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For Debt Collection Agencies it’s vital to interact with customers on their terms with the technology they feel comfortable using and we can’t find a more common and customer-friendly platform than the smartphone text messaging service.

As part of our technology in debt recovery series, we explore the power of text messaging and share our top benefits of integrating chatbots into this platform.

Want to know more? Here’s our Tech & Services brochure

Text messaging is an incredibly easy way to communicate and, let’s be honest, modern living means our mobile phones are rarely separated from us. Past research suggests we will pick up our phones an incredible 85 times a day (twice as often as we expect). 

Today’s customers want personal, relevant mobile-centric solutions, making text messaging (the smartphone’s most used feature) a truly powerful tool to communicate. When you add the chatbot to this platform it can become one of your strongest solutions when recovering debt.

Like website bots, SMS bots will use a conversational style that helps answer customer queries, handle responses and drive engagement. SMS chatbots leverage natural language processing (NLP), which make it easier to design interactive conversations with customers.

Our experience tells us SMS bots are a brilliant feature in the debt recovery armoury but what are the real benefits powering this quickly growing two-way communication tool? In this blog, we’ve picked out our top three benefits.

 Here’s the list:

1. Communication with muscle
2. Customer trust 
3. They’re super helpful

And here’s the details:

Communication with muscle

It’s one of the curious things about SMS. We place text messaging in a higher-value category than other platforms. 

Customer trust

When it comes to working with customers in debt, trust plays a major part in their comfort and ultimately bottom-line success. 

Where SMS bots thrive is they perform their duties in a platform or device feature that customers trust and understand, simply because we are all familiar with it and as mentioned it’s still the most widely used feature on the smartphone.

There is no need to sign up to a new application and no need to learn how to use a confusing new interface, the text is text and it is exceptionally straightforward to respond.

They’re super helpful

SMS bots are great tools that can be used in every stage of the debt recovery customer journey. Customers can be notified through outbound SMS campaigns where the chatbot will then take over. 

Chatbots will inform the customers of their circumstances and options. They can have embedded links that can lead them back to website landing pages where the customer can sign up to a customer portal to manage their account at a time convenient to them, or direct them to phone numbers and email addresses for one to one access with agents.

The coeo way

In the spirit of promoting our ethos of ‘A New Breed of DCA’ we are constantly on the lookout for technology that helps us remain customer-centric and we continue to build tools that have the customer journey at the centre of our processes.

Like our website (CRiS) and our email (CRiSe) chatbots, our SMS chatbot (named CRiSte) uses its programming to automatically respond to questions text through to our dedicated lines.

Launching late 2018 within a year we had doubled the number of customer queries CRiSte could respond to and we aim to double that again by the end of 2020.

If a question is unable to be responded to by one of our bots the query is forwarded directly to a qualified team member who picks them up and deals with them.

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It’s been almost two months since we launched our first ever podcast, showcasing a first-class panel offering successful debt collections tips for the biggest collections tech questions currently debated.

Over the past 8 weeks we’ve released the hottest questions from our live event in March and in this post, we’ve pulled them all together into this single easy to navigate blog post for your convenience.

New to our blog? Just click on any of the posts below to be taken directly to its blogpost, where you will find the podcast and transcript for each of the big questions. So, please tune-in to listen at your pleasure and if you’d like to study in more detail the transcript is there for your enjoyment and/or education.

Interested in our services? to book a digital, self-isolation friendly, meeting.

Click here

Here’s the list of the direct questions discussed at our event:

1. WILL AI TAKE OVER COLLECTIONS COMPLETELY?
2. HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY HELP TO IDENTIFY THE WON’T PAYS?
3. IS SOCIAL MEDIA AN ACCEPTABLE CHANNEL IN COLLECTIONS?
4. SHOULD RELATABLE LANGUAGE BE USED IN THE COLLECTIONS PROCESS?
5. WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF OUTSOURCED COLLECTIONS WORK?
6. DOES SEGMENTATION WORK AND WHAT FACTORS NEED CONFIGURING?
7. IS THERE A PLATFORM CUSTOMERS PREFER FOR PERSONAL ISSUES?
8. QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE

Here’s the questions in a little more detail – just click the image to tune-in:

The growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in all industries is astonishing. Here at coeo our customer portal chatbot CRiS enjoys an 80% (and improving) success rate for answering customer queries. AI has been a game changer for us, but will it take over Collections completely? Well let’s see what the experts have to say.

