There’s a sense of finality when hitting the “send” button on an email and seeing that it was delivered. However, email delivery and deliverability aren’t the same. A debt collection email can be “delivered”, but still could end up in the recipient’s spam folder. It’s an occurrence that a digital partner would work through since email deliverability often plays a big role in recovery rates.
Plenty of businesses use Email Service Providers (ESPs) to send marketing messages, but email for debt collection needs a more hands-on approach. Let’s take a closer look at the key differences between ESPs and a digital partner.
ESPs Are Tools, Not A Complete Email Strategy
Many people have smartphones, but only a few use them to their full potential. With the right expertise, they can be used to run businesses, create works of art, and more. The same principle is true with ESPs, and there are plenty of business types where hitting send and monitoring more basic metrics can be enough. At their core, ESPs are just a tool, it takes expertise and knowledge to fully utilize their full potential, and even that may not be sufficient for debt collection purposes.
Every email is an opportunity for a repayment, and a business needs a reputable domain and reliable deliverability to make the most of those chances. There’s no shortage of issues that make it so emails aren’t delivered or seen. And, there’s no tool that has the answers to:
- Uncover how to get your collection emails to start inboxing again.
- Diagnose why emails are being flagged and sent to spam folders by ESPs.
- Analyze keywords and content likely to hurt your domain reputation.
- Guide you through the best way to deal with complaints.
- Provide tools to identify and mitigate data quality issues that hinder deliverability.
This is where a digital partner can offer the most value. While the tool itself is a crucial starting point, an email expert takes collections strategies to the next level.
A Digital Partner Makes Email for Debt Collection More Effective
When you’re sending debt collection emails, there are a few common issues that arise. For starters, consumers are more likely to flag these messages as spam, which can hurt your domain reputation over time. Think of domain reputation as a technical “trust score” for your server, much like a “credit score”, it determines your access and reliability in the eyes of the ISPs. The more marks against you, the harder it will be to get your messages delivered to inboxes. For internet service providers (ISPs) spam clicks and complaints have a big impact on deliverability, and as a result, recovery outcomes.
The right digital partner will have relationships with ISPs and ESPs to help your business get more detailed email performance insights. This partner could also provide technical advocacy and deliverability troubleshooting with ESPs and ISPs to ensure your legitimate collection communications reach the inbox.
Email for Debt Collection & List Hygiene
It’s common for debt portfolios (especially those bought by third parties) to have stale or inaccurate data. If you send emails to an inactive address or one that hasn’t been used in years, there’s a high chance of a “hard bounce” happening. Every bounced email hurts your domain reputation, and when enough happen, you could be penalized by ESPs. Email platforms let you monitor bounces, but it’s up to the user to maintain list hygiene.
A digital partner with proven experience can help you address these issues before any email is sent. For example, a partner could run a real-time SMTP verification. This process scrubs the emails to help catch inactive email addresses to safeguard your domain reputation. The right partner could also build custom email reporting tools to help monitor the unique challenges faced by your digital debt collection strategy.
Debt Collection Email Strategies Need Constant Guidance
As a channel, sending emails for debt collection can’t thrive with a “set it and forget” approach. With deliverability, bounces, open rates, content, ISPs, ESPs, and many other variables impacting its performance, email is a living channel that requires constant guidance. It’s a full-time job that many businesses don’t have the time or specialized email expertise for.
Emails are an extension of your brand, and a key tactic to hitting recovery goals in digital debt collection strategies. The Email Operations and Deliverability Team at Retain puts this into practice for all its clients. With years of expertise, Retain’s team monitors and works on your email strategy to keep up with this constantly changing channel.
Optimize Your Debt Collection Emails with Retain
If you’re looking to get more out of your debt collection emails, make Retain your digital partner. With industry leading email engagement, our team manages ESP relationships and stays on top of best practices to give your strategy optimal performance. See how your debt collection email strategy could be improved by reaching out to Retain today.
