How The Digital Customer Will Transform Credit Management
The financial sector has wasted little time in storming into the digital age. Financial services are utilizing new technology, and finding new ways to make spending, managing, and investing consumer funds easier and faster than ever before. From online banking to Apple Pay, we’re seeing more and more consumers moving to digital currency — digital deposits — even digital investing. This is forcing the entire industry to rethink the way it does business, with more mobile-only companies like Tide and Starling questioning traditional concepts.
Credit Management
Credit management has found it impossible to avoid the new landscape and has been forced to evolve accordingly. When credit management first started, it needed only to rely on the firm’s knowledge and its good reputation to achieve success. In recent years however, credit reporting has been transformed by modern pressures and technological advancements. Aspects such as digital marketing, social media, and data gathering, have become important factors towards a company’s success. With our modern landscape constantly evolving, credit management will continue to see its role within the financial sector change shape.
Using data strategically
Customer data has always been a driving force in the way financial institutions make decisions. Bankers use it to make lending decisions, while insurers may look at your driving or police record before writing your policy. It has always been important. But as people and their devices become more interconnected, new streams of data are emerging, and the way we use it can affect the way we do business.
Clients and customers share an increasing amount of personal and professional data online, creating keen potential for credit management in social media. New information about customers and companies can be posted online months before you can see the result in a financial statement. Modern businesses all have social media accounts, and most contribute to them daily to encourage consumer interest as well as navigate traffic to their company website.
Here at Credit Protection Association, we update our social networking websites daily to update our customers and members on new blogs or news articles written within the company. We also encourage customer feedback and communication on any of these platforms. We spread our blogs and news stories across all our social media sites such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and Googleplus.
Digital Marketing
If you want to increase your company’s success, or even let customers know you exist, designing and maintaining an attractive website is essential. Using the right images, the right words and even the right colours, can invite even the most reluctant customer.
Marketing tools such as Adwords and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are used by all manners of businesses to analyse and increase traffic. A business’ website may have the most intelligent information and best intentions; but if there are no exciting images or prose to grab attention, any potential customers may look elsewhere. Website design and its relevant marketing, have become the easiest way to boost a company success.
With credit management in particular where competition between debt collection companies, agencies and banks are so strong, concentrating on your internet presence is important. The information shared within financial sectors can also be hard to understand, so incorporating blogs, videos or other interactive tools on the website can help customer understanding.
Improve customer experience
Needless to say, the credit management tool landscape is changing. With many customers expecting new and improved ways of communication, every company should attempt to enhance the digital customer’s experience and make smarter and more informed decisions faster.
Digital collections have helped to reach those who have historically been a challenge to contact, therefore increasing recovery rates. Offering automated payment technologies offers those in debt with a simple way to pay and negotiate. This more remote approach further reduces any embarrassment factor, offering clients a more private environment.
The importance of greeting the new digital customer
Credit management is evolving at a rapid pace, and those stuck using inadequate technology will suffer. Credit managers need sophisticated resources to effectively share data and information amongst clients, while staying ahead of everyone else. The strength of a company’s social media presence, and the traffic its website encourages, can all signify a company’s popularity and their overall success.
Such digital developments may have transformed credit management’s more traditional origins, but they also offer infinite possibilities for its future.