The Four Trends Making Digital Debt Collections a Necessity

By on January 19th, 2021 in Industry Insights
TrueAccord Blog

The following is an excerpt from our recent ebook, Ten Critical Questions:
The Buyer’s Guide to Digital Debt Collection Solutions
. To download the full ebook, click here.

Consumer behavior and expectations have undergone significant changes over the past few years – trends that COVID has only accelerated. For lending organizations, the end result of these changes is that digital collections have shifted from a “nice to have” into a must-have.

Here are the four consumer trends that are disrupting the traditional collections model and making digital-first collections a necessity:

Consumers are digital-first.

The decline of the landline has made it harder to reliably reach consumers at home. And advances in mobile technology (e.g., call blocking) have made it easier for consumers to screen calls. As a result, right-party contact rates are low and continuing to decline. In fact, 78% of collection agents see their calls blocked, and 74% of collection agents see their calls marked as “Spam or Fraud.” (Source: ACA)

What this means for lending organizations
Organizations must embrace a multi-channel digital approach that meets customers where they are, empowering them to respond at their own convenience.

Consumers won’t accept one-size-fits-all treatment.

The explosion of personalization in marketing (from product recommendations to programmatic advertising) means that consumers expect to be communicated with as individuals, in a way that is relevant and tailored to them.

What it means for lending organizations
Organizations must seek out a digital collections approach that tailors messages and outreach to individual consumers.

Consumers expect a seamless, self-serve experience.

From Amazon to Instacart, consumers have become accustomed to being able to do everything digitally – without interacting with a human being.

What it means for lending organizations
It’s not enough to communicate with customers over digital channels. A digital collections solution must offer a robust and intuitive self-service interface that enables customers to engage in their own time.

There are now major logistical challenges in scaling the contact center model.

With COVID limiting in-person interactions, it’s more challenging than ever to hire, train, house, and monitor contact center agents – creating obstacles with the traditional agency model.

What it means for lending organizations
A digital collections solution must be built for scalability, enabling organizations to meet collections volume without adding agents to make outbound calls.

For more insights on digital collections, download our recent ebook, Ten Critical Questions: The Buyer’s Guide to Digital Debt Collection Solutions.