When you outsource your customer service, you will reap several benefits which include a flexible labor force, top-quality service, and low costs. With an outsourced service, you can easily navigate through the seasons and cycles without any adverse impact on the company’s sales. This is why it is said that about 70 percent of businesses intend to outsource customer support, primarily to reduce their costs.
No matter what your reason is for outsourcing, it is crucial to find a customer service outsourcing partner. Your partner provider must be reliable all the time. To be able to do this, it helps to consider the following steps:
Figure out what motivates you to outsource customer support.
According to a survey, the usual reasons for a company to outsource customer support include flexibility, cost reduction, agility, speed to market, and easy access to tools and processes. Aside from these, companies outsource because of faster business scaling, improved customer experience, and gaining a competitive advantage against other companies. For some businesses, outsourcing is essential for handling unpredictable customer concerns and requests. This is also necessary when the call volume is no longer manageable for the in-house customer service team.
Make sure that the BPO uses the same platforms your customers frequently visit.
Today, it’s essential for a customer service team to be multichannel in their approach. You may choose from any of these platform options: social media, email, phone, SMS, and live chat. Your chosen company must be able to provide you with the right mix of channels. Live chat, phone calls, and email are the most prevalent options for most customers. It is said that 52 percent of millennials prefer live chat while boomers prefer calls for customer service. Your BPO partner should also employ customer service agents who are knowledgeable and highly adaptable to your specific needs.
Keep the costs low by ensuring flexibility.
Customer service flexibility is the ability of the third-party service to adapt to various situations without affecting the quality of the customer service rendered. By itself, this can support the business community in general no matter what the situation is. You may find a customer service team that can offer customized plans that let you pay only for the services you use. You may also find the customer support service easy to scale up or down according to the needs of the company.
You may also have to figure out if the two cultures align.
When you outsource customer support, culture will always be the biggest intangible factor that can have a tangible effect on your business. It can be defined based on the team’s actions, performance, and behavior, but in general, it trickles from the people on the top. That’s why you have to talk to the leader of your outsourced team so you will know what they consider as important.
