Serrala at the Credit Expo

It's time for the biggest event for the credit management sector in the Netherlands: the Credit Expo. This year's Credit Expo is all about High Performance: a pragmatic management method that allows you to achieve significantly better results by working smarter.

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I am convinced we only really need one app. One-app-for-everything and everything-in-one-app. And the best part is that everyone has already installed it.

Dealing with bills is a commodity: it has to happen, and preferably with as little fuss as possible. Since the start of AcceptEmail - now 8 years ago – we are convinced that people are not looking for yet another app or to register, just to pay a bill. AcceptEmail simply uses an app that is ubiquitous: the inbox. Whatever inbox that is. For most people that would be email, but it can also be Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Because of the reach of email it makes the most sense to use this channel for the bulk of your payment requests. Everyone has an email app on his phone and most customers check their inbox several times a day. Sometimes reaching out to customers across multiple channels can be useful, as we also demonstrated on our Show and Tell presentation at DIA Barcelona. For example, sending a SMS or Whatsapp if an email remains unopened. This will prompt the customer to pay. 

Forget about building your own app, it’s all about one-app-for-everything and everything-in-one-app

Exactly that is what KLM Royal Dutch Airlines also does. Instead of pulling customers to the website or app, they go wherever their customers are (*). The average customer has no need to visit the website regularly or to download the app. And even if they do, they will never use it. Figures show that of all apps that someone uses, they only use 5 on a daily basis, which mainly are chat apps. Chances are that there are many companies that miss out on revenue because of this. With this in mind Facebook has recently turned Messenger into more than just a chat service. KLM is now giving passengers the option to receive their booking confirmation or boarding pass through Messenger. 

We see more and more companies that use a variety of channels to communicate with customers, including sending out payment requests. And why would you not? Customers already have these apps installed, and with that one app you're don’t get overlooked by the customer. This illustrates exactly what the future looks like regarding paying bills. Sending a secured payment link via Twitter or Whatsapp is already possible. We are usually ahead of the music, especially with this application, but now it really starts rolling. This development can be useful for webcare teams who send payment requests to customers while they are talking to them via Twitter or Whatsapp. The customer only needs to click and pay, just as always, all from within the same app.

While Europeans are still downloading one app after the other, the Chinese are doing it differently nowadays with all-in-one-apps*. With that one app you can arrange everything, from ordering your groceries to making payments to chatting with friends and family and companies. Big advantage: you only need one or at the most three apps. Companies that do not adapt to this development will be forgotten about quickly because they are no longer in sight of the customer who only uses this one app (*source: FD, 25 August 2016). 

Jeroen Dekker
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Jeroen Dekker
Jeroen Dekker joined Serrala Solutions in 2016 after 15 years at international B2B software companies as bridge between market(ing) and product. He was product manager and spokesperson for the Financial Crime Risk Management Solutions of Fiserv. Jeroen holds degrees from the Haarlem Business School and Northern Arizona University.

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