The Spindown monthly: March
Welcome to the Spindown newsletter!
Your monthly digest for collections insights, takeaways from industry shapers and the latest events.
In this edition:
Top takeaways from our AI and Machine Learning masterclass
In this Better Debt episode, our CEO & Founder Josh Foreman sat down with industry experts:
Despite often being used interchangeably, AI and Machine Learning aren’t synonymous. Looking at the definitions of each, you can start to uncover how their applications differ. For example, AI can be used for tasks requiring human intelligence, such handling inbound customer enquiries.
2. Understand where you are on your Data Maturity journey
Using any form of AI or Machine Learning requires data. Not just any data, but good quality data. This means getting up close and personal with your data to understand:
Once you’ve got a good idea of the data available, you can start considering what problems need solving, and how you can use this data through AI and ML to solve them.
3. De-risk to meet regulatory requirements
Meeting regulatory requirements is always top of the list when implementing new technology. To align with regulatory priorities, demonstrate that you’re minimising harm and ensuring positive outcomes. This means carefully considering how you’re implementing AI and Machine Learning, and taking the regulator on the journey.
How technology is changing the face of voice collections
Voice AI
When used correctly, voice AI poses a safer, more compassionate, and entirely personalised way of calling when compared to human agents.?We use voice AI to create targeted conversations that are designed around specific points of the customer journey - such as if?their payment plan breaks.?
In the first week of release, out of customers who engaged, 91.9% restarted their payment plan, and 8.1% resolved their entire balance with a full payment. This enables us to support more customers in real-time, and frees up our human agents to focus on more complex queries.
Balancing automation and human intervention?
There’s a fine balance that needs to be struck between technology and real-life conversations. Especially when it comes to supporting customers financially - many people will still prefer that little bit of small talk or friendly chat you can only find from a real person.
Enabling flexibility?
Offering varied payment options in voice collections is essential to improving customer outcomes. Providing customers with the singular option of paying in full simply doesn’t fit the brief.
To really set customers up for success during voice interactions, they should be supported with options that work for their individual situation. This can include flexible one-off payments, payment plans, or snooze periods.
What the 2023 UK recession means for collections
1 in 4 UK households owe at least ￡5,000 across various consumer credit commitments.
While the verdict on whether the UK is still in a recession is still to be seen in 2024, it's clear that Brits are under strain - and more likely to fall behind.
Instead of adding to stress and worry, collections should:
…and more. It’s time to design collections around customer interests. Learn how in the article below.
Debt collection industry predictions for 2024
In case you missed it, we shared our predictions for the debt collections industry this year.
On our list:
Featuring insights from our team, this guide takes you through what should be front of mind in every collections strategy.
Further resources:
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