The debt collections industry is experiencing a time of disruption. As the performance of outbound dialing experiences a decline. Core dialer performance metrics have dropped over the course of a year. For instance, the right-party contact (RPC) rate has fallen significantly.
Despite the worsening of performance, collection agencies have been apprehensive of retiring dialers, which have helped with outbound strategies since the 80s. The fact is that outbound calling continues to be conducted to drive output. This results in agents being at the forefront of the collections process. However, outbound dialing creates a hurdle in alternative communication channel adoption.
To improve dialer performance, firms are finally looking towards experimental solutions. Let’s take a close look at these solutions.
Omnichannel Approach
When we take a look at challenger systems by design, it becomes apparent that they have minimal telephony operations and boast strong customer engagement using digital channels. As there is no limitation because of legacy systems, these firms are able to utilize efficient ways for supporting customers. The reason behind their success is the reliance on two-way SMS staff and live chat based on an omnichannel system. By using such techniques, agents benefit from a holistic view of the entire customer interactions across different channels. This results in agents having a more in-depth knowledge of clients’ past interactions and the ability to anticipate preferences.
Dialer-Less Approach
There are a few firms that have tested automatic dialers. They have eliminated outbound calling throughout the lifecycle of ring-fenced accounts. Instead, they continue to track progress using Omni dialer software. As the inbound contact rate remained the same, it disproved the prevalent wisdom suggesting that most inbound calls respond to a missed call or voicemail from a number. Besides, switching off the dialer helps save a great deal of costs and resources. These resources can be better allocated for more efficient contact channels.
By using live chat, email, and SMS precisely and tactically, performance improvement is possible. It helps improve customer outreach rather than seeking work from a dialer. The prevalence of non-voice communication for most servicing requests makes sense to switch to such techniques. Besides, customers are less likely to answer calls from an unidentifiable number. In addition to this, cryptic voicemails or missed calls only further degrade the repayment rate.
However, customers are likely to perform internet searches when getting a call from an unidentifiable number. This would lead them to listing the number as a scam. It is best to automate collections to better target customers. With new technology being introduced, it is crucial to implement the technology to cater to customers’ evolving preferences.
Conclusion
Once you have gone over this post, you will realize just how important it is to considered omnichannel and think about giving up just outbound dialing and the old way of doing business. As the collections industry continues to change, you must keep up with the latest trends to stay ahead of the competition.
