Many businesses are putting more resources into being empathetic with customers. Not only is it a cornerstone consumer trend, empathy can be a strong competitive advantage when done right. The debt collection industry is no exception, authentic empathy has shown to improve recovery rates while retaining brand loyalty.
As empathy has become more essential, there have been more instances of it being manufactured or faked. In this blog post, we’re going to break down the cost of faking empathy and what authentic understanding looks like in debt collection.
What Does Fake Empathy Look Like?
To fully understand the concept of faking empathy, let’s walk through a relatable example. Have you ever ordered a coffee and gotten a personalized handwritten note from the barista on the cup? It makes many people feel special, and it was a key element of Starbucks’ empathy-driven experience in its early days.
Fast-forward to 2025, and the coffee giant made it a policy to write a note for every customer. The only way to do this fast enough was to write more generic messages on all the cups in advance. The magic of those personalized notes disappeared because the personalization and authenticity were gone. There was customer backlash on social media, with many people commenting how the chain lost some of its authentic charm. It’s a lesson that shows when empathy is forced or faked, it often doesn’t have the same impact.
The same principle holds true when applied to debt collection. If the extent of the empathy being shown feels forced, many consumers can see through it. And one of the most common places where fake empathy occurs is with AI chatbots.
The Cost of Fake Empathy and AI Chatbots
AI chatbots continue to grow in popularity to address consumer issues in the debt collection industry. The problem is that some AI chatbots practice what’s called “scripted empathy”. It’s when a chatbot uses a more generic statement like “I understand that’s difficult” as a blanket response for consumer issues.
A University of South Florida study found that these fake empathy responses from AI chatbots actually worsen consumer reactions. In fact, the same study found that 73% of consumers will disengage with a brand that fakes empathy. For debt collectors, that means fewer recoveries and potentially losing consumers for good. This research highlights that consumer expectations for empathy being practiced by businesses is high, and isn’t something that can be forced.
The core theme isn’t that AI chatbots can’t be effective, but that empathy that makes a positive impact takes investing time to gain a better understanding of consumers. A good place to start is working towards understanding each consumer’s unique preferences. And there are other ways AI technology can be used to accomplish that goal in debt collection outside of chatbots.
How TrueAccord Uses AI in Debt Collection to Offer Empathy
TrueAccord puts empathy in the center of all debt collection efforts, some of which is built invisibly into the process instead of explicitly empathetic in content. With a patented machine learning engine, TrueAccord gains a better understanding of each individual consumer’s unique preferences. By using millions of data points as a reference, the technology finds the right message, channel and time for contacting each consumer. Empathy isn’t just saying the right words, it can be meeting consumers where they are most comfortable, too.
Another way TrueAccord provides an empathetic, consumer-first experience is by offering a self-service portal. Roughly 98% of TrueAccord customers resolve their debt through self-service, bypassing financial discussions that make many people stressed or nervous. More consumers than ever before prefer self-service options to resolve financial obligations and want to be contacted through digital channels. By better understanding and catering to the preferences of each consumer, TrueAccord creates a consumer-centric experience that helps people find the best low friction way forward.
The Future of Empathy in Debt Collection
Some businesses make the mistake of putting all their empathy efforts into tools that don’t offer personalized experiences. Empathy can be infused into more aspects of the debt collection industry other than front-facing tools like chatbots. It’s likely that as empathy becomes even more important to consumers, businesses will need to offer more personalization. For the debt collection industry, it will likely mean offering more convenient ways to view important account information and streamlining the repayment process.
TrueAccord Brings Authentic Empathy to Debt Collection
TrueAccord is a premier collections agency that offers high recovery performance with a consumer-centric approach. Our first-party and third-party collection services help businesses put consumers first, so that every repayment makes a difference. Contact our team today to learn more about how we strike the right balance between high-performance and empathy.