Should You Outsource Your Business’ Customer Service?

WHY COMPANIES ARE OUTSOURCING THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE

by Contributor

(Nov. 8, 2019) — Whether you own a small or large company, you should outsource your customer service. It saves time and money and also provides better service.

The on-demand economy has pushed companies to provide better services to their customers. Customers can get a cab in an instant via Uber or Lyft. They can have food delivered to their homes via different food delivery apps. They can have someone do their errands for them. The service industry has never been as in demand as it is now. Everyone needs someone to do something for them-whether it’s to pay the bills or deliver flowers to a loved one.

This is also the reason almost 54% of companies use offshore business process outsourcing for their customer service. The ability of these companies to provide immediate service is unparalleled. In fact, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry for customer service is expected to be worth $110 billion in 2024. That’s not surprising, considering the many benefits that companies get from these BPO companies.

Yes, You Need to Outsource Your Customer Service

You all know the benefits of outsourcing components of a business. It saves time and money. Employers don’t need full-time workers for customer service. They don’t need to compensate them and provide health insurance and retirement benefits. They don’t have to deal with the human resource horror stories. But that’s not all that BPO companies provide to their clients. There’s so much more that non-clients don’t see.

If you want to impress your customers, you need to be extremely effective in answering their queries and addressing their complaints. That means engaging with them even in the middle of the night when they strangely decide to make the complaint. Should you pay a customer service team to be online 24/7? Will that benefit your business?

Sure, it will. Customers love it when companies bend over backward to accommodate them. Even if you have somehow bungled a product or a service, disgruntled customers will likely come back because they have been impressed by your customer service. That’s why offshore BPO is important for any business.

AI’s Role in Outsourced Customer Care Services Industry

Some companies are using machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to keep up with the demands of their customers. But this is not always feasible for many companies. These technologies assume the end that customers are trying to reach when they ask a question or when they inquire. But this isn’t always the case. There are many other things that a customer may be aiming for when they try to contact a business.

Then, of course, there is also a dynamic change in customer service. There are now apps that act as the middleman for customer service issues. All the customers need to do is to ping the third party and have them contact the company for an exchange or refund. The company won’t have direct access to the customer. They are forced to talk with the third party.

These apps are not the future. Many already use these presently. They use these apps to check if they can get refunds from their canceled or delayed flights. They also use these to secure the lowest price for a hotel booking. The same goes for price-matching apps.

Immediate and efficient – these are the things that customers demand from the companies they do business with. It pays well to listen to what your customers want.  Prioritizing customer satisfaction is good business sense.