Customer support outsourcing is an effective solution for companies that need to cut expenses. Other than reduced operational costs, however, outsourcing also brings your business cross-selling opportunities and customer retention.
Reduced costs
Cost reduction still remains as the biggest reason companies outsource their non-core tasks, particularly customer service. Having an in-house staff means that a part of your company’s overall budget will go to the division’s payroll and employee benefits, not to mention facility maintenance and energy costs.
By outsourcing to a country with low wage rates, you can save a lot of money by letting a third party firm shoulder the processes and expenses that come with employing a customer support team—from recruitment, training, and benefits, to taking care of monthly compensation and dues.
Cross-selling opportunities
Customer support usually operates as an inbound call center team. This means your representatives wait for your customers to make the call, and that’s the only time they attend to concerns. There’s usually a separate team that offers goods to prospective clients, but customer support outsourcing can carry out selling activities as well.
When your representatives deal with a concern regarding one of your products, they can suggest other goods that the customer might also be interested in or might complement the product that the customer already has. For example, a lady calls to ask why her phone bill reflected unexpected charges. After your representative acquaints himself with the caller’s phone use and then explain the disputes, he can offer data plans or call promos that fit the customer’s phone activity better. Through cross-selling, you increase revenue along with customer satisfaction.
Customer retention
If the customer service is done right by your outsourced service provider, it can make customers stay loyal to your brand. Outsourcing means you want a team of experts to be available through various channels and be solely dedicated in keeping your consumers satisfied and accommodated. They would be there any time a customer calls in a problem, tweets a concern, or emails a query, ensuring that no complaint will be ignored.
Reports show that the availability, accessibility, and convenience that come with customer support outsourcing are factors that make people continue using a brand’s services or products.
To sum up, businesses outsource customer support not only for its cost-saving benefits, but also for its capabilities to increase profit through cross-selling and customer retention. Outsourcing customer service lets you allocate your budget to core operations while helping you find opportunities to promote your goods without sacrificing the satisfaction of your customers.