21.07.2009 | Combining 'payment intent' behavioural coding with the power of the telephone

Call centre head-set

Fraudscreen, the London-based provider of database coding products for managing debt risk within customer relationships, today announced the general availability of TeleCollect, the newest addition to Fraudscreen’s growing suite of product offerings. Combining ‘payment intent’ with telemarketing, TeleCollect will enable consumer businesses to make informed decisions and communicate effectively and efficiently with customers throughout the dunning and collections process.

TeleCollect brings together the powerful payment predictions of Fraudscreen codes with the immediacy and flexibility of telephone contact. Developed in response to the growing attention at board-level to cash flow and working capital within businesses, the two primary benefits of TeleCollect are the ability to manage these areas without reliance on external lenders.

“As increasing numbers of consumers are falling into debt, the effective management of non-payment could be a key strategic differentiator this year” said John Sharman, Sales & Marketing Director for Fraudscreen, “With this in mind, we believe TeleCollect will be invaluable to consumer business, helping them to focus their collection activity and protect both revenue and fragile customer relationships.”

TeleCollect combines two powerful elements to deliver benefits based on the premise that, whatever the dunning stage, customers shown to have good payment intent are easier and more cost-efficient to collect overdue payments from. First, Fraudscreen’s payment intent behavioural coding differentiates those who ‘will pay’ from those who ‘won’t pay’ and applies basic direct marketing approach of segmented audiences to a process that typically uses a generic message. This is combined with the client’s own customer data (amount outstanding, dunning stage, customer history), and then integrated into an outbound telephony solution. This means that the outbound team – collections agent, call centre staff, telemarketer, etc. – has an indication upfront as to whether a person is likely to pay. This gives them the ability to interact accordingly throughout the collections cycle, using the most effective proposition and tone of voice for each audience segment. Furthermore, in a telephony setting the agent is able to respond during the conversation, with various outcomes already having been anticipated.

Victoria Tuffill“Textbook marketing principles of audience segmentation and tailored dialogue are increasingly key components of dunning/collections activity,” said Victoria Tuffill, Director and one of Fraudscreen’s founding partners, “Payment intent behaviour tells us that not all customers have the same propensity to pay, so tailor your approach accordingly. Focus effort where recovery is most likely. This will lead to reduced costs, improved revenues, better ROI/reduced cost per £ collected. Why spend more money on customers who have no intent to pay?”

More than a product or an off-the-shelf solution, TeleCollect involves a comprehensive process strategy driven by the collections cycle itself. A typical customer engagement will involve:

TeleCollect has two core strategic applications dependent upon where the customer is in the payment/collections dunning cycle and the clients’ business imperatives; these are Pre-DCA (i.e. calling customers in the final stages of collections, just before they are transferred to a debt collection agency), and speed of payment (i.e. targeting those not yet overdue and paying in instalments or targeting those in the early stages of collections).


Using fraudscreen's TeleCollect enabled the client to increase the value of recovered funds by 93% compared to a DCA-only approach.

Un-named Home Shopping company

In Pre-DCA strategy, TeleCollect was proven, in testing, to have an immediate and positive impact; facilitating payment, retaining the good-will of the customer, and reducing subsequent bad debts. After allowing for the cost of coding and consultancy, using Fraudscreen’s TeleCollect enabled the client to increase the value of recovered funds by 93% compared to a DCA-only approach and significantly reduce cost per £1 collected. This makes for a positive experience, and puts the customer back in a buying frame of mind. Fraudscreen coding identifies the very worst payment intent; this knowledge allows a business to put in place stronger incentives for re-payment for this tougher segment, or to move them sooner to a DCA or debt sale for superior commercial returns.

Applied to facilitate speed of payment, TeleCollect reduces ongoing invoicing and dunning costs through greater efficiencies and effectiveness.This facilitates the speed of payment; cash-up (pay off full outstanding amount), repayment in multiples (pay twice or more the amount for each instalment to clear the debt sooner), subscription to direct debit or continuous credit card authorisation.This has the benefit of improving cash flow and providing working capital in a difficult economic climate.With debts cleared, customers may be more responsive to additional offers.In testing, cash-up revenue gained was 220% above target (33% of consumers contacted opted to cash-up in full their outstanding balance, while a further 22% agreed to double-up the value of their instalments and 11% opted for a continuous payment method) resulting in a campaign ROI 10:1.

Aimed initially at consumer businesses managing mail order and distance selling operations, TeleCollect will be of value to any business looking to offset cash flow difficulties, reduce the risk of consumer debt, and enable swift revenue collection, while preserving customer loyalty.