Many professional’s email inboxes get flooded with spam emails, so many that they struggle to find their most important emails among the masses. Due to these mass email blasts that so many accounting professionals have to fish through, accounts receivable departments are seeing issues in getting their important collection emails opened and read. There are a few ways to combat this, and one way is to use a trick that many marketers have been using and seeing success with for years: personalization.Studies have shown that customers are more likely to interact with an email if there is more personalization in the email. According to Statista, the open rate for emails with a personalized message was 17.6%, compared to 11.4% without personalization. These marketing statistics are also transferrable to your accounts receivable collection emails.

Below are some ways you can add personalization to your collection emails.

  • Include your customer’s name in the subject line. A study from HubSpot shows that emails included the first name of the recipient in their subject line had higher rates of taking action than emails that did not.
  • Use a greeting with the customer’s name at the beginning of your email
  • Make sure the email you are sending is relevant to your customer. If you’re sending out a mass email blast to remind the customer to pay upcoming invoices, be sure they have an outstanding invoice to pay.
  • Use personal language. You don’t want your emails to sound like they are coming from a robot, such as “Please remit payment to Your Company for invoice #1234”. Consider using friendlier language, such as “Hope you are doing well! This is a friendly reminder that invoice #1234 will be due on Sept. 1. Let me know if you have any questions!”
  • Be aware of what time you are sending your emails. If you know a customer in a different time zone will be receiving the email when they are not even in the office yet, wait to send it.
  • Give them an easy way to make payment on their invoices, like a personalized payment portal.

By using these personalization tricks in your collection email, customers will be more likely to recognize that this is an important email, not just spam. Once they read the personalized email, they will be more likely to take action and make a payment on their open invoices. Additionally, they may even begin recognizing your emails in the future and making sure they open they open them.