CASE STUDY
Creating frictionless customer journeys to drive £4.7 million in new arrangements
Who are Debt Managers?
Debt Managers, now part of Secure Trust Bank plc is an FCA authorised business with over 40 years’ experience in providing outsourced credit and portfolio management services to the credit industry in the UK.
The Challenge
The group realised that sending letters to consumers created unnecessary delays, and that once letters were received, calling to speak to someone about their debt was an unpopular and sometimes stressful step in the customer journey.
The Solution
Using Esendex email and SMS solutions as a first touch in their contact strategy allowed Debt Managers to make first contact with customers quickly and easily.
The Results
The new portal is currently delivering a 20% uplift, month on month, in arrangement offers; this amounts to a £4.7m face value generated from arrangements since the deployment of the portal, and over £800,000 in collections generated.
The challenge
As part of their commitment to innovation and customer focus, the group realised that sending letters to consumers was often creating an unnecessary delays, and that once letters were received, calling to speak to someone about their debt was an unpopular and sometimes stressful step in the customer journey.
Debt Managers partnered with Esendex to drive an innovative 18-month program that would see them better connect with, and support their customers, as well as creating increased business efficiency.
The solution
Using Esendex email and SMS solutions as a first touch in their contact strategy allowed Debt Managers to make first contact with customers quickly and easily. This allowed customers to move away from the traditional post/phone call solution and access a brand-new portal which was designed and built by our team to allow people to log-in, verify their identity, and then manage their account online.
With two factor authentication, customers are able to securely carry out an income and expenditure assessment to ensure they have an arrangement plan that ensures they are repaying debts in an affordable way. Customers can choose to input their financial details and outgoings manually, or use the built in Open Banking connection, to have their details accurately and automatically inputted.
“The mobile-focused approach we’ve adopted in partnership with Esendex has really been a revelation for us. We’ve seen a big uptick in our arrangement and collection numbers, but more importantly, we’re also providing better services and tools to our customers.”
GARETH HALL – SENIOR COLLECTIONS MANAGER, DEBT MANAGERS
The benefits of going global
Research has shown that 69% of people struggling financially do not wish to talk to someone about their problems, and so by giving customers the option of avoiding an unpleasant telephone call, yet completing the assessment in a smoother, more user friendly digital process, Debt Managers is creating a frictionless, more comfortable customer experience.
Another key benefit of the new portal is that customers are able to flag if they are currently in a vulnerable situation so that Debt Managers can provide extra support, including counselling and government aid if necessary. So far, 1244 people have been able to get access to support strategies, and for Debt Managers this is a 100% increase and an important part of their commitment to people centred, ethical collections.
By using Esendex to schedule and automate communications and repetitive tasks, Debt Managers are able to free up staff to spend more time with customers when needed and provide more human interaction and support when necessary.
The results
The new Esendex contact strategy and supported portal has seen a number of benefits both to customer experience and the Debt Managers business:
So far a total of 16,652 unique customers have accessed the portal 58,067 times, proving it is a popular alternative to traditional collections methods.
Through better customer engagement, Debt Managers are now able to get closer to their customers; the portal saw 3,375 updates to contact information and 6,677 income and expenditure budgets created; valuable business information the company did not previously have access to.
1,244 vulnerable reports made – a 100% net new measurement for the company, allowing them to provide support where needed.
The new portal is currently delivering a 20% uplift, month on month, in arrangement offers; this amounts to a £4.7m face value generated from arrangements since the deployment of the portal, and over £800,000 in collections generated.
The Future…
Esendex was able to deliver the contact strategy and portal project before the given deadline and within budget, and is currently developing the next stage of the project to further enhance the customer experience and amplify the results Debt Managers have already proven.