How can a business continuously improve its collections processes and further grow? How can one implement fast, new solutions to clients? We discussed these questions at length with the team at Receeve – who we proudly have as a tech supplier.
re:ceeve and Ferratum Group
We were introduced to Receeve through our CEO who was acquainted with one of their business angels. re:ceeve is a well funded (€4m Seed Round February, 2020), FinTech start-up based in Hamburg, run by seasoned founders. They provide a robust software for automating digital accounts receivables messaging and managing collections campaigns as well as analytics dashboards and AI.
When we began working with re:ceeve, we shared our principles and values on “customer centricity, entrepreneurial spirit, candour, respect and winning teams” aligned well with what they envisioned for our target customer base and that of an ideal customer partnership.
re:ceeve wanted to take the time to share how they are working in supporting our operational and growth goals by:
- Adding channels to drive resolutive dialogue
- Automating processes to drive agility and scalability quickly
- Utilising AI-based decision making to optimise collections messaging
What is Resolutive Dialogue?
This is the foundation of the approach where re:ceeve helps organisations address their operational goals and to have collections efforts improve, versus take away from, the customer experience. No aggressive tactics or threatening messaging that trigger fight or flight reactions are involved.
Instead, they apply behavioural science principles to drive engagement, identifying the right channel and message while gathering information about the problem. The customer is offered clear, personalised choices and is free to choose what option best works for them. Providing the best possible experience for customers around unpaid bills was Ferratum’s focus in the partnership. It was also Ferratum´s desire to continuously optimize communication strategies with extensive experimentation – improving both the experience and the outcomes.
The path laid out for better customer outcomes is paved by expanding messaging to digital channels that customers actively use. This, coupled with maintaining conventional communication channels that address a small but still important high risk / high value segment, drives the best results.
Furthermore, by using advanced analytics and applying machine learning algorithms, Ferratum can move to a deeper, more nuanced understanding of their high value customers and customer outcomes.
“We realised re:ceeve was uniquely positioned to provide immense value as soon as we discussed the product’s ability to quickly test new solutions, templates, and ideas to drive repayment. It really gave us the best of both worlds: An excellent customer experience and an effective dunning and metrics tool.”
– Tuomas Asunmaa, Ferratum Group
Increased automation of processes was next in the list as was taking full advantage of the collected data. By analysing this data thoroughly, it lays the foundations to optimising all communication messaging to customers. There is now full visibility on what channels work best when communicating outbound and which messaging content works best towards resolution. Testing different collections strategies and payment options, optimising for not only the customer experience but for ROI is also now available. Most importantly, by combining technology with the current representatives experts base, an increase in both the effectiveness of outcomes and promotion of a less stressful environment for employees is highly likely to be achieved. Ferratum will then enjoy a more organic grow and expand internationally without heavy investment in headcount.
Metrics Considered
Let’s take a step back and focus on some metrics before moving on. There is no point in driving agility and resolutive dialogue if you don’t know what to measure. Here are some points Ferratum considered:
- Headcount: Savings are quickly realised from improving the efforts of staff via automation as well as from reduced employee attrition.
- Servicing Fees: A white-label solution was sought after, allowing to address the value-chain of collections in-house eliminating paying fees for services.
- Sale Percentage Loss: By servicing the debt with advanced technology solutions less non-perfomaing claims are generated.
- Cash Management: Time to recovery a key aim. It is easy to understand the benefit of having your unpaid bills in your account faster. The goal was to decrease days-sales-outstanding (DSO) significantly and optimise the management of that cash. As a lender, cash management plays a significant role in your core business and your ability to optimise your lending strategies. It isn’t simply a lowly accounting process.
- Reduced Churn: Finally, there are metrics which are a bit harder to measure but still remain very relevant and were important when choosing to work with re:ceeve. By driving toward a resolution which works both for the customers, churn is reduced. Happy customers come back. They have extensive choices in the market and they will quickly work with your competitor if your collections process leaves a bad taste in their mouths. Further, when you reach out to your customers in their time of need, they become significantly more loyal, generating additional business in the future which you may have never seen.
Customer Insights
Now, here is an example of something which ended up solidifying Ferratum’s choice for Receeve. The key ‘A-ha moment’ was when Ferratum was presented with how they would be able to have deep insights to the customer’s resolution journey to understand where and how to proactively inject process and resources such as a call by a ‘human’ when a customer is considering instalment options.
“We are always pushing ourselves to be leaders in mobile banking and lending. To continue to innovate, we now have customisable landing pages, new payment options, and AI-driven strategies. Additionally, re:ceeve provided a centralised view of our collections metrics to measure our progress and identify challenges, enabling insights to continually test and improve for experience and ROI.”
– Stephan Schuller, Managing Director, Pactum Collections GmbH
Previously, it was a tedious and complicated process learning where and why a customer ‘was lost’ in the resolution process. With re:ceeve, once the customer is in dialogue with Ferratum, visibility is created on where they are encountering repayment option hurdles. Do they not understand the terms & conditions? Or are they simply hesitant to pick an instalment plan versus immediate repayment? These moments of hesitation are the right time for someone to speak with them. Re:ceeve can trigger the call center to reach out to this customer and offer to discuss options with them or clarify any questions they may have. Many times, this simple interaction remedies a lot of uncertainty and quickly moves the resolution process forward. The customer gains confidence and feels valued. Before re:ceeve, understanding why customers broke off was done manually and was cumbersome.
Not just slideware AI
The ultimate decision to work with us was when we showed Ferratum our demo of the product. We took them through the process and showed them how the AI component of our solution can be added on top of the processes we were discussing implementing. The fact that their AI worked and wasn’t simply slideware was the trigger to move forward together.
Ferratum is now well on their way to having a fully agile collections group whose business can be extended to current and future clients. Re:ceeve was successfully integrated with all their systems whether internal or third-party as part of the workflow and were able to get the initial phase kicked off without risk to their core systems. With Ferratum having a digital ‘DNA’ all aplications were intrduced smoothly, easy to test and experiment – rapidly and iteratively. Optimisation is centralised and with re:ceeve’s dashboards, data is collected, communicated and applied. We are proud to work with a supplier on the forefront of the digital collections revolution and we look forward to innovating further with re:ceeve to optimise customer experience and ROI accross the industry.
Onward!
Should you also wish to enjoy a fantastic partnership with a company that will go the extra mile to get you where you want to go then, reach out to them at info@receeve.com or schedule a demo if you want to find out more.