It may be a cliche to say that older individuals are not as technology savvy as younger individuals, but if it is a cliche, the sentiment is overused for a reason. Because it is very often true.
Collection agencies need to be mindful of the digital savviness of the individuals from whom they are trying to collect, reminded a panel of industry experts who spoke on a webinar last week about the intricacies of collecting from members of different generations. The webinar was sponsored by Microbilt.
A copy of the webinar recording is available here.
The panelists for the webinar were:
- Sophie Benbenek, head of data science at TrueAccord
- Michael DeCarpio, director of collections at RevSolve
- Brian Watkins, owner, Southern Oregon Credit Service
Generally speaking, younger people are more technology sophisticated and less interested in speaking with individuals on the phone, Watkins said during the webinar. It is important to point out that age is a protected class and that agencies should not do anything that would run afoul of discriminating against someone because of his or her age.
The type of debt being collected can also play an important role in the strategy being used by a collecting agency, Watkins said. Medical debts, for example, should be collecting differently than unpaid tuition from community colleges. That being said, many collection agencies are not doing a thorough-enough job of analyzing their own data to determine the best collection strategy, DeCarpio said.
“We need to do better analysis,” he said. “Which generational groups are paying and liquidating at better rates.”
Along with looking at the type of debt and the type of individual, geography matters, too. And, in some cases, geography can trump stereotypes, as Watkins pointed out.
The legalization of marijuana in Oregon has turned the state into a large cash economy, Watkins pointed out. As such, the need to set up locations across the state has become more important because individuals in Oregon, especially younger people, do not have a bank account or credit or debit cards, and need to pay with cash.
“They may all have cell phones, but they do not put money in the bank,” Watkins said.
Sometimes, stereotypes can be thrown out when it comes to assuming that older individuals are not as tech-savvy as younger people today.
“More than 50% of the people using digital channels are over the age of 50,” Benbenek said.
Watkins also noted that younger people do not listen to, or respond to voicemails, so his agency has stopped using them altogether.
“There has been so much discussion about whether to leave voicemails or not, if you haven’t tried it yet, don’t leave a message,” Watkins said. “See how your numbers look. If I’m calling a younger person, they don’t listen to voicemails, they just call back.”
TrueAccord does not leave messages either, Benbenek said. The goal is to push individuals to make contact with the company the way they want to. Benbenek noted that an outbound calling campaign collects at about a 3% rate, where as an inbound call collects at about a 10% rate.
“You have to meet the customer where they want to be met,” she said.
