Considering that the size of the outsourcing market was $92 billion in 2019 and still growing steadily, most businesses understand the value of outsourcing. However, if you read an article about the benefits of going this route, you often find that saving money tops the list.
There is plenty of information on the financial benefits of outsourcing, so we focus on the less tangible benefits in this article.
Outsourcing Customer Support: The Less Tangible Benefits
Omnichannel Support
Your clients may reach out by:
- Telephone
- Instant message
- Social media
- Visiting your offices
Keeping up with them when there are so many ways for them to reach out may prove difficult. In addition, it takes a dedicated effort from personnel to manage each platform and may require additional equipment.
When you avail of customer support outsourcing, you access a professional management system for any combination of contact methods. Providing this level of support improves customer satisfaction.
Convenient 24/7 Support
Running a 24/7 in-house support team is impractical for all but the largest companies. Aside from the costs, there are issues with optimizing the employee’s workloads. When outsourcing, you need not find a balance between availability and productivity.
As you pay for professional assistance, you hand this concern over to the firm you hire.
Multilingual Employees
The world seems to be getting smaller daily, meaning that it’s never been easier for you to encounter clients who speak a different language. Having multilingual consultants is not only an asset then but also when expanding into a new region.
Improved Efficiency
With customer support outsourcing, you gain access to employees with outstanding training. They dedicate themselves to assisting your clients, bringing a new level of efficiency into the mix.
The knock-on effect is that employees can focus on their core functions rather than mundane queries. Naturally, therefore, their productivity also increases.
Better Risk Management
Improved risk management and compliance are further non-tangible benefits of customer support outsourcing. Such businesses use highly complex customer management systems. They will use these systems to give you a range of insights into your client base, allowing you to identify potential risks and opportunities early.
Better Company Culture
Companies switching to customer support outsourcing find that their internal culture improves as an ancillary benefit. This benefit is due to several things:
- Better employee satisfaction as they can focus on their core duties
- Employees no longer deal with the majority of complaints and tedious queries
- Higher productivity results in better job satisfaction and performance reviews
- Happier clients make going to work each day more pleasant
Improved Customer Loyalty
Retaining clients is less costly than acquiring new ones, so it makes sense to implement measures to keep your existing clients happy.
According to McKinsey, improving the client’s experience is the highest priority for those in the service industry for 2022. The reason is simply that happy clients are more loyal.
Higher Sales
Treating your clients with the respect they deserve makes them happy to buy more. They’ll encourage their friends and family to support your business. By hiring a professional team to handle customer service, you’re laying the groundwork to turn clients into brand ambassadors.
Better Security and Compliance
When you’re in the business of dealing with multiple sets of sensitive customer data, you use top-notch security measures and protocols. In many instances, small startups cannot afford the same level of security or the experience to manage potential risks properly.
Faster Query Handling
It may seem illogical, but routing customer service through a third party can speed up query resolution. Your outsourced team will likely understand your product and processes more thoroughly because they deal with daily queries.
Also, since the team is always on hand, your client immediately gets the support they need.
In Conclusion
Customer support outsourcing saves your company money in several ways. However, there are many ancillary benefits with values that could be more complex to calculate. For example, how do you measure how valuable improving company culture or paving the way for brand ambassadors is in the long term?
The simple answer is that it’s a complex interplay of various factors. Understanding all the benefits means making an informed decision about whether this route is suitable for your company.
