How Accurate Are Your Collection Letter Jobs? Is There Room for Improvement?

Along with compliance comes the need for accuracy in printed collection communications. Mis-mailings are often a side effect of mass production. When operators don’t have sophisticated equipment and repeatable processes, errors occur.

To eliminate as many mistakes as possible, you’ll want to know your provider’s accuracy rating and how they achieve this. You’ll want to consider both processes and equipment in such an evaluation.

The Process

Every workflow has steps, and when companies use an approach like Lean Manufacturing, they embed quality into the process. Standard works are the task breakdown of each action. Lean Manufacturing also promotes constant auditing to achieve a repeatable workflow. You’ll also want to be sure that every production facility is a mirror so there’s no variance.

The Equipment and Technology

The process is part of the puzzle, and the technology is the final piece. A mis-mailing happens at insertion, so the best print and mail companies use advanced inserting machines and mini cameras to scan barcodes on each document. Insert integrity and chain of custody control from receipt of files to production will need to be capabilities your provider offers.

Be Confident in the Production and Delivery of Collection Letters with the Right Partner

Your organization must live by compliance and accuracy in how you interact with consumers. It’s critical, no matter the channel of communication. Just as you want your employees to adhere to this, you must hold your partners equally accountable.

You can with PCI Group. We are experts at printing and mailing compliant and accurate collection letters. All our operations comply with the FDCPA, and we are SOC I&II certified. We also have an industry-leading accuracy rating of 99.9999%. Plus, you’ll have access to tracking, reports, and more with trakPCI, a secure, online document management platform.

Contact us today to find out how we can support your debt collection efforts.

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For ARM debt collection letters to be compliant, the details are critical. The information on the debt must be accurate, and rules and disclosures must be present. Letters need to also provide resources to debtors on how to dispute the debt and how they can respond. Contact details for the collector must also be present. Language can never be threatening or aggressive. Remain professional and list only the facts.

Ensuring compliance with these letters extends to more than the content. You must have a process that enables each letter to find the correct envelope. Advanced technology makes this easier and works at scale.

A lot of information may be necessary in the letter, so the design and layout matter.

Design Optimization Strategies Can Improve Response and Clarity

In designing effective collection letters, you can use design optimization best practices, including:

• Adding color to improve readership and emphasize specific areas.
• Highlighting any disclaimers and resources.
• Using layouts to box the most important parts of the communication (e.g., amount due, how to contact the company).
• Inserting icons to reduce the amount of text for easier understanding.
• Organizing information by underlining and bolding text.

There are many templates available for use. In addition, your transactional print and mail provider can provide these services. The best approach is to make it visually appealing but not overwhelming.

Simple Is Better

Design elements are vital for any type of letter, but you’ll be in a better position when you keep things simple. The more straightforward the communication is the better comprehension. Some steps to simplify this involve removing duplicate fields and text, sticking to classic design elements, and using a clean, legible font.

Trackable Letters Are More Effective

Sending out letters to debtors and ensuring they arrive is another effectiveness aspect. You’ll need to have certain obligations met for this, such as:

• Using address maintenance tools to have the best chance of reaching the correct person.
• Access to a tracking system through a print and mail provider, allowing you to monitor the letter from when you send the data until it arrives in a mailbox.

Such technology supports compliance, meeting deadlines, and audits.

How You Package the Collection Letter Matters

With debt collection letters, you can opt to pressure seal them with perforated tear-away edges. The advantage is that it looks different than junk mail, so people may be more apt to open it. This option also saves costs.

A sealed postcard works for collection letters. It’s one piece and at a lower postage rate, creating more budget efficiencies.

Certified Mail envelopes are another option. Automation is possible for this type of certified mail with all the necessary manifest and tracking elements. No forms or stickers are needed.

All these best practices and compliance obligations can be a lot of work for you. That’s why so many in the ARM industry choose a trusted partner that understand what is a collection letter and the purpose it serves.

Ready to Upgrade to Effective Collection Letters?

