The Benefits of a Seamless, Digital Approach to Debt Collection

While businesses understand the importance of having a customer-centric approach, how many apply this to their debt collection processes - whether this is an initial internal process or one that is managed externally by vendors? With a preference for interacting digitally, today’s customers are more likely to respond to a digital debt collection approach – which also benefits businesses.

Traditional agencies tend to use call centre agents that come with many points of friction, such as calling customers who may not answer or who may have a new number. A digital solution can complement a traditional approach by addressing many industry issues and shortcomings, both from an engagement and compliance perspective, as well as fitting with the expectations of today’s customers.

Digital collections provide for greater engagement with customers as you can see when they open emails or visit websites in real-time. This leads to a better understanding of their needs and as a result, solutions can be provided that are tailored to their needs. Choosing a digital debt collection agency is also significantly less risky and not just because regulatory requirements are built into the system. Digital is the way customers want to be contacted and communicated to and when you engage with them this way, there will be fewer complaints. 

While chasing customers about their overdue accounts is part of running a business, it isn’t core to an organization’s operations, and in some cases, can distract them from focusing on their core business and growth plans. This is why debt collection is often outsourced to an agency. But with the need to focus more on customers, it’s important to partner with the right debt collection specialist. If customers feel harassed by a debt collector, they’re less likely to pay their account and more likely to leave negative reviews about their treatment on social media or via word-of-mouth.

At InDebted, we work in partnership with organizations to deliver a positive experience to their customers, taking care of all aspects associated with collections, including compliance, so businesses can focus on what they do best.  

As a digital-first and customer-centric collections agency, rather than attempting to contact  customers via outbound phone calls, we communicate with customers in the way they want to be communicated to – usually via email or text. Our tech-enabled platform allows customers to self-serve so they can resolve their account digitally, including modifying their payment plan or disputing their account. This leads to less stressed customers who have a more favorable view of the organization they have the outstanding account with. If customers prefer to communicate with someone directly over the phone, they also have this choice.  

Our approach is data-driven and omni-channel, and one of the benefits of this is we can build behavioral models to gain a greater and more personalized understanding of each customer, including how and when they like to be contacted. For example, if we see that a customer prefers to be contacted by email and tends to open them first thing in the morning, then we ensure they are sent emails, and at this time. 

Businesses benefit greatly from taking a digital approach to debt collection as the more positive engagement with customers results in more successful recoveries. Also, when a business is focused on what is best for their customers, they don’t get the same level of complaints from them or from the regulators.

While all businesses want to put their customers first, sometimes it’s best to outsource certain practices to the specialists. When it comes to debt collection, a digital agency, such as InDebted focuses on delivering a positive customer experience to every customer, so they benefit from a stress-free process while the business benefits from satisfied customers and a greater number of recoveries.