Customer communications are the bread and butter of the collections process. Building a reliable back-and-forth with your customers leads to mutually beneficial outcomes; you can improve collection performance and your customers can reach financial health. By enhancing these communications with AI and data-driven purposes, you can boost the benefits of these outcomes for your customers and your business.
In this article, we explore the importance of customer communications in collections and how they can be enhanced from a podcast conversation between Christina Fisher (Manager, Growth Marketing) of C&R Software and Gene Clark (Director of Credit & Collections) of OTR Wheel Engineering.
The art of customer communications in collections
Each customer has a different set of circumstances that has led to them entering collections, and need to be treated differently because of it. A parallel point to this is that each of your customers will also engage with you differently based on these circumstances; some may maintain reliable communication channels with you, whereas others will engage with you less frequently for various reasons.
In order to accommodate your customers and ensure there is a mutually beneficial back-and-forth with each, you need to perfect the art of communication in collections. We can unpack this by focusing on three main points that build channel resilience:
- Keeping communication channels open - Having each communication channel available, open and with minimal response time ensures each customer can get in touch when and how they want to, directly increasing the chance of engagement.
- Establishing a close relationship - The key to enhancing collection performance as well as reliant communications with customers is building a close and supportive relationship. Providing customers with around-the-clock help and guidance on any query they may have aids them in regaining financial health and builds trust via engagement.
- Knowing when to push and pull - It’s vital to find a perfect balance between supportive customer service and direct contact based on the customer’s characteristics (number of missed payments, account lifetime, outstanding balance, etc.). By finding this balance and knowing when to push or pull with each individual customer, they are far more likely to respond and engage moving into the future.
Why data is necessary for enhanced communications
All three of the above points share the same key requirement to be integrated into your systems; data analysis and intelligent processes. To know which channels to use, the specific guidance each customer needs and when to push and pull, data has all the answers.
Centralizing your data
Having a centralized system that holds all customer data as a Single Source of Truth (SSoT) makes data analysis and retrieval simple. You can have easy access to the channels customers use as well as their characteristics and behaviors. From there, you have all the context you need to enhance your customer communications.
Integrating AI and machine learning tools
Managing a high number of accounts can make data analysis and retrieval time consuming, even with a centralized system. By utilizing AI tools and machine learning capabilities, you can automate this analysis and retrieval, leaving your team to focus on building close relationships with your customers via data-driven communications.
Segmenting your customers to better communicate
Machine learning tools can actively segment customers into different groups based on their characteristics. From this segmentation, you can establish the right level of push and pull in communications group by group. By optimizing the way you manage customers and their data, you can be better prepared for abrupt changes in their behavior and more informed to make the right decisions when it happens.
Enhance your customer communications with C&R Software
Building reliable communication channels with your customers is necessary in providing the support and guidance they need to regain their financial health. By efficiently using data and taking advantage of AI tools, you can enhance this communication and directly improve collection performance.
C&R Software’s Debt Manager is a configurable platform that supports a wide range of systems, AI tools and has full omnichannel capabilities. We have helped businesses around the world enhance their communications to build close relationships with customers on an individual level, resulting in efficiently hitting important KPIs.
To find out more details about the conversation between Christina and Gene, watch the podcast here. To find out more about how a Debt manager can enhance your customer communications, contact a member of our team today.
