Billing and collections can sometimes feel like you’re navigating your accounts receivable with a blindfold on, unsure when crucial payments will land. You know what’s in the mail stream – Expresso® Mail Tracking tracks and reports the status of each mailed communication as it moves through the U.S. Postal System. Now you can know exactly when mailed payments will reach you, with Expresso® Inbound Mail Tracking.
A clear view of your incoming payments is the linchpin of proactive cash forecasting, the essential tool that helps you anticipate and sidestep potential financial turbulence.
A Growing need for inbound tracking
A surprising number of customer payments still arrive at businesses or company lockboxes via the mail:
- 17% of consumers mail payments for regular household expenses including mortgage and utility bills after receiving a statement (InstaMed)
- 30% of Americans pay medical bills using a check in the mail, a number that increases for households with children and to specialty providers and services (Flywire)
Considering that the USPS lowered its on-time delivery target for first-class mail from 93% to 87% this year, knowing what’s coming and when is more important than ever.
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Here’s how Expresso Inbound Mail Tracking works: When you release a file for print production, a unique USPS Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) is generated during statement file processing. The IMb prints as part of the address block for Outbound Mail Tracking and as part of the remit address on the payment coupon for Inbound Tracking.
The IMb is visible through the windows of the mailing and reply envelopes and it is scanned by USPS at various points, including the mail’s acceptance at the post office, transit and delivery. That barcode returns information to Nordis, which is loaded into the Expresso database and is available for viewing or compiling reports. An integrated process verifies outbound and inbound scans so users can rely on the data they receive.
Using Inbound Mail Tracking requires having Outbound Mail Tracking in place, as that’s how the IMb is triggered. As it’s collected, the Outbound Mail Tracking data is available in Expresso, but it’s up to you whether or not you choose to view it. All mail tracking data is accessible from your Expresso dashboard.
Communication advantage
From a CX vantage point, Expresso’s end-to-end mail tracking capability allows you to better communicate with your customers. Operationally, it ensures a more efficient workflow and is an essential tool to help monitor and measure cash flow.
With Inbound Mail Tracking, you can:
- Accurately project accounts receivable with daily forecasts.
- Use in conjunction with suppression lists.
- Help time when to send remittance reminders.
- Know when to apply late fees.
- Know when to pause or suspend the costly adverse action communications process because you can see that the check is in the mail.
Capture new insights with reporting options
With Expresso’s piece-level tracking screen, you can run reports on inbound mail using the Expresso job ID number or access information by account number. View all the scan activity on each piece or see an analysis of the information. Nordis can help you set up a variety of mail tracking reports that meet your needs.
A report on the most recent inbound and outbound scans for a particular record can give you insights into the performance of the postal service, the performance of your communication, including net collection rate and cost to collect, and the performance of mail channel versus digital channels. You can see how many inbound mail pieces are in the system daily and track how channel usage varies historically.
Clients interested in implementing the optional inbound Mail Tracking feature should contact us or their Client Success Manager for more information or to initiate the change process.
