Why do companies outsource customer service? A more than legitimate question, considering that there are more and more businesses that rely on this innovative service. In this article we focus on the importance of the externalisation of services, also called outsourcing, but first of all it is fundamental to understand that customers’ expectations have changed.
Increasingly demanding customers: here’s why companies outsource customer service
To understand why companies rely on external parties for the customer service, it is appropriate to focus precisely on customers.
Modern consumers expect to live a satisfying customer experience at 360°, from the purchase of a good or a service to the after-sales. Until a few years ago, if a customer received poor assistance, little changed for the company. The choices for the customer were in fact very limited.
Today, with the digitisation of services, if customers do not consider themselves satisfied they abandon the company and rely on another, since the possibility of choice is practically unlimited.
The quality of the product or service you sell is important, but not sufficient to win the trust of consumers. Indeed, a good percentage of people interviewed during a survey declared that they were willing to pay something more in order to have a personalised and accurate customer service.
In a recent article we explained to you how to increase earnings thanks to customer loyalty, an obligatory step for every business that wants to grow. Building a customer’s loyalty, moreover, proves much less costly than acquiring a new one. A loyal customer in turn turns into an advertising vector, since they speak well of your company, triggering virtuous and positive word of mouth.
Outsourcing customer support: the 4 advantages for your company
To better understand why companies outsource customer service, here is a list of the main advantages:
- cutting of costs;
- qualified staff and cutting-edge technologies;
- the possibility of focusing on the company’s core business;
- better use of customer data.
Why do companies outsource customer service? A stop to economic waste
Let’s take into consideration a company that has decided not to outsource its customer service. In this case it has to form a dedicated team that deals with the management of customers and equip itself with the right instruments. The training of staff and the purchase of technologies naturally entails costs that weigh on the company budget.
In addition, in some periods of the year there are peaks of requests. A travel company, for example, in the summer or Christmas periods can be submerged by a wave of requests. There is therefore the risk of not having enough staff to manage this enormous flow.
On the contrary, in the “dead” periods, it might employ an excessive quantity of staff to manage a very contained workload. These fixed costs, with outsourcing, are transformed instead into variable costs, weighing much less on the company budget and increasing profits.
Qualified staff and cutting-edge technologies
By entrusting customer service to an external company, you are certain to turn to a partner equipped with a qualified and professional team and with all the instruments necessary to support customers on every channel.
You therefore do not have to make investments for the training of internal staff, since you rely on professionals equipped with great competence who raise the quality and competitiveness of the service and guarantee you an important advantage over your competitors.
In your market you can in fact gain several points in the eyes of consumers, who see in you a technologically advanced brand that they can rely on without problems.
Focus on the core business of your activity
Customer support, although being an important service for your business, certainly cannot be considered its core business. What happens when you rely on an external company? You recover precious time that you can devote to doing what you do best.
Your staff too are freed from tasks that are not their responsibility and that probably do not even enhance them. They can in addition focus on the strategic company functions and put to good use all the abilities and skills acquired over time. Your company’s productivity benefits from it, as its processes prove more fluid and lean.
A greater flow of customer data from which to extract valuable information
You might think that outsourcing customer service makes you lose sight of the contact and above all the information of your clientele. In reality it is the exact opposite.
We at We Are Fiber keep track of all the customer data, so as to collect and extract very useful information such as behaviours during the purchasing phase, preferences, the most frequent questions and requests. Thanks to this data you can personalise the offer to meet the needs of your target audience. The companies that have relied on us have observed a 30% increase in sales, the result of a personalised offer calibrated to the requests of their clientele.
Now you know why companies outsource customer service. Do you think the moment has come to make this leap in quality?
We are here for you, contact us now!
