Did you know in 2022, a quarter to up to one-third of businesses outsources to improve their operations and efficiency? Outsourcing isn’t just for large companies. Even start-ups and small businesses have started using BPOs or call center companies to reach their goals, expand services, and ultimately succeed.
Inconsistent customer service is a common problem among businesses. Reasons can range from a delayed response from your support team, insufficient product or service knowledge by your support team, or inadequate staffing. When any of these happens, building and sustaining customer relationships becomes more challenging.
A fluctuating volume of customer inquiries is another major factor that affects customer service. When you can’t manage spikes in your inquiries across your customer service channels, your service quality takes a hit.
What is Customer Service Outsourcing?
Customer service outsourcing is a business strategy that utilizes a third-party company to help you manage a wide range of customer-related services. Services include voice and non-voice operations such as answering emails and live chats.
One of the advantages of customer service outsourcing is that it allows you to adapt to your customers’ changing needs and demands quickly. You won’t have to worry about the fluctuating volumes of incoming inquiries in your hotline or maintaining your customer service response time.
When you work with a dependable and experienced customer service outsourcing company, you can be confident that your business can consistently provide high-quality customer service across all your contact channels.
Have you been thinking about outsourcing your customer service? Outsourcing is the most common way of maximizing resources and ensuring your company meets customer demands. For many businesses, it’s also a practical way of providing top-notch 24/7 customer service without making a significant financial investment.
Customer service is one of the commonly outsourced business processes worldwide — and for a good reason. It’s one of the most accessible business processes to outsource. So, if your business is struggling with customer support and you’re looking for ways to manage it, it may be time to consider a BPO service.
Here are some reasons outsourcing your customer service is your best strategy for success.
Cost
Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2021 shows that cost reduction is the second most crucial objective for why companies outsource, just after standardization and efficiency of processes. 70% of interviewed said cost is a primary factor in outsourcing a business process. The result isn’t surprising, considering today’s uncertain economic situation.
Instead of hiring full-time employees for customer support and investing in equipment, the better option would be to outsource your customer support. Building your customer support team can save on training, equipment, and other expenses.
Coverage
Providing 24/7 customer service is not an easy task. Even if you are a large firm, round-the-clock customer support may be impossible to maintain. Fortunately, this is something that many call center companies provide. Regardless of time zones, BPOs ensure you have a team available for customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Are you providing services for people across the globe? You could also work with a multi-lingual team so your customers could have the option to use the language they’re most comfortable with.
Resources
Similar to cost, saving company resources is important for many businesses looking to outsource their customer service.
Building and maintaining your own contact center can be costly. It could easily take up your significant resources, such as infrastructure, human capital, labor, and training.
When you outsource your customer support, you instantly gain access to resources you otherwise won’t have access to. This includes a trained team and ready-to-use equipment — all at a fraction of the cost. Also, you won’t have to worry about training employees, as most BPO services would train their staff with your guidance and direction.
You can also be confident that you have the support you need to handle both minor and major customer issues without taking up your resources. As a result, your business could be more efficient with an outsourced team than an in-house team of customer support agents.
Flexibility
Uncertain economic landscapes and frequently changing customer needs require many businesses to be agile and flexible when providing customer support.
One of the challenges of having your own customer support team is flexibility. You may be hiring additional customer support agents because of the high volume of inquiries and issues you’re getting. What happens when this volume decreases, or you don’t need 24/7 customer service anymore?
When you work with a call center company, you get the flexibility you need to adapt to your current business situation immediately. Let them know your workforce requirements for a specific period, and the right company should be able to help you out.
Staffing
Employee management takes time and effort. Regardless of your customer support team size, it is always best to consider working with a BPO service. This way, you won’t have to think about staffing concerns, such as training, shifting schedules, and timekeeping. Moving this responsibility to a service provider means you can focus your efforts and resources on other significant aspects of your business.
Technology
Investing in the latest technology for your customer support may not always be practical. For one, it’s costly. Second, you can’t always be sure how you could make the most of it.
When outsourcing your customer service, you gain access to the latest technology you need to improve your customer support and boost efficiency. The best part? You can have it without investing in any costly hardware or cloud services.
Satisfaction
There are different ways to improve customer satisfaction. Outsourcing customer support helps you provide the following:
- Faster response time — In a world where everyone wants to have information as quickly as they can, a quick response time from your company won’t go unnoticed by your customers.
- Shorter wait time — No one likes waiting in queue to have someone help them with their concerns. When you let your customers wait for a long time on your hotline or live chat, it tells them you don’t respect their time — and their business.
Multi-channel support — Do you only have a single point of contact for all your customers? Having multi-channel support allows your customers to choose the point of contact that is most convenient for them. In addition, it helps reduce your hotline’s call volume.
When you can meet your clientele’s needs, customer satisfaction is bound to improve.
With a BPO service, you can rest assured that you have a team of experts taking care of your customers and their needs.
Learn more: Customer Satisfaction Case Study by Inspiro
Are you ready to work with a customer service outsourcing company? Be sure you know what to expect and how to integrate it into your existing customer service strategy.
Here’s how to succeed in using a BPO service for your business.
How to Outsource Customer Service in 2022?
- Identify your needs and objectives — Make the most of customer service outsourcing by knowing exactly where you need support, how much help you need, and what you want to achieve.
- Understand Customer Preferences – When you know your customers’ preferred point of contact, you’d be able to plan your customer service strategy more effectively. For instance, you can allocate more staffing in that channel during peak times to avoid long wait times or delayed response times.
- Set Guidelines and expectations — To ensure a seamless experience, provide the outsourcing company you will be working with an understanding of your company values, brand advocacy, and voice. All these would significantly affect how they interact with your customers.
- Technology Integration — Do you already have an existing customer service system? When working with an outsourcing company, expect that you may have to integrate their technologies with yours or upgrade your existing set-up.
- Train and evaluate — Quality assurance is essential, especially when working with an outsourcing company. Give ample time for training and then regularly evaluate their performance. This way, you could pinpoint issues before they become major concerns and tweak your process to ensure quality service.
Customer service is essential to any business. It has evolved from resolving issues as quickly as possible to providing a responsive and personalized service to your clientele. Especially with COVID-19, there has also been an increasing urgency for organizations to adjust their operations to ensure their business process continuity. With the right team, you won’t only be improving customer satisfaction. You will also be increasing customer loyalty and enhancing the customer experience.
Related: The Philippines At The Heart Of CX Business Continuity
Get in touch with us for more details on how outsourcing your customer service can help your business succeed; Inspiro is ready to work with you.