All fast-growing companies will probably need to establish an effective way to increase the coverage of their support and customer services at some point, and in these cases it is where outsourcing provides a great way to cope with this challenge since you can have at your company’s disposal a highly skilled support team in a short time.
If you are looking for new solutions and you are curious about how to outsource customer service, what to look for when choosing the right partner and how to take full advantage of their work? Just keep on reading to learn more.
Top 4 Benefits of Customer Service Outsourcing
Almost 59% off all companies outsource services just to cut their expenses. Cost savings might be the primary motivation, but there are many factors speaking in favor of outsourcing customer support services.
Lower Costs
Outsource companies usually have a per hour rate, so you can scale your expenses according to your actual needs, so there will be no need to pay fixed salaries.
Increased Coverage
Outsourcing can be a really useful support system when additional help is needed, during high seasons having an extra team of agents helping can make a big difference in the quality of the attention and support. You can also quickly increase the geographical reach of your company by hiring bilingual or multilingual support teams.
Scaling Up
When your company is rapidly growing, you may not have the time to control all aspects of your business. A strategic move is to hire an outsourcing partner to take care of the customer service and support to maintain the high-quality service while you focus your energy on the long-term goals for your company.
Speed Things Up
Many customers’ queries are typical, so you can rely on the outsourced team to run them independently. This will speed things up and give you the time necessary to focus on business tasks.
What services can you outsource?
There are different ways to provide customer service, the key is to try and cover most communication channels.
You can outsource all customer support services:
- Calls
- Emails
- Social media interactions
- Other online approaches
Which services to outsource will depend on each company’s goals and needs. In some cases, it might be enough to outsource customer service call handling, but if you are interested in creating a more complex customer interaction, you should also consider emails and online chats, this will help you provide your customers all the communication channels needed to be in touch with your company.
What do you need to know before you choose to outsource?
- Before searching for external help, you should develop a customer service strategy, this will be vital to fully take advantage of this new strategy.
- You need to find a way to satisfy your business and customers’ needs.
- And there are several factors you should consider when researching for the ideal outsourcing partner:
1. Specialization
When you start your research for the right outsourcing partner, you will notice the market is big, so you will need to find the companies that are specialized in solving what you need to be solved. Some companies may specialize in repetitive requests, while others can be proficient in solving in-depth situations.
You will also need to take into account language skills and proficiency, the key is to find a possible partner that will satisfy your customers’ needs.
If an outsourcing company claims to cover the entire spectrum of services, they might lack quality control. Another key factor is to stop looking for the cheapest option because this company might not have much experience or the required skills.
Always rely on customers’ reviews of the company, research their website for additional benefits, and make a test call to experience their service.
2. KPIs
You need to have a clear understanding of all the factors necessary to show the effectiveness of a customer service outsourcing partner.
You can request statistics from the companies you are evaluating and analyze their average handle time, first contact resolution, as well as other metrics that can shed light on their productivity levels.
It is also important to know how this company monitors its quality, how many calls they take into account, and how transparent their rating system is. The absence of adequate quality control indicators may reflect low responsibility and bad service.
3. Location
Another important thing to consider is the geographical location of your possible outsourcing partner, which can determine a lot of factors, from price rate, communication issues and a broader time frame to provide customer service and support.
Pending on the outsourcing company’s location you can expect different price rates and service quality, this is why research is important and necessary before you choose the right partner. This is a major point going for BPOs based in Latin America like Guatemala, due to geographic location and closeness to the US, commonly having English as a second language, lower cost of living and culturally providers of service with a smile.
In the next article we will go through two additional factors to take into account before signing a deal with an outsourcing service partner, we will also learn how to manage and measure the productivity of the outsourcing partner to fully understand the essentials of outsourcing customer service.
