In the business world, owners must choose whether to handle customer service in-house or outsource to a third-party contact center. Today, many companies decide to outsource their customer service department, but is it worth it? Yes, outsourcing customer service to a contact center is a smart business move.
Outsourcing customer service can save your business money on operating costs, increase productivity, and boost customer satisfaction. Relinquishing customer service to an outside entity can be intimidating, but working hand in hand with a contact center can allow for effective and wide-reaching customer service solutions.
Outsource Customer Service to Save Money on Operating Costs
Outsourcing your company’s customer service can save money in the long run. While contracting with a contact center will cost a contracted fee, it will cost much less than a fully staffed in-house customer service team.
Without a full-time in house customer support staff, you can avoid:
- Expensive staff training costs
- Full-time salaries with overtime pay
- Employment taxes and employee benefits
Do not outsource customer service simply to save a quick penny in the short term. It should not be used as a tool to cut corners or excuse budget cuts. However, outsourcing your company’s customer service is good business if you plan to use a contact center effectively.
Take advantage of the lowered operating costs for the good of your entire company. The turnover rate for customer service can be high. Additionally, it is difficult to tell when you are over or understaffing your customer service team, so you might hire more employees than you need.
Outsourcing the job to a third-party contact center prevents you from spending money on the hiring and replacement process for full customer service team members.
Outsourcing Customer Service to Improve In-House Productivity
If you have a very small business, or if your business is in its infancy, you may feel compelled to attempt to keep customer service in-house without a dedicated team. However, when employees wear many hats can actually harm your company’s productivity.
Answering constant daily calls keeps employees from focusing on their most important tasks. It has been proven that the time it takes to get back on track after a call causes significant productivity losses.
- When you outsource your customer service to a dedicated third-party contact center, employees can remain on task.
- If your in-house employees can focus on their own duties rather than switching between many jobs, they can get more work done in a shorter amount of time.
- Employees, staff, and management can concentrate on what they do best for the good of the business.
Of course, this does not mean that those at your company should not be well-versed in customer service. Everyone on hand should have customer satisfaction in mind. With a contact center to handle calls, your business can improve other kinds of support, such as product knowledge, sales numbers, and interfacing solutions.
Outsource Customer Service to Expand Customer Support Solutions
When done improperly, outsourcing customer service can lead to customer dissatisfaction. This is because some businesses make the mistake of outsourcing to a contact center without doing proper research.
Shop around for the contact center that aligns with your company’s values. Great contact centers work hard with companies to create action plans ensuring consistent branding and customer solutions. You will find that outsourcing customer service to a contact center can actually improve customer support.
Contact centers have experience handling high call volumes and tricky conversations. Consider the ways contact centers can help expand support.
- During stressful business scaling, you can leave the majority of customer support to an experienced contact center.
- Contact centers often offer customer support in multiple languages, something that is not always available in-house.
- Often, contact centers can offer extended answering hours, including nights, weekends, and even 24/7 support.
The specifics of any outsourced customer service you receive will depend on your particular contract with the contact center.
About Ansafone Contact Centers
Ansafone Contact Centers is an award-winning BPO provider with 50 years of world-class customer experience and brand care. We are a national call center with omnichannel services, fully equipped to help you with your business and with any special circumstances.
Please request a quote or call 800-510-0514 to learn more about our custom solutions for creating exceptional customer service experiences for your clients. We’re happy to offer insight into what your customers seek from your company’s language offerings and tailored customer solutions.