Choosing a channel, and what each one is good for
- Email — the default. Carries the invoice, creates a written trail.
- Phone — best for anything over a few thousand dollars or past 30 days.
- SMS — high response rate, requires consent, keep it short and never hostile.
- Portal — lets the customer self-serve documents and history.
- Letter — rare, but signals seriousness for aged commercial balances.
Consent, opt-outs and keeping messaging clean
Calling and texting customers about money is regulated, and the rules differ by jurisdiction and channel. Practical baseline: only text people who agreed to be texted, honour opt-outs immediately and permanently, keep messages relevant to the transaction, and keep a record of when and how consent was captured.
This is also a deliverability question. Messaging that gets marked as unwanted damages your ability to reach every other customer, including the ones who want to pay.
Escalation that is a policy rather than a mood
- Define the trigger: an age threshold, a second broken promise, or an unanswered dispute.
- Define the step: who makes the call, and what changes about the message.
- Define the pause: new work for that customer, deposit requirements going forward.
- Define the end: when it becomes a write-off decision or goes to your advisers.
- Apply it consistently, because inconsistency is what customers learn from.