Pros And Cons of Outsourced Customer Service

Business process outsourcing is currently a popular practice among many companies. In 2021, the BPO market has been estimated at $246 billion and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9% from 2022 to 2030.

Businesses seek to increase their efficiency and flexibility by delegating tasks to third-party service providers. Companies outsource customer support, IT and HR duties, and more. It enables them to reduce operational expenses and focus on key business processes.

Today, we will discuss outsourced customer support, an industry that, in 2020, reached more than $82 billion. We’ll describe the pros and cons of this practice and tell you how to outsource customer service most effectively.

What Is Outsourced Customer Service?

Let’s first figure out what customer service is. It is the support that companies provide to their clients to win their loyalty, build close relationships, and help them solve any issues. This service’s ultimate goal is to increase customer satisfaction and improve the company’s reputation.

Outsourcing involves transferring client care tasks to a third-party customer service provider. Such a vendor will process incoming and outgoing calls or communicate with customers in other ways: live chat, email, social networks, etc.

Third-party IT support centers are easily integrated into any business. They study its features, target audience, services, and products. As a result, they solve customer problems and queries quickly and efficiently.

Benefits of Outsourcing Customer Service

Outsourcing customer support responsibilities to a remote service provider offers many benefits. Let’s look at the main ones.

Reduced Expenses

Outsource customer service costs significantly less than assembling your in-house team. Just think about the following: you do not need to pay for specialized equipment and software, maintain workplaces, and conduct staff training. You can also choose from many service providers based on the most reasonable prices.

Better Coverage

Round-the-clock customer support has already become a must-have in the modern world. Yet, encouraging the in-house team to work in such conditions requires spending a lot of resources, including financial ones.

In the case of an outsourced customer service provider, coverage is no longer an issue. Such vendors specialize in the niche of customer support and perfectly understand the need for round-the-clock service.

 

If your company operates internationally, you no longer need to look for local employees with foreign language knowledge. You can find an outsourcer in the country of your interest and serve customers from there.

Efficient Multichannel Support

Outsourced customer service providers will most likely offer you multichannel support services. It is significant as it makes it easier for customers to reach out to you.

Your provider will answer calls, resolve customer issues via chat, respond to comments and messages on social media, and send advice to your customers via email. And all this will happen simultaneously!

 

Working with an outsourcing vendor gives you the freedom to expand your customer support services. For example, you can hire additional support specialists during peak seasons when there are many customer requests. Conversely, when the need for support services decreases, you can easily reduce staff without a loss for your business.

Top-Notch Professionals

Compared to an in-house team that needs to be trained, outsourced customer support specialists typically already have significant experience in this area. Your service provider will clearly understand and apply the best approaches to customer service, increasing your clients’ loyalty and satisfaction.

Сhallenges and Detriments of Client Service Outsourcing

Despite the many advantages of remote customer support, there are still some challenges with outsourcing and nearshoring IT services. Take a look at what you could potentially be dealing with:

Lower Quality Control

One of the disadvantages of outsourcing is that you may encounter an unethical service provider. As a result, you will get unsatisfactory customer care results.

With outsourcing, it is more difficult to check whether the provider meets your requirements since it may be located in another part of the world. Therefore, you should choose a reliable company to avoid potential problems right away.

No Brand Positioning

Your business needs to broadcast your vision and messages to your customers. An outsourcing provider can fail to accomplish that task because it may not understand the specifics of your company. In this sense, the in-house team works better to develop your brand.

However, the solution to this problem will be hiring a dedicated outsourced customer support team. These specialists will devote all their time to your business and do everything for its prosperity.

Security Concerns

Support service providers help customers and therefore have access to sensitive and private information. When you outsource customer care, there may be an issue with the security of this data. Thus, a vendor that complies with regulatory requirements for protecting private information is worth choosing.

These limitations and challenges we have listed can be easily avoided. All you need to do is to choose the right customer support service provider. How can you do that? Keep reading our post.

What Do I Need to Know Before Hiring Customer Service Providers?

As with hiring effective remote development teams, finding the perfect customer service provider requires strategy and preparation. First of all, it is a clear understanding of your business needs.

Here’s a suggested flow for choosing the right vendor:

1. Determine what skills and experience your candidates should have.

2. Create a job description with clear requirements and duties of customer support specialists. Here are the main ones:

3. Post a vacancy on a job aggregator website or contact your favored outsourcer directly.

4. Interview the vendor, and discuss all the details, such as the cost of services, terms of work, etc.

5. Sign a contract with a suitable service provider.

Here are some tips following which you can smooth out the disadvantages of outsourcing customer service:

• Hire individual specialists in whom you are confident. It may be more time-consuming but will give you more control over remote workers.
• Check the service provider before signing the contract. Search for reviews about the company, ask the opinion of real customers, etc. In general, do everything you can to ensure that the outsourcer is reliable.
• Hire a remote manager. This specialist will act as an intermediary between you and the service provider. He will be responsible for the proper performance of duties by your vendor.

Conclusion

Outsourced client care is a great option for businesses that need flexibility and efficiency at a reasonable price. Outsource customer service suits small businesses and large enterprises equally. And don’t let the shortcomings of this approach scare you. With the correct organization of remote work processes, you will receive top-notch services with minimum risks.

 

About Logicsofts: Logicsofts is a IT service provider doing a range of services like professional website design and SEO service, Mobile Apps development, Digital marketing, IT consultancy, website management support, cloud services, etc at astoundingly affordable prices. Speak to our specialist for more information: +4402079935898

Author Bio

Abhay is a Digital Marketing Guru and an accomplished entrepreneur with an experience of a decade working with various businesses varying from startups to established brands. He co-founded many companies like Logicsofts, PrintYo, CrazyRise and more. He is passionate about SEO and Online Data Analytics, which plays a vital role in any business to grow and mutate as per the data results.
Follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram