How do I outsource customer service?
Once your business has made the decision to outsource customer service, there are several steps that we recommend taking in order to get the most out of it.
- Establish clear goals of what you hope to achieve, and what you expect from your outsourced customer service partner.
- Identify who your customers are in terms of demographics and preferences. For example, is a large percentage of your clientele Spanish speakers? Do your customers prefer to communicate with your business via text message?
- Consider industry-specific needs- do you need a HIPAA-compliant answering service?
- Research several options and choose the partner that best fits your company’s needs.
- Dedicate some time for an onboarding process with your new customer service partner to ensure that they understand your company culture, your customers, and the products or services that you offer.
Over the years, countless surveys and studies have shown that providing exceptional customer service is vital to a business’s success. Customer service doesn’t just represent your brand’s image, mission, and values; it is often the difference between your customers repeatedly purchasing from you for years to come or switching to one of your competitors.
As more business owners work to create the best customer service experiences possible for their customers, many are opting to outsource rather than hire, train, and manage teams of full-time employees. The outsourced customer service industry is expected to be worth $110 billion by 2024, and the reasons for this make a lot of sense.
Why should my business outsource customer service?
Outsourcing customer service can save businesses money, resources, and often, a great deal of energy and stress. It is often a cheaper alternative to hiring in-house customer service employees and paying them overtime to work nights, weekends, and during busy seasons. If you’re in a rush to get started, it is quicker to outsource customer service than to find, interview, and train employees. Outsourcing also eliminates the need to purchase equipment like desks, chairs, computers, and headsets for each employee.
If these reasons have you saying, “sign me up,” here’s how you can outsource customer service for your business.
How do I outsource customer service?
Once your business has made the decision to outsource customer service, there are several steps that we recommend taking in order to get the most out of it.
- Establish clear goals of what you hope to achieve, and what you expect from your outsourced customer service partner.
- Identify who your customers are in terms of demographics and preferences. For example, is a large percentage of your clientele Spanish speakers? Do your customers prefer to communicate with your business via text message?
- Consider industry-specific needs- do you need a HIPAA-compliant answering service?
- Research several options and choose the partner that best fits your company’s needs.
- Dedicate some time for an onboarding process with your new customer service partner to ensure that they understand your company culture, your customers, and the products or services that you offer.
Why is customer service so important?
If you’re not yet convinced of the importance of providing excellent customer service, here are more reasons why your business should perfect its customer service strategy:
- Customer retention costs less than customer acquisition. Customer acquisition costs can be high, but one of the best ways to recoup your investment is to motivate customers to return. Repeat customers are more likely to spend 67% more with your brand, which demonstrates the importance of making sure your customers feel valued and satisfied.
- After one negative experience, 51% of customers never do business with that company again! Businesses must go the extra mile to make their customers feel valued because the quality of customer support can make or break your company. That’s why Answering Service Care proudly offers bilingual virtual receptionists, as well as a Care2Text feature that allows our clients to advertise a phone number that their clients can use to correspond with them via text message.
