How Feefo won back 90+ hours per month & reduced invoices 31+ days overdue by 26%
Feefo’s review platform helps businesses and consumers make better decisions based on authentic customer feedback. The company faced significant challenges in their Accounts Receivable process, relying on a highly manual process that wasn’t fit to scale with the company. Jamie Tinsley, Credit Control Manager at Feefo, reveals how transitioning to Upflow has optimized their AR process and bolstered the company’s financial health.
Jamie Tinsley
Credit Control Manager
26%
decrease in the value of invoices 31+ days overdue in less than a year (Dec 2023 to Nov 2024)
92
hours saved per month (11.5 working days) thanks to automated follow-up in Upflow
140%
collected vs billed in April 2024
Mission statement
Feefo’s review platform helps businesses and consumers make better decisions based on authentic customer feedback.
FTEs
150
Industry
Customer review platform
Offices
London, Petersfield, Boston, Melbourne
Stack integrated with Upflow:
NetSuite
Challenges before Upflow
Feefo wanted to extend their AR capabilities to further streamline invoicing and communications with their customers.
Relying on spreadsheets for tracking actions was complicating record-keeping, taking up hours of the team’s time on a daily basis and causing delays in payment collections.
This inefficiency strained customer relationships, especially with new clients. Jamie described the customer experience: “From the customer's perspective, they had nothing to pay. From our perspective they did have something outstanding. And so the first contact with us was often ‘this invoice is overdue’, which is not a great first contact, especially if it is a new customer”.
Jamie summarized: “We were getting bogged down in the manual tasks. Our debtor days or DSO was climbing and it was proving a bit of a challenge to keep on top of it”.
Our debtor days or DSO was climbing and it was proving a bit of a challenge to keep on top of it.
Why Feefo chose Upflow
The search for a robust AR management system led Feefo to Upflow, which promised comprehensive, easy-to-implement workflows and automation.
Jamie appreciated Upflow’s CRM-like features that automatically logged customer interactions, allowing team members to stay updated on client communications without hassle.
“The ‘CRM’ side of what Upflow offered in terms of keeping up to date notes on customers and having every single interaction automatically recorded was really appealing”, noted Jamie. “That was something I was predominantly looking for, and I was pushing for a platform that could help us keep everything up to date so we all knew where we were. If other people in the company needed to look in and see what was happening with certain customers, then they could. We were really looking for a system to go beyond just automation and help us manage our relationships with customers too”.
As NetSuite users, Feefo wanted to ensure any AR tool they selected would integrate seamlessly. With a proven native integration, Upflow fit the bill and has seen Feefo easily adopt a workflow where new customers in NetSuite are automatically assigned to specific processes in Upflow, improving organization and reducing manual work.
We were really looking for a system to go beyond just automation and help us manage our relationships with customers too.
Feefo's favorite Upflow features
Smart Rules and Automation: Upflow simplifies assigning customers to follow-up workflows based on customer specifics imported from NetSuite, which has minimized manual interventions for the team at Feefo.
Intuitive User Interface: Upflow users at Feefo find the platform user-friendly, with everything organized logically, improving task efficiency. Jamie noted, “Everything is grouped together in a way that makes sense.”
Real-Time Updates and Monitoring: With Upflow’s timeline feature, every customer action and interaction is recorded, ensuring no response falls through the cracks. This facilitates proactive management of disputes and ensures smooth communication.
Integration with NetSuite
Feefo uses NetSuite as their ERP and Upflow integrates seamlessly, making the setup process straightforward and efficient.
“It took maybe two or three days to complete the sync initially, and then we were good to go. We didn't really have to worry about anything else”, noted Jamie.
The integration ensures near real-time synchronization between the two platforms. Any changes made to invoices in NetSuite, such as address updates or other modifications, are reflected in Upflow within a few minutes. This allows for immediate action and accurate communication with customers.
It took maybe two or three days to complete the sync initially, and then we were good to go. We didn't really have to worry about anything else.
Outcomes with Upflow
Improved DSO
Feefo’s DSO decreased by 16% from February to October 2024, enabling more cash on hand and improving overall liquidity. This drop reflects the impact of automation, freeing the team to focus on crucial tasks and minimizing the manual workload.
Risk of bad debt minimized
A 26% reduction in the value of invoices 31+ days overdue means Feefo have minimized their risk of bad debt. A larger proportion of invoices are now being paid on time or within the first month of being overdue, which is a great achievement for Feefo, as it has improved cash flow, reduced the need for aggressive collection measures, and ultimately strengthened the company's financial health.
Added to that, Feefo now collects more cash every month than they bill (and as much as 140% collected vs. billed in April 2024), showing their AR process is strong and efficient.
Better communication
Upflow enhances Feefo's interaction with clients by allowing customer service managers to be tagged and included in communications. This change has led to fewer incidents of friction as reminders are now timely and issues are quickly flagged.
What’s more, the act of paying and receiving payment from customers is now treated as a customer experience touchpoint. This has allowed Jamie and the finance team to surface accounts issues on several occasions, which have been flagged with the customer service team to help improve the overall experience with Feefo.
Increased internal efficiency
Upflow helps Feefo’s team operate more efficiently. Jamie found that the system freed up team members by reducing their involvement in routine billing issues, allowing them to focus on more strategic work.
Potential for future development
Feefo is exploring new features within Upflow, such as Payments by Upflow (our next-generation payment gateway integrated in Upflow), to offer clients more payment options and streamline the payment process. Jamie remains eager to implement these tools to further minimize friction for customers and support continued financial growth.
Adopting Upflow has revolutionized Feefo’s accounts receivable process, significantly reducing DSO, improving cash flow, and fostering better customer relationships. With the introduction of Upflow, Feefo has crafted a more customer-centric financial environment, using automation and smart management to empower their team and enhance client interactions.