Streamlining activities and mapping customer journeys is integral to understanding all customer motivations, trends and segments (including won’t pays). In this podcast our panellists pick out which technologies help for successful debt collections and how.

The growth of social media platforms in the past decade has been unprecedented and connecting with people is a desire for all businesses. But are these channels an acceptable route for the Collections industry? All is debated here.

The digital age has impacted every traditional aspect of modern living and none more so than language. With an incredible 45.1 million (2019) daily internet users it has never been more important to make sure your debt collections communication style is fit for purpose.

The Collections industry is in continuous evolution so understanding the direction of the industry and how outsourced collections can best serve it, is integral to the future and survival of this sector. In this podcast our experts pull out their crystal balls to peer into the future.

In Collections, treating all accounts on a case by case basis would probably end up being a waste of resources, but luckily when experience and data are applied collections teams can place individuals into segmented groups to help manage them. But does this really help?

In Collections it’s important to understand that there’s a myriad of moving parts needed to make sure a vulnerable customer is supported correctly, and as often happens, problem debt walks hand in hand with other issues, meaning it’s an ever-evolving challenge. In this post our team of experts share their experiences to discover the best way forward.

Following our extensive and dynamic panel discussion it was decided to open questions up to the floor.

The questions were:

1. Has technology bypassed traditional tracing?
2. Can the panellists share practical advice when dealing with vulnerable customers?
3. How does coeo apply breathing space and payment breaks?
4. And the number one top tips for a strong complaint collections performance.

Final words from coeo

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our podcast. We’d like to once again thank all of our contributors on the day and especially our line-up of panellists:

• Gary Grey (GG) Head of Collections at Spark Energy
  • With a senior management background, Gary’s experience includes Senior Strategy Consultant in different utility businesses in the UK including e.on, First and now Spark. Further to this, Gary spent over 5 years at Dollar Financial Group enhancing and honing his strategic skills.
• Caroline Burston (CB) Operations Director at coeo
  • Caroline has worked in the Debt Collection industry since 1993 and gained extensive experience at several collection agencies and solicitors’ practices. Caroline is a well-known industry figure and brings extensive compliance experience and knowledge to coeo and is also a member of the prestigious Credit 500.
• Tony Gunderson (TG) 30 years + experience in financial services
  • Tony has worked in the Financial Services Sector for the past 30 years at NatWest, Provident Financial Group and latterly as Director/Country Manager for Ferratum Group’s UK operation.
• Lisa Beeching (LB) Head of Supplier Management and Quality Assurance at 1st Central
  • Lisa is currently Head of Supplier Management and Quality assurance at 1st Central Insurance and Technology managing key supplier relationships across 45 suppliers spanning all operational areas from sales through to claims.

You can also listen to ‘The Big Questions’ series on the coeo podcast SoundCloud page, just

Click Here

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If the customer is King, then customer care is the pampering that keeps the king coming back to sit on his throne.

Keeping people or even better the ‘person’ at the centre of all decision making and being a customer centric business will help collections teams execute strategies and hit targets. In our six crucial competencies of a DCA series we dive a little deeper into why customer care is such an important asset to the debt collection process.

Want to know more? Here’s our Tech & Services brochure

There are a number of obvious generic business benefits like driving customer engagement and loyalty, creating a unique selling point for a brand and being known as a great corporate citizen, but we can hone in a little closer to the benefits at the ‘back-end’ of your processes.

