Accelerating Vodafone’s collections with over-the-phone payment

Read how the introduction of VCC Live Pay enabled Vodafone to convert almost half of all its late payments to over-the-phone transactions within just one year.

Vodafone is one of the world’s largest providers of telecommunications, broadband, and television services. The company wanted to find a better solution for managing their customers’ overdue payments and to reduce the time spent by agents having to contact customers regarding collections.

Recognizing the need for quicker collections

Vodafone wanted to develop a more efficient debt collection process for customers with overdue payments. Previously, their debt their process comprised two stages:

• Agents contacted customers via telephone, SMS, or email, to remind them of overdue payments and to agree on a payment plan (“promise”). 
• Customers completed the payment (“promise kept”) and the provider’s services (if they had been restricted) were reactivated.

The most common methods for customers settling debts were by paying online, bank transfer, or cheque. However, Vodafone’s KPI results showed that the majority of customers failed to keep ‘promises’. As such, they needed to be repeatedly contacted which generated significant work for agents. 

Vodafone began to think of ways to streamline their collection process while also introducing efficient communication and payment methods. Before setting out to find a solution, they agreed on three key considerations:

• Customers must be given the ability to pay during a call – regardless of the device they’re using
• Financial information must remain secure at all times – and must not be kept, recorded, or handled by anyone other than the customer
• Any new function to receive payment must be cost effective – with minimum implementation or development time required

An immediate, over-the-phone payment solution

As VCC Live was already Vodafone’s cloud contact center software partner, our dedicated account management team was soon made aware of the customer organization’s objectives.

VCC Live Pay – our PCI DSS certified solution – was implemented for Vodafone as part of their existing contact center software. It allowed for immediate card payments during phone conversations via input from the customer’s keypad, thereby enabling agents to facilitate their dual-stage debt collection process in just one call. A short online payment link can also be sent via SMS or email, giving further flexibility for immediate payments. 

As VCC Live Pay holds PCI DSS and ISO certification for bank card data processing, we were able to guarantee the highest levels of information and data security without the need for Vodafone (including its operators and third-party partners) to acquire any new certifications. What’s more, as VCC Live Pay is part of our cloud-based contact center software, no additional investment or implementation is required.

More and more customers choosing to pay during calls

Vodafone announced the new over-the-phone payment feature to customers via email, SMS, and website. Alongside this campaign, agents were asked to begin mentioning the feature during customer calls concerning overdue payments. As a result, 18% of overdue customers paid their debts immediately during a single phone call.

In light of this success, Vodafone reduced their repayment options to 1) over the phone using VCC Live Pay, or 2) online payment via their website. Within just one year, 43% of payments were made during customer calls.

The volume of customer calls regarding payments has significantly decreased thereby reducing a huge burden for agents and Vodafone’s “Promise Kept Rate” KPI continually improved. As awareness of the feature grew, the number of customers proactively contacting Vodafone to settle debts before falling into arrears has significantly increased.