Credit Management
Are You Getting Results From Your Debt Collection Emails?
By Wasilwa Miriongi
In this digital era, email is an essential channel for customer engagement. Most customers prefer receiving an email over answering a phone call, as it is a reliable way to interact with them without intruding or making them feel pressured.
A well-managed debtor’ s portfolio is vital to maintaining the liquidity a company needs to sustain its business and support growth. This, without doubt, requires efficient and effective collection practices, a well-trained staff, and a certain degree of process automation. Reaching out to customers by email to collect open balances is a key element of a comprehensive collection approach.
From a credit control perspective, emails provide an efficient and effective means of communication to encourage timely payments and strengthen customer relationships.
Some of the most common ways businesses use email as part of a digital strategy include sending payment reminders and documents to customers simultaneously, updating communication preferences or gathering consent for other channels such as text messaging, sending authorizations to help protect against chargebacks and meet compliance regulations, sending invoices or itemized statements during a live call for staff and customers to review together, and sending letters, documents, or receipts along with a payment link.
When it comes to engaging consumers, most prefer email as their first choice for communication. However, simply adding email to the customer communication mix is not enough if the messages never reach their inbox, it doesn’ t matter what the customer’ s preferred communication method may be.
There are several issues that need to be addressed, such as the differences between delivery rate and deliverability rate, how email actually works for customer communications, and the challenges of sending emails versus getting them into the recipient’ s inbox.
This requires the adoption of best practices. Remember, email is a medium that offers the highest response rate in cash collection and provides numerous benefits: it is sent to a custom address, which almost guarantees it reaches the right recipient( s); it is delivered instantly; account statements or invoice copies can be attached or linked via your document management system; payment buttons can be included to facilitate customer payments; it is quick and easy to reply to an email, especially if it is interactive; and it can be made interactive by providing access to a dedicated customer portal.
Within the credit department, there are various types of emails used for specific purposes, such as:
Invoice receipt confirmation: Particularly when invoices are sent via a third-party invoicing system, it is advisable to email your customer shortly after sending the invoice to confirm receipt.
Advance reminder: A polite reminder email sent a few days before the invoice is due.
Some organizations are known for sending poorly structured emails that lack necessary detail or contain inaccuracies. As a result, they fail to achieve the desired outcomes. Collection emails are not a one-size-fits-all process. Each message must be crafted carefully, with customization and adaptation to ensure it delivers the intended result.
Payment reminder: A courteous message reminding the customer of the outstanding invoice, including key details such as the invoice number, amount owed, and due date.
Overdue notice: Sent if the initial reminder goes unanswered and payment has not been received within a set timeframe.
Urgent action required: If previous attempts have been unsuccessful, a more assertive email should be sent, clearly stating the urgency of the situation.
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