In this blog we’ve looked intimately at our industry and have uncovered and explained the three important benefits customer care is cleaning up as a unique selling point for the best Debt Collection Agencies (DCAs).

1. Understand the customer 
2. Protect them from harm
3. The bottom line impact

Let’s take a closer look at these in detail:

Understand the customer (They’re unique)

It goes without saying, but people are unique. They have unique personalities, dislikes and likes and they come from a myriad of backgrounds that influence how they feel and think. Although we can group them into demographics through habits and identified trends, when interacting with customers it is best to make them feel we recognise their circumstances and will treat them accordingly.

By understanding the customer better, you will enjoy a much clearer line of communication. The personal touch will always put the customer at ease, encouraging an open and sensible approach to problem solving.

At the debt collection stage – having that sensible conversation in a language they understand is key. 

The ultimate goal will be to find answers that the customer understands and leads to a service arrangement ‘that dances to the beat of their drums’. When customers feel like they have been listened to, understood, and played a part in developing a solution, our experience tells us they are more willing to follow through with an agreed plan of action (be it a payment arrangement, query, or future agreement).

Protect them from harm

It’s never been more important to be customer centric when working in the collections industry – the suggestion of vulnerability is highlighted by the current circumstance. 

There are many reasons why people might find managing their debt problematic and they’ll need to be supported by specialised and trained agents experienced in dealing with their specific circumstances.

Qualified agents understand not all vulnerabilities are the same, they can range from financial mismanagement through to physical and mental health issues. 

It’s important agents are skilled at actively listening to customers to treat them sensitively and fairly.

They’ll need to be trained to be able to identify keywords, tone and patterns (known in the industry as ‘triggers’) to process accounts appropriately. 

Phrases such as ‘I’ve moved back in with my family’ can seem innocent on the surface but further questioning should take place to gain a further insight into the customer’s current circumstances. Why? If needed an agent needs to signpost to third party services offering free debt advice and mental and physical health support.

The customer’s vulnerability will not impact every aspect of their lives, so when treated professionally a structured payment plan complete with ‘Breathing Space’ can help them clear their overdue account and remove the anxiety and stress often associated with debt.

It’s also important when working with vulnerable customers to have strong working relationships with Debt Management Agencies (DMA) who will often be able to give you detailed background information on vulnerable customers so they can be matched with an appropriate process to achieve the best outcome for everyone.

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The bottom line

Another extremely important benefit of great customer care is that it will help you get better financial returns.

As discussed above, clearer lines of communication and sensitivity towards vulnerable customers can help develop manageable payment plans that lead towards customers clearing their outstanding balances.

Customer centricity also has a better chance of rehabilitating debtors as well. It is estimated to be 5x more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain them and a 5% increase in customer satisfaction can lead to a huge increase in ROI through repeat purchases. So, focussing on your customer relations at every touchpoint, including collections, will help them stay and engage with the brand. 

In the social media age, your brand and values are currency and it’s never been more important to showcase your customer-centric values because now, both good news and bad travels at the speed of a button push.

It is imperative to your bottom line that your brand is shown in the best light possible with your customers. It will often result in whether or not you receive repeat customers and in the influencer age we live in, result in new customers through referrals. 

Final words from coeo

Customer care will always play a major role in our business, we train our agents in-house using a dedicated tiered training system specialising in customer care. When our agents achieve success and progress to a higher level, they are presented with pin badges and certificates celebrating their in-depth knowledge of each sector. 

We proudly hold industry accreditation through the Credit Services Association’s CAI scheme, and our agents were recognised as the best in the industry in 2018.

Our service is inclusive of a dedicated team for vulnerable customers to ensure that they receive the appropriate level of care. We have worked hard to build relationships with key Debt Management Agencies (DMA’s) & charities to make processes such as signposting and file exchange as swift as possible to negate any detriment. 

Ultimately the attention to detail and increased level of expertise and experience inevitably leads to increased returns from a business perspective but, more importantly, a better customer experience.

Gone are the days of ‘aggressive’ collections.