Anchorage, AK's Innovation Team works on a citizen-centered redesign of the collections form with impressive results
Anchorage achieved $1 million of new revenue within one year by redesigning its fine collection letter.
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In 2017, Anchorage was owed a total of almost $50 million in unpaid fines and traffic tickets.
With funding and guidance from Bloomberg, the city redesigned its 20-year-old collections letter to make it clearer and more eye-catching.
By the end of 2017, Anchorage had collected almost $1 million in new revenue thanks to the improved letter.
Following the success of the letter redesign, Anchorage's Innovation Team plans to tackle more complex issues, including healthcare costs and employment.
Résumé
Like many cities in the United States, Anchorage is owed millions of dollars in unpaid delinquent debt. In fact, in 2017, Anchorage was owed almost $50 million in fines, some of which dated back to the 1980s.
Why were so many people failing to pay their fines? It turned out that the treasury’s collection reminder letter had not been updated in 20 years. This old letter was text-heavy and did very little to catch readers’ attention.
Redesigning the collections letter was the first project for Anchorage’s Innovation Team, which is funded by a three-year, $1.5 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Working with Bloomberg, the team held a “Letter-Palooza” workshop with all the agencies involved in the fines process. Participants first learned some behavioral science basics, which they then used to identify the problems with the old letter, and come up with ideas to redesign it.
The city ended up making a number of important changes to the letter. The new version used pink paper, and the envelope declared “You really need to read this”. Additionally, staff made the due date much more prominent and included information about payment plans. Next, the Treasury conducted large-scale testing to compare the new letters to the old, and then made further adjustments based on the results.
The new letter was a resounding success. The first tests saw payment plan enrolment nearly double, and by the end of 2017, the city had collected almost $1 million in new revenue – helping thousands of citizens pay off their debt.
The letter redesign project is only the beginning for Anchorage. Energized by its initial success, the Innovation Team has plans to tackle more complex problems, including healthcare costs and employment.