What makes the end of the year such an important time to evaluate your delinquent customer engagement strategy? Let’s take a look at the top five timely factors.
With all that considered, email deliverability is critical in your engagement strategy. Deliverability divides how many emails reach the recipient’s inbox, as opposed to their spam folder, by the total number of emails sent. While the worldwide average deliverability rate comes in at 84.8%, Retain has a 95% deliverability rate and a 99% email delivery rate.
Given that consumers will be spending a lot of time online through Q4 and into Q1, staying top of mind as holiday spending rolls over into delinquency and competition for tax refund dollars ramps up through digital communications is crucial.
But for companies with customers in delinquency, this is the ideal time to start strategically engaging with consumers: 44% of Americans reported earmarking their refunds to pay off their debt. With consumers already planning on using their refunds to address those bills they’ve fallen behind on, businesses should reach them faster through their preferred channel—59.5% report preferring email as their first choice for communication—which can lead to a more than 10% increase in payments when contacting them first through their preferred method.
But getting a jump on your communication delivery strategy before the new year will set your customer engagement up for success when tax refunds roll in. 93.8% of individual tax returns were filed electronically in 2023 so make it convenient for them to engage with you—which is one of the top six reasons consumers do their taxes online in the first place—and reach them where they are already handling their finances through digital communication.
But only 20% are optimistic about keeping those resolutions so it’s important to engage with them early and consistently to help keep them on track. And be sure you’re reaching them through their preferred channels to keep them receptive to your messages. Research shows that 46% of consumers already expect to communicate through preferred channels, so don’t let delivery failure make your communications fall on deaf ears.
Start getting your communication strategy ready today to capture your customers’ attention in 2024.
Of course, that’s if you can even get a potential candidate through the interviewing—94% of employers say they have been ghosted during a hiring process.
But taking a digital-first delivery approach with Retain for consumer communications has shown to reduce the number of required FTEs by up to 75%, plus 4x increased efficiency for the FTEs on staff.
1) Inboxes are flooded with offers from companies in Q4 and Q1
68% of Americans report they pay more attention to emails from companies during the holidays so make sure your communications actually make it into your recipient’s inbox—don’t just measure email delivery rate and inadvertently be sending all your messages into their spam folder. Research shows that nearly 56.5% of all emails were spam in 2022, with the third-biggest spam email category being related to financial matters.With all that considered, email deliverability is critical in your engagement strategy. Deliverability divides how many emails reach the recipient’s inbox, as opposed to their spam folder, by the total number of emails sent. While the worldwide average deliverability rate comes in at 84.8%, Retain has a 95% deliverability rate and a 99% email delivery rate.
Given that consumers will be spending a lot of time online through Q4 and into Q1, staying top of mind as holiday spending rolls over into delinquency and competition for tax refund dollars ramps up through digital communications is crucial.
2) Get a jump on engagement before tax season
Of the U.S. adults who expect to receive a tax refund this year, 75% believe it’s important to their overall financial situation. While approximately 62,932,000 refunds were issued in 2023, the IRS reported the average refund amount dropped 9.8% from the average refund amount in 2022—contributing to more consumer scrutiny about where those tax refund dollars go.But for companies with customers in delinquency, this is the ideal time to start strategically engaging with consumers: 44% of Americans reported earmarking their refunds to pay off their debt. With consumers already planning on using their refunds to address those bills they’ve fallen behind on, businesses should reach them faster through their preferred channel—59.5% report preferring email as their first choice for communication—which can lead to a more than 10% increase in payments when contacting them first through their preferred method.
3) Consumers already prefer to communicate with companies digitally
Considering 81% of consumers believe communications are important to their overall experience with a company, reaching consumers through their preferred methods is extremely important—especially in regards to financial interactions—all year round. During any given month, surveys find that 73% of people worldwide turn to online banking at least once a month. This marks an increasing adoption rate of digital channels by customers to get their banking done, jumping to 83% in 2023 up from 77% in 2020.But getting a jump on your communication delivery strategy before the new year will set your customer engagement up for success when tax refunds roll in. 93.8% of individual tax returns were filed electronically in 2023 so make it convenient for them to engage with you—which is one of the top six reasons consumers do their taxes online in the first place—and reach them where they are already handling their finances through digital communication.
4) Help consumers keep their New Year's resolutions to get their financial life back on track and drive repayment behavior
Are your customers saying “new year, new me” when it comes to spending? Financial goals are on many people’s new year's resolutions lists: 66% of Americans plan financial resolutions, with 41% prioritizing paying down debt.But only 20% are optimistic about keeping those resolutions so it’s important to engage with them early and consistently to help keep them on track. And be sure you’re reaching them through their preferred channels to keep them receptive to your messages. Research shows that 46% of consumers already expect to communicate through preferred channels, so don’t let delivery failure make your communications fall on deaf ears.
Start getting your communication strategy ready today to capture your customers’ attention in 2024.
5) Hiring Full-Time-Employees to support outbound calling is a challenge
Finding and acquiring new full-time-employees (FTEs) has been a continual challenge, especially when surveys find that 50% of organizations think the competition for talent is likely to increase through the end of the year. And considering the average cost of hiring an employee is around $4,000 while the attrition rate for outbound calling agents hovers between 30-40%, the outlook for onboarding and retaining doesn’t inspire confidence.Of course, that’s if you can even get a potential candidate through the interviewing—94% of employers say they have been ghosted during a hiring process.
But taking a digital-first delivery approach with Retain for consumer communications has shown to reduce the number of required FTEs by up to 75%, plus 4x increased efficiency for the FTEs on staff.