Turn Late Payers into Loyal Customers
Let’s face it—it’s tough to capture customers’ attention when it’s time to pay your bill. The flood of messaging they receive around their bills makes it hard for them to focus on yours. And when they’re late on payment, it can strain not only the customer relationship (frustration, service interruptions) but also their finances (late fees, damage to credit scores).
Almost half (45%) of Americans have paid a bill late in the past 12 months.
Why Your Typical Payment Communications Aren’t Working
Businesses can turn engagement surrounding the bill into an opportunity to improve their collections and customer relationships. However, many businesses miss that opportunity because their current communications have these limitations:
Lack of Personalized
Engagement: Some businesses try proactive outreach, but they often rely on customer segmentation, which ignores individual needs and context. Siloed tools lack a holistic customer view, leading to a barrage of generic messages across channels, desensitizing customers and impacting payment times.
Reactive and Punitive
Approaches: Many businesses resort to reactive measures, such as sending customers to collections, or they collect payment reactively by informing customers of missed payments. Some simply let these missed payments go to collections. This often involves third-party agencies, which can alienate customers, damage brand reputation and lead to customer churn.
Inflexible and Disruptive
Practices: Some recurring subscription models require customers to use auto-pay— and may even immediately cancel services after a missed payment. Taking that action without engaging customers when their auto-pay is declined can force them to churn. Getting those customers back can often requires expensive retention offers.
Timely Reminders Solicit Timely Payments
You can minimize late payments and strengthen brand loyalty by proactively engaging customers throughout their entire journey with your brand. It’s not longer a nice-to-have, it’s a consumer expectation.
79% of consumers receive payment reminders, with 67% of those saying they appreciate them.
Almost a third of consumers will pay their medical bill within five minutes of receiving a “payment due” text notification.
73% of customers in late delinquency made a payment when contacted digitally, according to a McKinsey study.
The question is, how do you make your payment communications cut through the noise and ensure your bill gets paid quickly?
Enter: Proactive, Personalized Communication
Proactive intervention prompts customers to pay quickly, helping them avoid late fees or account suspension while keeping them happy with your brand.
CSG Xponent simplifies the bill-to-payment journey and encourages prompt payment by automatically sending:
Payment reminders. Notify customers that their bill due date is approaching and remind them to pay on time to avoid late fees.
Payment confirmations. Inform customers when payment goes through so they never have to call to check the status.
Payment failure notices. Tell customers when auto-pay is unsuccessful and direct them to submit payment manually and update their payment information.
Late payment alerts with tailored options. Send payment reminders that offer payment options (e.g., a choice of payment plans) if the customer’s unique situation calls for them.
Digico Payment Needs Attention We noticed your recent auto-pay attempt was unsuccessful. To prevent any interruption to your WiFi service, please update your payment information immediately. Visit your account online to update your payment method now.
How CSG Xponent Does This
CSG Xponent brings your systems and departments together, giving you a complete understanding of each customer. This helps you send proactive payment communications that are personalized to their individual needs. Here’s how:
Real-Time Segmentation:
Xponent goes beyond the basic demographics to better identify customers at risk for late payments. Xponent analyzes a vast amount of customer data (payment history, subscriber tier, behavior data) and models (churn, profitability) to assign the likelihood of a late payment.
Proven Results
Orchestrate All Customer Communications:
Xponent defines the engagement strategy and next steps in the journey. Xponent also intercepts irrelevant communications to customers until they act on the interaction most important to your business, like paying a bill. If payment isn’t completed within a specified timeframe, it triggers follow-up actions.
Personalized Communication:
CSG sends 109 million billing-related notifications annually for our clients. Organizations using CSG Xponent are getting results:
Xponent triggers instant twoway communication (voice, SMS, email) upon a potential late payment, prioritizing the fastest response channel and best message for each customer. 35%
Response rate from at-risk and overdue consumers 3X
Increase in responsiveness of at-risk customers with personalized reminders 50%
Reduction in average cost per customer by decreasing live-agent collection calls
Stop chasing late payments and drive your customers to action.
Let CSG Xponent help you streamline billing communications with personalized, proactive messages that increase on-time payments and reduce churn. Contact us today to see how we can deliver measurable results for your business.