The number one reason why businesses should outsource their customer service is because it saves them money. Many small and medium-sized companies struggle to keep their costs down to survive. In fact, many businesses shut down because they cannot manage cash flow. This means that by outsourcing customer service, you are saving money that can help continue business operations.
Why Outsource Customer Service?
There are many reasons why you should consider outsourcing your customer service. Here are a few:
- Ensure 24/7 customer service. Your customers expect to be able to reach you anytime, so having someone else handle this ensures they always have access to the help they need. This has led to the growth of the US Business Process Outsourcing Services industry by 3.7% per year on average since 2018.
- Lets you focus on your core competencies. When you outsource your customer service to an experienced outsourcer, they can handle all aspects of the job that don’t relate directly to what makes your business unique or competitive in its market. This allows you to focus on what makes your company special, ultimately leading to better performance overall.
- Reduce costs by hiring freelancers instead of full-time employees who require benefits packages such as healthcare coverage and paid vacation days off every year. It also gets you access to expertise at lower costs. In fact, there are many ways in which outsourcing customer service can save you money.
- Customer service outsourcing can improve your business’s customer experience by ensuring customers receive consistent answers and solutions across multiple channels. Your customers will appreciate knowing where they can go for help when they need it most, and this consistency will make them more likely to return. Lacking this customer experience edge can prove disastrous for your brand. At least 27% of the survey respondents revealed that a lack of proper customer service can be frustrating.
How Outsourcing Customer Service Can Help Save Money
While there are many reasons why you should outsource customer service, the most significant is that it helps save money. Outsourcing costs way less than hiring an in-house team and training the employees. According to Blue Valley Marketing, building a high-end customer service representative team can cost around $250,000, and a low-end team can cost around $100,000.
However, this will require appropriate planning to optimize your savings. To begin with, you should know how much outsourcing customer service costs. Once you have that information, determine which vendor can offer you the best value for money.
With that said, here’s how outsourcing customer service saves money.
Reduced Employee Costs
Hiring an in-house team is a time-consuming, costly process that can drain you financially, especially if you can’t hire the right candidates. So here’s how outsourcing can help you save on employee costs.
- Reduced employee costs. Outsourcing your customer service department can help you reduce your current staffing levels, which will, in turn, reduce your payroll costs. The average salary in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2022 was $1,041 per week, 5.2% higher than the previous year. Outsourcing will help you save on these costs. You’ll also see reduced turnover and training costs since new employees won’t be needed as often.
- More efficient staffing and scheduling. When a company outsources its customer service, it can often take advantage of a team that has been working together for years, which means less time spent on training new hires and more time spent providing quality service to customers.
Scalability and Flexibility
If you’re experiencing an unexpected spike in business, you can ramp up your services and get more job help without hiring full-time employees. And if things slow down, you can drop those extra workers without worrying about layoffs or terminations.
Service providers are also more flexible than hiring a full-time employee because they don’t have any long-term commitment to your company. They just need enough work at one time so that it makes sense for them financially. This means that if one service provider isn’t working out for whatever reason, you can easily find another one who will fit into your workflow better.
Elimination of Infrastructure Costs
Customer service outsourcing is a cost-effective way to eliminate infrastructure costs. You don’t need to invest in infrastructure, like an IT team or a receptionist, and you don’t have to spend money on a phone system or call center.
In addition, when you outsource your customer service needs, you do not need to hire an IT manager or any other staff members who would manage these resources. This means that the only thing left for your business is paying the service’s monthly fee- this can save thousands of dollars annually.
Access to Specialized Expertise
You’ve probably heard of outsourcing in the context of technology, marketing, and sales. But what about customer service?
It’s true. Some companies are experts at customer service. They have built their business around providing it and have become very good at it.
The problem is that these companies might not be based in your country or neighborhood. If your company needs help with customer service, like answering calls from customers or helping them through an order process, you’ll have to pay extra money for travel costs and time spent traveling every day.
Time and Resource Optimization
Customer service outsourcing allows you to focus on your core business. This means you can let an outsourcer take care of your customer service and focus on what’s most important to your company, developing products and services, marketing them effectively, and selling them at a profit.
When a customer has an issue or question about something they’ve purchased from you, they need to receive answers quickly to feel satisfied and more likely to buy again. When an in-house team handles all of this work, there may be delays between when someone first contacts support and when they receive an answer.
By outsourcing customer service responsibilities to a third-party provider specializing in handling these inquiries quickly and efficiently, businesses can ensure that their loyal customers get quick responses without impacting the rest of their operations.
Lower Training and Recruitment Costs
You can also save money by lowering your training and recruitment costs. By outsourcing customer service, you’ll reduce the time it takes to fill positions, which means less money spent on hiring and training new employees.
Plus, when your company has a dedicated team handling customer interactions 24/7, fewer mistakes will be made by employees unfamiliar with every aspect of their product or service. This will help reduce costs associated with onboarding new hires as well as reduce lost sales due to poor customer service experiences.
Conclusion
Customer service outsourcing is a great way to save your business money and time. By outsourcing your customer service needs, you can focus on other parts of your business that need attention while getting help from experts who understand what they’re doing. The benefits of outsourcing include reduced labor costs, scalability and flexibility, elimination of infrastructure costs, access to specialized expertise, time and resource optimization, and more.
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