When creating accounts receivable emails, whether they are new customer welcome emails, collection letters, reminder emails or past due notices, sometimes collectors can get stuck in a rut. You’re sending so many emails a day that you only have time to summarize the information for the customer and get your point across. It’s not very often that the accounts receivable department sees cross over with the marketing department, but when it comes to crafting effective emails that customers will read and take action on, accounts receivable could take a few tips from marketing.Although there is a lot of important information to include in these accounts receivable emails, such as account number, invoice number, amount due, past due date and more, the email doesn’t have to be rigid and full of numbers. The point of sending accounts receivable emails is to get your customers attention and get them to take an action, whether that is making a payment or getting in touch with you about creating a payment plan. Marketing departments research and test how to get customers to open and take action on emails almost every day.
There are four key areas to an email that will help get your customers to open and make payment from an email. The first is to craft an effective subject line. The subject line of the email can make a huge difference on whether the customer even sees the email in the first place. Depending on your word choice, the email could get stuck in their spam or junk mail. Further, the subject line is the first thing a customer sees and decides whether they will open the email or not. Crafting a catchy and appealing subject line makes the difference in whether the email is read or not.
The second area is personalization. Studies show that a personalized email delivers six times higher transaction rates. Although this is in regards to purchasing an item, it transfers to making a payment as well. By simply adding a personalized greeting, a customer will feel more inclined to take payment action. Time and frequency of emails also makes a huge difference on whether a customer will open. It’s important to take into account what time zone the customer is in or how often you are sending them emails. Finally, following up with customers to be sure they received the email or to send a second reminder helps to seal the deal.
In this blog series on sending accounts receivable emails while thinking like a marketer, we will delve deeper into all these email areas and how they can help you to become more effective.
