I used to help my university with alumni fundraising, and they advised that unless you personally know someone, don’t call them; no one answers. Just send an email or a text. That made me wonder, does anyone actually make phone calls for collections?

Consumers don’t want to be cornered by a collections call or shamed by a voicemail. They want privacy, speed, and control over how they resolve their payments – and so does the staff on the other end.

That’s where Eltropy Texting stepped in as a game-changing solution that turns collections into a smarter, faster, and non-confrontational experience. 

In the recent episode of the CU 2.0 podcast, Lisa Weinstein, VP of Member Relations at Virginia Credit Union, revealed how Eltropy Texting has revolutionized their collections, boosting response rates, making payments faster, and empowering staff to collect more while maintaining positive member relationships.

Here’s the full story, in Lisa’s own words, proof that collections don’t have to be confrontational to be effective.

Why Texting Outperforms Calls and Emails

Robert: Why do you think texting works well for collections?

Lisa: No one wants to be delinquent. People don’t want someone calling them and saying, “You’re late.” Texting is a non-confrontational form of communication that just makes it easier, and people don’t have to feel bad. They know it’s an automated message, and they can make the payment on their own.

If someone is long overdue, we’ll still reach out by phone, but overall, Texting feels far more effective than mail, email, or call.

Quick and Seamless Implementation

Robert: How was Eltropy Texting implemented?

Lisa: We’re very methodical when evaluating the solution. The team was excited, and it was pretty easy after we got through all the basic contract and the vendor management to get the teams on board and learn how to use the solution.

Integrating it with our LOS system made it even easier; our team can now work in one system instead of two. Overall, it was seamless and fast; we had it up and running in three months. 

Robert: Did you consider other products before implementing Eltropy?

Lisa: Absolutely. We always review several options before choosing a solution, but Eltropy stood out. We specifically use Eltropy for texting and chat, integrated directly into our collection system. So, it’s not the Eltropy self-collection system; we just use the integration within our system. 

Because of this setup, Eltropy drives the texting and the collection side of the house. The texting is integrated into the collection system, and the collection system is integrated into our core system, and both communicate seamlessly.

Robert: Did you pilot this before rolling it out?

Lisa: Yes, we piloted in small batches. We’ve done that with the texting solution across all of our platforms, not just collections. We would test different scenarios and hypotheses at any given time. We always start with a smaller population, review the results, and then decide whether to move forward. And this one was a no-brainer for us.

In under 30 days, we could already see that it was working, people were responding, making payments – it was faster and more efficient than the phone calls.

Automated Campaigns and Smart Messaging

Robert: Does the system handle the planning and decision-making for you?

Lisa: Well, it definitely calculates how many days a member is late and when they should be contacted next. It summarizes and makes assumptions for the teams to help put the members in their queues. I don’t live in their space every day, but I do know that they have queues that they work through, so I know it aligns them effectively.

Robert: Who writes the text messages? Does the system do it, or do employees?

Lisa: We send texts out using the campaign feature in Eltropy, and we also use our RPA process (robotic process automation), where we pull the data from our systems, and it goes into Eltropy to send as a mass campaign message. 

Initially, we created the message, and then it’s a templated message that we send to every member. It calculates and knows the details – how many days late they are, their payment amount, and how they can make the payment. It’s a standard template we’ve used for quite a while. We send anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple thousand messages a day, depending on the time of the month.

Robert: Are you sending out more collection notices now?

Lisa: It really depends on the environment; it’s cyclical. When the economy is good and people are working, we tend to have fewer delinquencies. When things get harder or more expensive, delinquencies rise. So the volume ebbs and flows.

But I would say on average, we’re sending a few hundred to a few thousand messages a day, just reminding members to make their payments. While we use the campaign process to send texts, our reps can also interact and text back and forth if a member responds. We try to make it easy. They can freeform write, but we mostly use templates for efficiency and speed.