Chaser news & blog

Chaser shortlisted for Management Today Best use of innovation award

Written by Amaya Woods | 16 Mar, '23

I am thrilled to share that Chaser has been shortlisted at the Management Today Business Leadership Awards 2023 for the Best use of innovation in business award. Chaser was shortlisted for this innovation award for the SMS payment reminder feature released in 2022.

The Management Today Business Leadership Awards acknowledge the vital role of leadership in enhancing business performance and highlight the significance of leadership as a collective effort. This is the only award ceremony that honours exceptional leadership skills in driving a company's success.

Being shortlisted for this award is a testament to Chaser's leadership and the continued focus on producing innovative solutions to help solve end-user needs: 

Winning one of these awards shows, not only, that you are a high-performing company, but that your performance is driven by the superior quality of your senior leaders and managers. In short, you are a great place to work that also delivers for its customers, and for the bottom line.

- Management Today Business Leadership Awards

 

Best use of innovation

Chaser’s accounts receivable software was developed in 2014 to help reduce late payments and their negative impacts on SMEs. Our mission is to help businesses worldwide get paid in an efficient and friendly way so they improve cash flow. 

Today, Chaser is the highest-rated accounts receivable software and has supported businesses in chasing and recovering over $5bn each year in late payments. In 2022, we added SMS payment reminders and direct debit payments to our end-to-end receivables automation software.

Chaser provides accounts receivable automation and credit control services to businesses globally, helping them to reduce late payments and get invoices paid in the most efficient and friendly way possible.

We champion a human approach to accounts receivables automation, so users can get paid what they’re owed without damaging their customer relationships. 

Chaser helps businesses get paid sooner with its award-winning all-in-one credit control automation platform, payment gateway, debt collections agency, and outsourced credit control services. 

Since 2014 Chaser has focused on letting users follow up on payments with automated email reminders. Whilst email reminders alone had been effective in helping users to chase and recover $32 billion in late payments and speed-up collections, industry research highlighted the potential for a new channel to improve payment collection rates even further.

In an ideal world, invoices would get paid on time. However, in the average month, 48% of all invoices issued are paid late (Xero). With the average business owed $300,000 in late payments (QuickBooks), finance teams need to do what they can to ensure that their payment reminders get noticed and customers can pay their invoices easily.

On average, people receive double the number of emails per day than they do SMS messages. Due to the sheer volume of emails customers receive daily, payment reminders via email can sometimes get overlooked. In fact, the average open rate for emails is just 25%.

SMS messages on the other hand have an open rate of 98% (Tyntec), meaning payment reminders sent via SMS are far more likely to get noticed and to result in invoices getting paid.

In response to industry research and user issues faced, Chaser released the SMS payment reminder so users can reach out to customers about payments in the most effective way possible and get invoices paid faster.

With the launch of SMS payment reminders, Chaser users can now credit check, monitor debtors, chase late invoices via both email and SMS, let customers pay them instantly from their phone, recover debt and reconcile accounts, all in the same unique platform.

Fully automated

  • Users benefit from both saved time and faster payments at the touch of a button, as SMS payment reminders are completely automated. 
  • With Chaser’s advanced custom scheduling technology, now available across two channels (email and SMS) users can automatically send SMS reminders alongside email payment reminders, on the intervals, times and days that they choose.

Seamless payments for customers

  • Customers can pay invoices instantly, directly from their phone. Reducing payment friction and helping Chaser users get paid faster.
  • SMS payment reminders can link recipients to their Payment Portal via a mini-URL. This portal gives customers varied options (direct debit, transfer, card payment, pay-all, request payment plan, dispute) and means customers can make payment via their chosen method whilst on the go, straight from their phone.

Always personalised 

  • Every automated SMS payment reminder looks like it has come directly from the sender, so customers are more likely to take notice and pay.
  • At Chaser we champion personalisation, and let users automate their accounts receivables without losing the human touch. Just like Chaser’s email reminders, SMS messages can be customised to help users get paid faster whilst maintaining great customer relationships. 
  • SMS reminders use automatic personalisation fields (like business name, due date, invoice amount), and fully editable SMS templates that reflect the business’ usual language and style of communication with customers.

SMS payment reminders have been released to users in UK, US, and Australian businesses since February 2022. The feature has already delivered superior results for users in terms of payment collection rates.

Management Today Business Leadership Awards 2023

For more than five decades, Management Today has been the go-to media brand that brings together business leaders. Through their award-winning print magazine, energizing live events, and outstanding awards programs, Management Today leads the conversation with disruptive and innovative organizations, as well as the inspiring individuals behind them.

Management Today understands the things that motivate and challenge leaders, from strategic growth to sustainability, and engages with them using knowledge, passion, and authority. Their conversations with leaders reflect their commitment to understanding their needs and providing insightful commentary on the latest industry developments. As a result, Management Today offers a platform for business leaders to connect and gain inspiration from one another.

We are delighted to have Chaser's SMS payment reminders feature recognised by such a prestigious award, and look forward to the 

The Business Leadership Awards 2023 shortlist can be viewed here. Winners will be announced on April 27th on the Management Today website.