Bacs showcases successful London-wide marketing campaign at IRRV 2010
Harrogate International Centre (HIC), 28 September to 1 October 2010
Bacs Payment Schemes Ltd (Bacs) will be showcasing how local authorities can work together through collective marketing to deliver significant cost savings at this year’s Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation (IRRV) annual conference, 28 Sept – 1 Oct 2010, Harrogate.
To demonstrate the power of collective marketing to local authorities, Bacs, the organisation behind Direct Debit, will highlight its work with The London Revenues Group and 20 of the group’s local authority members. The London-wide collaborative council tax prize draw promotion helped to increase Direct Debit conversion rates by as much as 600% and generated significant cost savings for each council, simply by encouraging council tax customers to switch to this method of payment.
Mike Hutchinson, head of marketing at Bacs, said: “The success of this campaign has proven the value of local authorities joining forces for marketing programmes, both in terms of efficiency and cost savings. The conversion of a council tax payer from cash or cheque onto Direct Debit typically can save a council £10 per conversion per year, but despite this clear saving potential, Direct Debit penetration rates vary dramatically across the country.”
Bacs will also use the IRRV conference to brief the local authority sector on some important operational changes that will alter Direct Debit administrative processes. These will include updates and deadlines relating to the automation of the Direct Debit indemnity claim process, which will see one of the few remaining paper based Direct Debit processes become automated from October 2010. By the end of April 2011 all banks will be using the new automated process so it is vital local authorities are ready for this change.
Other key insights from Bacs will include changes made to the Direct Debit Guarantee and the approaching deadline by which all organisations must have applied new wording to relevant materials. This change is a requirement of the Direct Debit Scheme Rules, so critical for all local authorities to address.
Local authorities can also visit the stand to arrange 1:1 consultancy sessions with a Bacs expert and receive free bespoke advice on how to drive Direct Debit take-up, reduce unpaid transactions and address regional challenges they may face.
Bacs representatives will be available on stand 15 at the IRRV 2010 conference to discuss the London campaign and other general advice about promoting Direct Debit.
For further information about Bacs’ Marketing Centre of Excellence and the wide range of advice and tools available please visit: www.bacs.co.uk/marketingdirectdebit.