ERP Consultant Blog

How to Personalize Collection Emails for Faster Payment

Written by Lindsey O'Brien | Tue, Oct 24, 2017

We are all guilty of it. We open our inbox every morning to find a flood of new emails that we can't be bothered to read. These mostly include spam, offering a new discount, asking you to join a networking group, inviting you to a trade show or to join a webinar. There is no way we could be productive every day if we read every single one of these emails, so....we delete them.

This leaves room for error when an email that actually was important gets overlooked, specifically your collection emails. Your collection emails need to jump out of the inbox and say to the customer, "READ ME". One way to achieve this is by using personalization in your emails, so they don't simply look like another piece of junk to skip over. Below are a few tactics you can use to achieve this.

Personalize the subject line

The subject line of the email is what initially grabs the reader's attention. This is what will help the decide whether they will even bother to open the email. By adding personalization into the subject line, such as including the AP contact's name, they are much more likely to be engaged.

Be friendly

Sending out the same exact email to every customer can make you sound like a robot, who sent the same email to every single customer. Even if this is what you did, there are ways to make it less obvious. Ask the customer how they are doing and let them know you are available to answer any questions, instead of simply requesting payment immediately.

Pay attention to timing

There are certain times of the week and days where we are more apt to rush through out emails than others, for example the Monday after a weekend where we are catching up on all the emails from when we were out or in the mornings when we are just getting started. If we receive an email towards the end of the day, we may push it off until the morning. Think about when you are most likely to answer and take action on an email, maybe this is after lunch. Only send an email when you think it will give the customer the most time to do something about it.

To learn more about how to craft perfect collection emails that get customers to take action, attend our upcoming webinar on November 9th at 11 am PT/ 2 PM ET. During the webinar we will discuss:

  • How to use subject line personalization for better collection response
  • Maintaining email database lists for better collection response
  • Perfect the timing and frequency of collection emails

Sign up for the webinar here.