John works for an organization as a case manager for overdue accounts. His job is to process cases in which a client is due for payment, ensure that they do not miss their payment dates, and to follow up with them if they do. However, John also needs to manually deal with cases in which the client has been reached out to several times without response, check on payment statuses, and do numerous other things with his time. The reminders must be done on a case-by-case basis, and the workload is mounting as more cases are created.
The further you investigate the situation, the more manual tasks come up that take up John’s time. Before you know it, John has entire days’ worth of his work week taken up in the reminder process, and some cases have been forgotten or misplaced. Some clients have even complained about receiving reminders despite having made a payment. The more clients that become a part of the system, the harder John and case managers like him must work to keep track of all the moving pieces and still have time to perform the rest of their duties.
In this digital era, the tools exist that could alleviate a lot of these problems, as well as eliminate some of the capacity for human error on accounts. Efficiency can be increased and John can be given more time to handle accounts that require manual interaction. Rather than hiring more staff and increasing the likelihood that John’s department could make mistakes or be overburdened with cases, automating the reminder process allows them to take a small part of the process off their plate and focus on the more complex or difficult tasks. An automated invoicing and reminder system will do just that.
We have built an easy four-step process for building such a solution for you to try out.
Shall we begin?
Setting up an Automated Invoicing and Reminder Solution
Step 1: Build your client database
Without a client database, none of your messages can be sent, much less personalized for each client and your accounts remain unpaid. You must have information readily available in your client database to begin sending invoices. Key pieces of information include the client’s name, contact information, and invoice amounts. You can set up a web form for new clients, and upload your existing client list as a file, or through integrations. When you go to create personalized invoices and send reminders, the messages will pull relevant information from your client database to personalize the messages and make it more likely that clients will interact with them. This is the most crucial step in your process, as each step from this point on will build on a correctly organized client database.
Step 2: Personalize message templates
Personalized messages have been shown to be opened more. So, it makes sense that you want all your messages personalized to maximize the chances that the client will remember their bill coming due, right? Message templates should be set up in your solution, connected to the central database, so that they can include specific, case related information and personal details. This minimizes the chances of your messages being ignored and provides a variable that makes it harder for scammers to replicate. The message can include a digital, downloadable copy of the invoice, as well as the client’s name, current service, product details, and other pertinent information. Your solution should include a low code, drag-and-drop editor that allows you to make changes that are visually enticing and consistent with your brand. It should also be scalable and allow you to create multiple templates that you can send to distinct groups of clients.
Step 3: Attach the invoice
The digital, downloadable invoice will need a place to be stored depending on the type of message you are sending. It will also have to be attached to that message in some way. An ideal solution would allow you to put the file on an email or allow the client to click a button and be directed to the invoice. Likewise, a link in an SMS message would work. This will allow the digital invoice to be downloaded for the client’s record keeping purposes. If you notice in your reports that clients are not downloading their invoices, it might be best to let them know that for record keeping purposes, best practices include keeping those files for a certain amount of time. A message of this variety can be automated as well.
Step 4: Automate reminders
An ideal solution will not just be able to send invoices, but also reminder messages based on time delays, client input, and details on individual client profiles. This allows you to completely automate your reminder process until you have no choice but to manually intervene in specific client cases. The solution can also automatically create a task in the client database, letting you know exactly when a case requires intervention.
This looks useful! What now?
This automated process is more than possible to build, but you might be worrying about the number of services you would have to pay for and set up to do all of this. Furthermore, if you were to build this solution yourself, it would take up a lot of time. Avoiding that and being more efficient with your time was the whole objective of looking into such a solution!
What can you do then, to achieve the benefits that the solution provides?
SimplyCast anticipated these issues and built a platform that incorporates all the tools you need to implement this solution in one place. With in-house technology, we streamlined all the tools you need and connected them together to provide an automated invoicing and reminder system that is versatile and scalable.
The best part is that since the tools are all connected, there is only a single monthly bill to worry about and will cost less than if you purchased each tool independently.
Our solution is 100 percent ready to go and fully customizable based on your needs. Depending on your business requirements, our consultants can help you design a perfect invoicing and reminder system using our automated invoicing and reminder solution.
Why wait? Speak to our experts today! Click the button below to request a demo of the solution today!
