Over the past few weeks we have brought you a series of blogs commenting on the importance of digitizing customer communications and the impact this has on the customer experience. We specifically focussed on the digitalisation of invoices and how tools such as QR codes can help your customers to pay their bills easier and faster.
In last week’s blog ‘How do you introduce new payment methods to your customers?’, we covered how you should take your customers by the hand when you introduce new payment methods and initiate this process by proactively using your different communication channels such as your website, newsletter and social media.
We also briefly touched upon one of the biggest barriers that hold back customers from paying bills swiftly, which is the credibility of the brand and how you can reassure your customers. In today’s blog we delve deeper into this topic as we show you how you can win the trust of your customers.
Credibility and authenticity
When it comes to digital invoices and transactions online, customers are often wary of the authenticity of the invoice and the intentions of its sender. It’s key you acknowledge these worries but at the same time reassure your customers that the credibility of your own invoices is genuine. You can show that you are on top of the matter and are ready to support them by providing your customers with a checklist of things to verify when they doubt the authenticity of a digital invoice. Here are a few pointers to give to your customers:
1. Verify the sender
If customers receive an email from a peculiar email address, chances are it’s a phishing attempt. They can recognise a fake email address just like they can recognise a faulty web link. So for your own sake, make sure your customers know which email address they can trust.
2. Check the provider’s company information
Advise your customers to look for a company logo in the communication. Does the look-and-feel and lay-out correspond with those of the communications they usually receive? A company address, phone number or a web link which leads to a customer service portal, are also indications that the communication is trustworthy.
3. Is the website link secure?
If a customer is guided to a webpage via a link, he or she should check to see if the web page is secure. Secure websites can be recognised by the letter combination ‘https://’. The ‘S’ stands for secure or safe.
4. Take the time to read
In case of a payment request, it’s important to take the time to read through the communication carefully. What is asked specifically? What are the payment details and what steps are to be taken to complete the transaction?
5. Verify the invoice information
Always double-check the payment details on the invoice. See if the amount is correct, as well as the expiration date,account number and the beneficiary? Is there an invoice notification to fill in?
6. Look for quality marks
Real invoices always contain logos of legitimate payment partners, so advise your customers to be on the look-out for logos from for example Bancontact, iDeal, itspaid, Payconiq etc. These are certified and trustworthy payment partners.
7. Grammatical errors
Phishing emails often contain grammatical errors.
8. Damaging attachments
Email attachments often contain malware. Caution is advised with the following file types:
- Zip-files can be used to cover possible damaging content, often an .exe program file.
- .exe files are small programs and almost always harmful in this context.
- Beware of .js .lnk .wsf .scr and .jar files. Never open them. They can contain scripts that download malware.
- .doc files or Word documents. Under normal circumstances they are not dangerous, but never enable macros when the files asks you to do so after opening. Only open these files when you know and trust the sender.
Next week’s blog is our last one in this series. Tune in to learn more about the importance of quality customer follow-up and how measuring customer happiness can help to further improve the customer experience and boost customer loyalty. The blog will also contain a wrap-up of this series, so be sure to check it out. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when our blogs appear online.
Over the past few weeks we have brought you a series of blogs commenting on the importance of digitizing customer communications and the impact this has on the customer experience. We specifically focussed on the digitalisation of invoices and how tools such as QR codes can help your customers to pay their bills easier and faster.
In last week’s blog ‘How do you introduce new payment methods to your customers?’, we covered how you should take your customers by the hand when you introduce new payment methods and initiate this process by proactively using your different communication channels such as your website, newsletter and social media.
We also briefly touched upon one of the biggest barriers that hold back customers from paying bills swiftly, which is the credibility of the brand and how you can reassure your customers. In today’s blog we delve deeper into this topic as we show you how you can win the trust of your customers.
Credibility and authenticity
When it comes to digital invoices and transactions online, customers are often wary of the authenticity of the invoice and the intentions of its sender. It’s key you acknowledge these worries but at the same time reassure your customers that the credibility of your own invoices is genuine. You can show that you are on top of the matter and are ready to support them by providing your customers with a checklist of things to verify when they doubt the authenticity of a digital invoice. Here are a few pointers to give to your customers:
1. Verify the sender
If customers receive an email from a peculiar email address, chances are it’s a phishing attempt. They can recognise a fake email address just like they can recognise a faulty web link. So for your own sake, make sure your customers know which email address they can trust.
2. Check the provider’s company information
Advise your customers to look for a company logo in the communication. Does the look-and-feel and lay-out correspond with those of the communications they usually receive? A company address, phone number or a web link which leads to a customer service portal, are also indications that the communication is trustworthy.
3. Is the website link secure?
If a customer is guided to a webpage via a link, he or she should check to see if the web page is secure. Secure websites can be recognised by the letter combination ‘https://’. The ‘S’ stands for secure or safe.
4. Take the time to read
In case of a payment request, it’s important to take the time to read through the communication carefully. What is asked specifically? What are the payment details and what steps are to be taken to complete the transaction?
5. Verify the invoice information
Always double-check the payment details on the invoice. See if the amount is correct, as well as the expiration date,account number and the beneficiary? Is there an invoice notification to fill in?
6. Look for quality marks
Real invoices always contain logos of legitimate payment partners, so advise your customers to be on the look-out for logos from for example Bancontact, iDeal, itspaid, Payconiq etc. These are certified and trustworthy payment partners.
7. Grammatical errors
Phishing emails often contain grammatical errors.
8. Damaging attachments
Email attachments often contain malware. Caution is advised with the following file types:
- Zip-files can be used to cover possible damaging content, often an .exe program file.
- .exe files are small programs and almost always harmful in this context.
- Beware of .js .lnk .wsf .scr and .jar files. Never open them. They can contain scripts that download malware.
- .doc files or Word documents. Under normal circumstances they are not dangerous, but never enable macros when the files asks you to do so after opening. Only open these files when you know and trust the sender.
Next week’s blog is our last one in this series. Tune in to learn more about the importance of quality customer follow-up and how measuring customer happiness can help to further improve the customer experience and boost customer loyalty. The blog will also contain a wrap-up of this series, so be sure to check it out. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when our blogs appear online.
