RECONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS IN ARREARS
WHY WE NEED A DATA DRIVEN APPROACH

PERCH GROUP

In the current economic climate, with all of its complexities, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to consumer debt recovery isn’t effective for businesses, their customers and clients. However, a fully tailored approach to each and every customer isn’t possible – or at least not without access to quality data.

With the FCA’s Consumer Duty bringing a focus on enhancing the customer journey, ensuring collections processes are as joined-up and consistent as possible to deliver fair outcomes, is key. Delivering this doesn’t just serve the interests of the consumer; it also benefits creditors to work with partners who can offer a data-driven, end-to-end service.

THE WHOLE DEBT LIFECYCLE
With more and more focus on the cost of living, it’s inevitable customers will be faced with prioritising different types of debt from credit cards, loans and mortgages to utilities and council tax, and it’s crucial they are supported across the whole debt lifecycle, regardless of who is supporting their circumstance. That journey is becoming more and more complex for many.

When it comes to reconnecting with customers who creditors have lost touch with, we mustn’t treat it like a starting point. All that has gone before should be taken into account to inform the approach and verify any information that is available before reaching out, especially with when considering potential vulnerability which continues to be prevalent and can take many forms.

THE BENEFIT OF INSIGHT
Insight is a wonderful thing. Using high quality, comprehensive data to track the whole customer journey and inform appropriate action and next steps results in better, fairer customer outcomes and saves all involved time and resource. It’s a win win. This has become a ‘given’ in mainstream collections but field-based services are largely still traditional and there often isn’t a joined-up approach.

Reconnection and verification rarely needs to start with a blank sheet of paper. Analysing all the data available will significantly improve decisioning, effectiveness and appropriateness to determine the right channel to be deployed.

OMNI-PRESENT OMNI-CHANNEL
An end-to-end solution isn’t just about the linear customer journey from debt purchase and collections to litigation and reconnection, using different forms of communication and different datasets for different stages in the process. Customer journeys are not always linear and every customer is different. Just because something is escalated, doesn’t mean there shouldn’t still be an omni-channel approach which may include a combination of field visits, telephone support, letters, email and online chat, in any order. In fact, face-to-face interaction is often the best ‘door opener’ (pardon the pun) for follow up engagement and resolution via other means, as well as being a great way to gather in-depth insight, including vulnerabilities, that can then be fed into existing digital data sources.

CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY IS STILL KING
Most importantly of all is how we take a data-driven approach to deliver the right outcomes and at the forefront of that is treating customers as humans. In fact, good quality data gathering is about building up as clearer a picture as possible about each individual’s personal circumstances. Once information can be verified as being accurate, a much more tailored and personal approach can be taken.