Everything About Outsourced Customer Support

Everything You Need To Know About Outsourced Customer Support

Outsourcing customer support is not about cutting corners, it’s about fulfilling the needs of your customers in the best possible way. Read on to discover how it can be the difference between a ‘good’ business and a ‘great’ business.

Dealing with customers’ questions about a product’s set-up, performance and functionality, or handling any problems they might have after the sale has been made, can sometimes be seen as mundane. Great businesses, however, see it as an opportunity to impress their customers by dealing with their questions efficiently and ensuring that they end up happy with their service. And happy customers are more likely to be returning customers. After all, positive experiences with a brand drive loyalty, gain fans, and improve overall reputation, all of which will improve the bottom line of a company willing to provide a world-class customer support experience. In this post, we will show you how outsourcing your customer support service can help your business to bring customers back for more.

1. What is outsourced customer support?
2. Advantages of outsourcing customer support.
   2.1 Cost-effectiveness.
   2.2 Helps a business grow faster.
   2.3 Better risk management.
   2.4 Access a larger talent pool.
3. Common Misunderstandings About Outsourcing Customer Services.
   3.1 Outsourced customer care is expensive?
   3.2 Loss of control when we outsource customer support?
4. Key roles in an outsourced customer support team
   4.1 Customer Support Representatives/agents
   4.2 Customer Support Trainer
   4.3 Customer Support Manager
   4.4 Quality Assurance Analyst
   4.5 Recruiter
5 Leap Steam – Reliable Partner of Outsourced Customer Support

1. What is outsourced customer support?

Customer support is essentially the relationship a business has with its customers after a sale has been made. Outsourcing customer support means working with an outside partner that will provide ongoing communication to ensure the customer is happy. The partner takes care of everything from hiring, training, and managing the customer support team to the day-to-day operations of the customer support channels, be that over the phone, by email, or through text or video chat.

2. Advantages of outsourcing customer support.

Not all outsourced customer support providers are the same but there are some universal advantages, however, that all reputable customer support providers should provide to their clients.

2.1 Cost-effectiveness

This is the biggest, most obvious reason to outsource, but it’s worth repeating. When you consider the time and money needed to hire, train, onboard, equip and manage a new employee, you would be forgiven for thinking there has to be a better way to build your customer support team. Outsourcing customer support eliminates excessive staffing costs while allowing your team to focus on your business’s core activities.

2.2 Helps a business grow faster

A common fear for business leaders is when a business experiences sudden growth, they are unable to hire enough quality staff to meet their new customers’ needs. In-house customer support departments rarely scale easily, but this isn’t an issue when you outsource. It’s simply a matter of your outsourcing partner moving customer support agents from one campaign to another as needs arise, without the sudden drop in quality associated with new hires. The opposite is also true. If there is a seasonal dip in demand, it’s simply a matter of scaling back the campaign as needed, without issuing redundancies. 

Additionally, with better quality customer support comes higher customer retention rates, and the probability of selling to an existing customer is at least 40% more likely than with a prospect who has never bought from you before. Existing customers also spend 31 percent more than new leads and are 50 percent more likely to purchase a newly released product or service. 

2.3 Better risk management

Another very strong argument in favor of outsourcing customer support is reducing the overall risk to your company. Companies nowadays are subject to an ever-increasing number of compliance regulations and the threat of legal issues associated with them. Risk management is now an essential consideration when it comes to outsourcing any service, but particularly when customer data is involved. Choosing a partner that can keep up with the ever-evolving standards of compliance and ensure your corporate and client data will stay secure creates general stability in your business’s structure and will appeal to investors who can support your business’s growth.

2.4 Access a larger talent pool

Considering the globalized nature of doing business today, it makes sense for companies to utilize talents from all around the world. Outsourcing customer support gives you access to talent with a particular level of expertise beyond your local area. Many outsourcing companies have offices in different countries with customer support representatives who are fluent in English and multiple other languages. 74% of customers are more likely to revisit a business when customer support is available in their language, so it’s a resource worth exploiting if you’re serious about expansion. Living expenses in these countries are lower than in many western countries too, so salaries are at a lower scale. This means you can access multi-lingual and multi-faceted talent for less money than you would hire locally and in-house.

 

3. Common misunderstandings about Outsourcing Customer Services.

There are a few outdated myths about outsourcing flying about that still cause many companies to remain unconvinced about how it can be a good option for their business. Here we debunk two quite common examples.

