3 Reasons To Use SMS For Outstanding Payment Reminders
Having to collect payments may be one of the hardest parts of running a business, particularly the type that includes recurring payments. No matter how much people love your services, they are very rarely happy about having to give their money to someone else.
In this situation, a carefully calculated payment collection approach is essential to make sure that your business keeps operating as planned, while your customers don’t develop any sour feelings towards your brand.
Here is where SMS can help you. Easy-to-use channel with wide reach, it’s a powerful way to engage with your customers in a non-invasive and friendly way to remind them about the upcoming payments. Not convinced? Below, we are taking a closer look at why SMS can be such an effective outstanding payment reminder tool for your business.
Why Use SMS for Outstanding Payment Reminders?
For most businesses, even a temporary disruption to their steady cash flow can cause serious problems down the road. In fact, 82% of small businesses fail due to cash flow-related issues. To avoid this, you need to persuade your clients to pay on time. Below are three reasons why SMS is the perfect tool for it.
SMS a Direct Channel With Wide Reach And High Response Rates
Let’s start with the main benefit of SMS, which is that it’s offering a direct and interactive platform for businesses to reach their customers directly. With 6.7 billion smartphone users in the world today, who check their phones several times a day, SMS offers brands a platform rivaled only by email. Additionally, SMS boasts a global average open rate of 95%, so it’s a safe bet if you want to make sure your message will be seen. Simply sending out a scheduled payment reminder can help you increase payment rates. From sending out scheduled repayment reminders to outstanding or overdue payment notices, with SMS it’s easy to reach all of your customers and make sure that they receive your notices.
SMS is Fast And Cost-Effective
Other powerful features that help SMS stand out as the ideal tool for outstanding payment reminders are speed and affordability.
Setting up a scheduled bulk SMS campaign along the lines of “Dear [name], this is a reminder that you have a scheduled payment on [company name] on [date]. To learn more, visit [website]” won’t take a lot of time, and for the most part, it’s a one-time task: you set it up, and then it runs smoothly for months, with little adjustments needed. This method is a lot more efficient than phone call reminders often take up a lot of time and result in high phone line costs.
Coming to affordability, depending on the provider you use and your phone number list, the prices will vary. However, SMS is considered among the most affordable marketing and communication tools, along with email, so it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
Powerful Customer Support Tool
In the busy schedule of their day-to-day life, people often forget about their upcoming payments and other obligations. And being charged money without any warning (in case of subscriptions with automatic payment) or receiving strict notice about late payment in these situations can create significant tension between them and your business, and create negative connotations with your brand. To avoid this, think of SMS as a customer support tool: it allows you to contact your customers ahead of time with any important outstanding payment or debt collection reminders to ensure that they remain happy and satisfied with your brand. Additionally, SMS reminders are less threatening than official notices, and they have a higher chance of being noticed than an email that can get lost in a crowded inbox.
Wrapping Up
Ensuring that you receive your payments on schedule is crucial for any business. Keeping your customers notified about the upcoming payment is one of the best ways to achieve this, especially in a world where smartphones are so widespread. Setting up automated SMS reminders will make sure that both parties involved remain happy, and no unpleasant surprises occur.
