How do you make a payment reminder as customer-friendly as possible?
“Nobody enjoys receiving a payment reminder. It makes you feel like you've done something wrong, and the language used can often be intimidating,” says Matthias Moll from Swapfiets. His company primarily targets students, who pay €12 per month for a reliable bicycle subscription. Their debtor management is fully tailored to this target group, which means invoices are usually paid on time.
The work involved in sending payment reminders
Payment reminders are rarely fun. Something went wrong with a payment, and now you—as the seller—need to follow up. This can take up a lot of time and effort. Following up on unpaid invoices can even turn into a full-time administrative task. And it's not just about getting the money in quickly—how you handle it, especially in a customer-friendly way, matters just as much.
Friendly payment reminders
You never want to make your customer feel bad. Everyone forgets a bill now and then. Harsh reminders can seriously harm customer retention. And recurring customers are exactly what Subscription Services depend on. Matthias explains: “That’s why we try to keep our emails as friendly as possible. Every element in the message is geared toward one clear goal: completing the payment.”
Say a student using Swapfiets normally pays every month, but forgets once due to vacation, moving house, or lack of funds. That’s someone you want to encourage, not scare off. “Hey loyal customer, sorry to see this payment didn’t go through…” is far better than a generic warning that immediately threatens administrative fees or a debt collection agency.
“We designed the payment reminders ourselves. With HTML and CSS, a marketer can easily adjust them. We chose a clean, bright blue background—simple and distraction-free. The tone-of-voice is aligned with student language, including emojis in the reminders.”
Check out the Swapfiets templates at the bottom.
Authentication is half the battle
An unpaid invoice? A failed transaction? Sometimes the problem isn’t the customer—it could be that the invoice was sent to the wrong (email) address. Or the direct debit failed due to an incorrect or incomplete bank account number. That’s why Buckaroo’s Credit Management module doesn’t just focus on follow-up, but also on upfront authentication. You can verify accounts using a €0.01 iDEAL transaction—or even better, through full mandate management, where customers provide a (digital) direct debit authorization.
Different debtors, different flows
You can segment reminders by (risk) group. It helps if you already know who the customer is and how creditworthy they are. Authentication supports pre-checks and segmentation. And with segmentation, you can tailor your payment flows more effectively. For example, give returning customers a softer reminder process than new ones. Long-term customers might only be cut off after three reminders, while new customers could be stopped after just one.
You can also tailor the reminder format and payment method to each group. Students and young starters may prefer to receive their invoice by email, pay afterward, and get reminders via SMS. Young professionals, on the other hand, want minimal hassle and prefer automatic debits. Older customers might still prefer a printed invoice by post. These are generalizations, of course—but they highlight that each audience can benefit from a personalized payment flow.
Credit Management is an end-to-end solution. From solid authentication up front to customer-friendly follow-up. It helps you streamline debtor management, reduce manual tasks, and increase collection rates.
Questions about our Credit Management solution? We’re happy to offer a no-obligation consultation to discuss your needs.