Effective collection letters are compliant, well-designed, accurate, and easy to understand. Streamlining the production of these letters and being able to track everything is crucial to your collection letter efforts. Working with PCI Group offers you peace of mind on all fronts. We can design, print, and mail your collection letters. Explore our solutions today.

Beyond the compliance measures these letters must meet, you also have the option for letter design with a transactional print and mail provider. As a result, your letters will have a modern layout, use full color, and prioritize critical information to avoid ambiguity.

So, what kind of provider should you trust with this task?

ARM Compliant Print and Mail Services: What Your Partner Should Offer

There are lots of options for ARM communications. However, not every print and mail company is the same. Some only dabble in transactional print, while others specialize in it. You’ll be in much better hands with the latter.

In comparing options, look for companies that:

• Meet and exceed compliance standards and have earned certification.
• Allow real-time management with an online tracking portal to monitor the status of jobs and confirm delivery.
• Have Lean Manufacturing and other quality measures in place to drive accuracy.
• Uphold the highest data and physical security protocols.
• Use advanced technology to ensure insertion integrity.
• Offer advanced mailing features, such as address scrubbing to ensure letters arrive at the correct address.
• Provide e-delivery options that are secure and compliant for debtors to receive via email.

Partner with PCI Group, the Leader in ARM Compliant Communications

We are a singularly-focused transaction print and mail company and have many years of experience in the ARM industry. Our turnkey services for ARM print, mail, and multi-channel communications meet all compliance thresholds. With technology that drives accuracy and quality, a solution for tracking and confirmation, letter design, and address maintenance capabilities, you’ll find the ARM-compliant provider you need.

Explore all our solutions and why so many in the ARM industry trust and rely on us.

Multi-Channel Communication

In addition to debt collection letter mailings, we provide e-delivery capabilities. We use a compliant, encrypted digital platform, so security is never in question. In line with FDCPA compliance, we can send secure emails regarding debt recovery. You also have access to a document storage repository and archive. If consumers make payments in response, you can also send receipts via email.

Now you have print and digital from one platform to manage and monitor. By engaging with debtors in multiple channels, you increase the chance they’ll respond. In adopting our solution, you can reduce overall costs of print and mail, remain compliant, and boost efficiency.

More Mailing Features

For mailings, we want to optimize delivery. To do that, we use address scrubbing technology. PCI Scrub helps locate consumers that move. Before printing any letters, the tool identifies and intercepts inaccurate or incomplete addresses. It’s proprietary and leverages the U.S. Postal Service’s Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) and Delivery Point Barcode (DPBC).

Using PCI Scrub improves deliverability and reduces waste associated with wrong addresses.

Real-Time Account Management with trakPCI

trakPCI is an online dashboard allowing you to monitor the status of print and mail communications throughout the entire process. It’s secure and web-based, with functionality to track, schedule, and control production jobs. It delivers complete transparency. You can confirm the delivery of debt collection letters with real-time notifications. Such functionality can be very valuable for ARM communications to validate compliance.

Within the platform, you can also request letter changes or add new ones. An archived history of letter changes is visible. Additionally, you can look at your costs related to postage and other expenses. Pull custom reports at any time, as needed.

Compliant, High-Quality, Omnichannel ARM Compliant Print and Digital Communications

While ARM communications must follow very specific rules, you aren’t limited in how you manage these. If your current system, whether internal or external, is too cumbersome, expensive, or disjointed, it’s time to make a change.

As a company focused only on transactional mail, you can rely on our experts to deliver compliant, high-quality, omnichannel solutions. Learn more about our ARM services today.

Transactional print and mail can meet these by using advanced technology to ensure that every letter hits the right envelope with the right message. Further, the ability to track these communications from the time you send the data to delivery is critical.

When using e-delivery methods, the standards still apply. Thus, you must use a digital platform that complies with the requirements. So, what does this look like?

Standards for Your ARM Digital Correspondence Platform

In selecting a platform, you’ll want it to include these features:

• Safe and secure environment for sensitive information.
• Accessibility by the recipient on any device at any time.
• Electronic notification to recipients.
• Central online location for secure document storage.
• Interactive features that allow you to send or receive receipts electronically.