3.1 Outsourced customer care is expensive?

Any company that has relied on an in-house customer support service team knows that hiring and running that team can get expensive. Even a team of just 4 customer support agents and their support staff could cost over $455,000 per year including benefits. If we live by the old adage “time is money” then the hiring and onboarding process alone can be a long and costly one.

Training new customer support agents takes about three months and the average tenure of an agent is just 15 months. With all the time spent hiring and training each new rep, a business could face costs of $97,690 on average every 1.25 years just to refill a position. This is on top of wages, office space (around $12,000 per employee), furniture, equipment, software, licensing fees, utilities, maintenance, and IT staff. Contact us to save all these costs 

Budgets are tight and times are tough, of course, but facing these kinds of costs, it’s no wonder many firms, both big and small, see outsourcing as the more inexpensive option.

3.2 Loss of control when we outsource customer support?

Another common myth that prevents businesses from outsourcing their projects is the fear that outsourcing to a third party will result in losing control. In reality, this is not the case. Reputable outsourcing service providers fully involve the businesses they work with to ensure the best possible representation of their brand. Clients are kept fully updated and are provided with comprehensive reports on customer satisfaction metrics. 

Modern communication and collaboration tools help businesses to interact in real-time with the staff of the outsourcing services providers and exercise full control over any collaborative project.

4. Key roles in an Outsourced Customer Support team

Twenty years ago, customer support call centers consisted of little more than agents taking calls and a manager to oversee the operation and make sure people work hard and stick to the script. To ensure a high-quality level of service for clients, modern customer support teams must go beyond that. Here are five of the most important roles you should find in any customer support department.

4.1 Customer Support Representatives/agents

Customer service representatives are the front line of support for clients and customers. They help ensure that customers are satisfied with the products and services they’ve bought from a company and any features that go with them. They support customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. 

4.2 Customer Support Trainer

The trainer’s role is to prepare the reps for the job. This means providing scripts, role-playing different scenarios, and teaching them the tools and techniques they’re going to need to be successful. Training should include best practices for each of the customer support channels a business uses, be it phone, chat, email or SMS.

Additionally, every time a new product or service becomes available, the trainer will be there to support the reps and deliver training. A great customer support team must have all the information and training to efficiently answer any questions they might receive from customers. 

4.3 Customer Support Manager

A manager is there to ensure customers receive outstanding support and all their needs are met. This may involve creating customer support policies and procedures for staff to adhere to, and observing employees to make sure the team’s key performance indicators are met. 

4.4 Quality Assurance Analyst

Customer service quality assurance is the process of monitoring, analyzing, and improving a support team’s customer interactions. It’s a crucial component of the process that helps to ensure the quality of the customer experience. The QA analyst monitors calls and other communications to make sure the customer support reps are solving issues effectively and professionally 

4.5 Recruiter

Recruiting the right people to join a customer service team is paramount. It’s the recruiter’s job to find and hire members of the team that can deliver customer support service of the highest level.

5. Why choose Leap Steam as your outsourced customer support partner?

Some providers have refined their customer support service whereby they specialize in certain types of customer communications, like call centers, help desks, or ticket support. Others have become highly proficient in certain sectors, like finance, retail, or utilities, and some use the latest technology to provide their clients with the highest level of customer satisfaction. The very best outsourcing partners will do all of the above and provide cutting-edge, multilingual, omnichannel support to several industries.

Leap Steam is a BPO vendor specializing in a range of services, including customer service, whose priority is to provide affordable solutions that are custom-tailored to the individual needs of our partners. We offer bespoke services to suit any industry and size of organization and offer the ability to quickly scale up or down as needed to suit changes in business needs and goals. 

With a large pool of highly competent customer service agents with a perfect blend of skill, expertise, and experience, our clients can get an edge over the competition with our flexible and reliable customer support services.

Our diverse pool of customer support agents can provide your customers the support they need across multiple time zones and in over 40 languages, including English, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Streamlining your operations is crucial when trying to achieve future growth and if vital functions such as customer support are to be outsourced, then make sure they’re handed over to the professionals. To learn more about outsourcing your customer support services and the value that it can bring to your business.

To learn more about the process of outsourced customer support and the value that it can bring your business, contact Leap Steam for a free consultation and trial.

💬  Email Us: info@leapsteam.com

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