it is time to make a change.
Consider the fact that:
- 72% of consumers only respond to personalised messaging;
- Personalised email subject lines increase response rates by 30.5%;
- Yet a mere 22% believe that financial institutions are effectively personalising the customer experience.
Fortunately, technology means this no longer has to be the case. Banks, financial institutions, and collections departments across many industries can easily personalise their approach to case management. They can dive into everything they know about each past-due customer before devising outreach strategies that will resonate with them as individuals.
Better still, this can all be done without having to elicit the IT department’s help. This blog will outline how you can begin adopting an individualised approach to collections case management. We will explain the simple steps that allow agents to:
- Practice case management at an individual level
- Personalise content / messaging to past-due customers
- Customise payment plans
- Create self-service payment portals
Practice collections case management at an individual level
We all like to be treated as individuals. When it comes to our personal finances, this is even more important. Collections strategies therefore need to be tailored to each individual past-due customer. But even if collections departments recognise this, they’re all too often constrained by inflexible software that forces them to treat all customers in the same manner.
Collections management software like receeve goes beyond the high-level, numbers-on-a-spreadsheet-based overview. It allows agents to dig into each individual customer: their details, payment history, credit risk, call logs, and preferences (e.g. channel, type of messaging, etc).
receeve’s individual case management dashboard
receeve’s case management dashboard enables collections departments to easily manage problem accounts, resolve payments in real time, and easily track the customer’s payment history. Having this wealth of first-party data at your fingertips increases efficiency, allows agents to better serve customers, and ultimately improves customer outcomes.
Personalise content / messaging to past-due customers
Do you speak to your peers in the same way that you speak to your boss? Probably not. Likewise, it does not make sense to speak to all your past-due customers identically. Collections is not an imposition of terms—it is the creation of an ongoing dialogue. But a dialogue requires you to speak to people in the manner in which they want to be spoken to.
If you push too hard and act too bullish, there is a chance that the customer might even deliberately not pay up in order to wrestle back some sense of control. Therefore, it is crucial that you work out how to speak to each individual past-due customer to guide them towards voluntarily making swift repayments.
The best collections management software allows collections agents to segment customers according to the factors they deem most important. You might segment according to risk level before sending appropriately tailored messages to all customers in the low-, medium-, and high-risk categories.
Alternatively, maybe you segment according to the messaging that past-due customers have already interacted with. Customers that seem to respond best to direct, short, to the point messaging will receive similar messages going forward. Those that prefer lighter, softer tones, on the other hand, will receive entirely different messaging.
The receeve drag-and-drop Email Builder
For example, software like receeve provides agents with an intuitive, easy-to-use, drag-and-drop Email Builder and Landing Page Builder. Agents can select from a wide range of pre-made templates to suit every different type of segment or dive in and tweak the messaging as and where necessary. There is no coding required at any stage of the process.
Contact data can be added to messaging as tokens so that emails can be personalised at scale. Adding tokens pulls in contact data that dynamically updates for each individual without having to change things like name, due date, payment amount, etc. for every email sent out. It is as easy as sending an email or an instant message to a colleague.
Customised payment plans & self-service portals
Giving past-due customers control makes them feel valued and equal. They are no longer subject to a corporation’s rules. Instead, they are in charge of their own repayments. This is why it is so important to provide customised payment plans and self-service portals. With collections management software like receeve, agents can easily provide customers with a range of payment plans (and methods) to choose from.
By entering into a dialogue with past-due customers, agents can learn more about the individual’s preferences and context. Therefore, they will be able to devise the best payment plan for each person moving forward, before updating this within receeve in just a few clicks.
The receeve Strategy Builder allows you to create personalised payment plans
Take self-service payment functionality, for example. Self-service options have risen in popularity in recent years, with 77% of consumers having used some form of self-service support portal in the past. Self-service payment portals give consumers more agency, more control over their finances, and can improve repayment rates.
With receeve, agents can craft outreach messages that direct users to dedicated landing pages where they can take control over their own repayments with a drag-and-drop Strategy Builder. Agents can give past-due customers the option to choose from a wide range of repayment options, including Klarna, Trustly, and SEPA direct, among others.
This allows agents, and collections departments more generally, to meet past-due customers where they are—instead of where they would like them to be. The more agency, control, and options you provide past-due customers, the more likely they are to repay in full. While this might sound incredibly complex, it really is not—provided you have the right software. With the right tools, agents can customise a range of drag-and-drop landing page templates to best suit each individual past-due customer.
A personalised repayment landing page created within receeve
The future of collections case management is already here
Individualised collections case management is the future. It leverages what companies already know about consumers’ preferences to tailor their outreach, payment plans, and more. It allows collections departments to meet consumers where they are—which in turn affords them a far greater sense of control and agency. Fortunately, this is easier than you might think.
Software like receeve allows agents to:
- Create collections campaigns;
- Track their results in dashboards;
- Resolve individual cases;
- Personalise their messaging;
- Customise their dunning strategies to match each individual past-due customer’s unique scenario.
It does not matter whether you work in financial services, banking, utilities, or telecoms. With collections management software like receeve, you can leverage the power of having your own future-proofed collections go-to-market template at all times. The best part is, it is incredibly easy to use. If your agents know how to use a computer and how to drag and drop, they can use the tool.
So what are you waiting for? Book a demo to begin your journey towards achieving an individualised approach to collections case management today.