Print and Email Delivery Can Increase Responses

When you can send collection letters in various channels, it can increase responses. Mailed correspondence, even with tracking, doesn’t mean the receiver will open it or take action. Some ARM providers also struggle with keeping up with address changes.

PCI Group can eliminate much of this with address maintenance with DPV (Delivery Point Bar Code), NCOA link, and AEC technology. Plus, users of our system can track the entire journey of the letter via trakPCI. By working with us, you can reduce duplicate mailings and wasted postage.

Supplementing those letters with digital delivery can improve the success of debt collection efforts. That’s because email typically has a higher open rate than mail. While people change physical addresses often, emails remain the same.

Increase Debt Collection Efforts Success by Partnering with PCI Group

We are experts in the industry and serve many ARM clients across the country. As a transactional communications specialist, it’s all we do, so we have the equipment, technology, and processes in place to ensure high deliverability and compliance.

Learn more about our multi-channel communication options today.

Keys to Improving Payment Remittance

To boost payment remittance, here are some key areas to consider.

Flexible Payment Options

Start with the options you offer now and the percent of customers that pay this way. For those that are habitually late, what methods are they using?

A large category of your payers may choose to pay online through your website or within their bank’s portal. While this is a convenient channel, some payers may be hesitant to remit online because they have to set things up in their accounts or register with your website. One easier way is to print QR codes on your bills. A customer can scan this and land on a personalized page where they can quickly enter a payment method. It doesn’t require any other steps.

Others may receive bills by mail and remit the same way via a check. But what about the unbanked or underbanked? Approximately 10% of people are unbanked, and 24% are underbanked in the U.S.

That’s a significant amount, and all those people do contract for services, from utility bills to healthcare needs. How can they remit payment to you? The best option may be to print cash barcodes on statements. They can take these statements to retailers that accept cash payments, such as drug and convenience stores, then scan the barcode. The retailer then accepts the cash, and the remittance is complete.

Incentivize Customers to Pay on Time with AutoPay

Wireless carriers and other services often offer autopay to customers. The company automatically deducts the monthly invoice from a checking account. If you want to promote this option, be sure to include it in the invoice as a callout box. It might not apply to every customer, but you can segment who should receive the message with dynamic printing.

To incentivize customers to pay this way, you could offer a small discount or a cash-back program.

Use Notifications and Reminders

Sometimes people just forget to pay a bill. It may be completely unintentional. To prevent these occurrences, you should consider using notifications and reminders. Set these up at intervals, such as 15 days, 7 days, and 3 days before the bill is due.

Additionally, if the payment is late, you can notify them the day after, which could prompt them to pay immediately.

These notifications and reminders can be in several channels, depending on how you communicate with customers and their preferences. The most popular ones are via email and SMS.

How to Improve Statements to Ensure Better Payment Remittance

Communicating on the statement the what, how, and when to pay is critical. If the information is ambiguous or hard to find, it could impact remittance time. Here are some tips that you should follow on statement design:

• Use color: A full-color statement is more impactful and can improve response rates. This is because our brains actually look at color differently than black and white.
• Include boxes to highlight information: Placing key information at the top of statements with the what, how, and when ensures your customers will see it.
• Apply dynamic printing options to segmented users with messaging about how to pay geared toward those that fall into “risk” categories. For example, you can print cash barcodes and QR codes on statements where those are the most used options for that group.
• Segment the statement: Just by applying some lines and other graphic touches, the letter can be so much easier to read for your customers.
• Modernize any elements of the statement that look dated, including colors and font.

Improving Your Statements and Channels Can Deliver Better Payment Remittance

Helping your customers stay current with their bills can be a simple as enhancing your statement design, communicating more, and offering more ways to pay.

If you’re looking for support for your transactional print and mail communications, PCI Group can help. We offer turnkey services designed specifically for transactional mail. Learn more about our solutions today and why so many organizations trust us.