Customer AP departments are not always the reason why your payments are late. AP departments usually want to make payments on time to avoid problems with auditing, relationships and cash budgeting and forecasting.
The problems your AR department is having may be internal. Email problems may be causing your late payments.
Email Problems
Emails can be stuck in customer AP spam folders, if they include words that trigger spam filters. Many AP departments are buried in work. They barely have the time to look at regular emails, so they aren’t going to read spam emails.
Another problem is emails sent to the wrong address. Turnover in customer AP department personnel is common, and AR departments aren’t always notified of changes. If the email address in the customer’s profile is a personal address rather than an AP department email address (which often occurs) the result will be a delivery failure notice or no response.
Theses email problems can be reduced significantly if your AR team adopts new processes including:
Subject Lines
Using subject lines that don’t contain words that are likely to trigger spam filters can help to get your emails to the AP inbox. Words that sound pushy, needy, manipulative or far-fetched in your subject line should be avoided. You can also A/B test subject lines to find the ones that are more likely to avoid spam filters.
Self-Service Portal
A self-service portal for customers and vendors allows them to self-manage their profile data including updating email addresses. Customers and vendors want the convenience and flexibility of self-service. It’s a win-win-solution for everyone.
AR automation can reduce or eliminate late payments. Automation eliminates or reduces the issues that can cause delays in processing payments. Automation increases efficiency, reduces costs and results in increased profits and cash flow.
With a connected accounting solution for your AR and AP teams to coordinate work with customers and vendors, you can go digital and enjoy the benefits of office automation.
Lockstep, a leader in cloud-based connected accounting solutions, can help you boost productivity and increase cash flow with:
- Digital Onboarding – Collect master data directly from your customers and vendors
- Accounting Inbox – Make it easy to divvy up work and track progress
- Smart Automation – Automate menial task with accounting integration
- Online Accounts – Give customers and vendors online access to their accounts
Lockstep is an experienced software partner that can help you increase efficiency and accelerate cash flow.
If you would like to learn more about how you can benefit from connected accounting solutions, please contact Lockstep at www.lockstep.io
