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Five Best Practices for Outsourcing Customer Service
With heavy ties to the manufacturing industry, business process outsourcing has ballooned to become a multi-billion dollar industry — and that's for good reason.
These days, the demands of running an in-house customer service operation are undoubtedly stressful for business owners. Enter business process outsourcing, which provides a means for these companies to outsource customer service to a third-party provider in order to create more internal efficiencies and provide a better brand experience to customers.
Outsourcing customer service might sound like a headache, but in this day and age, it doesn't have to be. If you're thinking about outsourcing customer service, consider implementing a cloud call center solution to help engage customers effectively and efficiently.
When Outsourcing Customer Support Makes Sense
If you're not sure whether outsourcing is the right move for your business, consider whether it's a necessity or more of a desire.
For example, there are several factors that can help you determine whether outsourcing customer service for your business is the best option, including if you consistently handle increased customer demand, your business is facing some uncertainty and/or if you simply want to take this responsibility off your plate entirely
Bottom line: Don't outsource customer service just to save some money or if you would rather just wash your hands of this responsibility entirely. These aren't really great reasons to outsource and could cost you in the long run if these are the sole reasons for your decision.
The Keys to Successful Outsourcing
When it comes to making a successful, hassle-free transition to outsourcing your customer service department, you'll want to keep these tips in mind.
To ensure you choose the best possible company to provide the highest quality customer service available, you need to understand a few things about your company. For example, you need to think about things like your company's persona and, as such, be sure to hire a company that shares the same values and vision and can seamlessly mimic your brand voice.
You will also need to consider security and legal issues, how you plan to train the new team, how you'll handle talking to multiple providers and how you'll make a decision on whom to hire. Think about what tools you already have internally and consider allowing the company you hire to use those tools.
From there, determine how your business partner will handle incoming customer inquiries and how you will effectively communicate with this new team on a daily basis. Not sure how to go about it or want to integrate tech solutions to realize greater efficiencies? Cloud contact center solutions can help you do all of this and more.
Best Practices for Outsourcing Customer Service
Outsourcing customer service is somewhat tricky for those who haven't conquered this feat before. But cloud contact center solutions can help ease the transition from in-house customer service to outsourcing customer support. Here are five best practices to consider for outsourcing your customer service using a cloud contact center.
1. Tailor Your Customer Engagement Platform
Your customer engagement platform is the tool your business partner will use to access detailed customer information, from their name, email address and phone number to various metrics based on previous interaction activity, such as the last method of contact, when the issue was initially raised and the reason for the question or complaint.
Your customer engagement platform should be an all-encompassing solution for your customer service outsourcing needs. With the right platform, you should have the capability for customers to self-serve prior to making direct contact with your live agents.
Consider using service intelligence, which allows your company to provide personalized interactions in and across every channel by shaping the customer experience using customer data, interaction and personal preferences. Reporting and analytics can help you better understand your customers' journey using complete engagement reporting and analytics to help you focus on service strategies and operational efficiency.
2. Shared Real-Time and Historical Reporting
Shared real-time and historical reporting data helps companies keep up-to-the-minute information on customers and that can be combined with other sources of business data. With historical reporting and dashboards, your company can easily evaluate data and uncover trends that help bolster business operations and service strategies.
This practice will help your live agents provide the best possible customer service, as they will be able to see every piece of data about that customer from one source. Plus, your team of live agents will never have to worry about whether that information is the most current.
3. Implement Omnichannel Support
These days, consumers want to interact with businesses across multiple channels, including web, mobile apps, social media, email, SMS/text and live chat.
In order to keep your customers' information and activities organized and in one place, consider adopting omnichannel support, which will allow your live agents to never have to go searching through a stale spreadsheet or outdated database for obscure customer data again.
4. Focus on the Customer
If you're too focused on saving money or just trying to get rid of the headache of internal customer service, you will set yourself up for failure. Instead, try focusing more on the customer and how he/she can benefit. Additionally, make sure to implement feedback from customers about your company and ensure your tools and metrics are aligned so that the quality of your customer care doesn't suffer.
In order to attain high-value customer support, you need to set aside some time to think about the most effective ways to create a winning customer service team that uses best practices when interacting with customers. A cloud contact center can help you keep the focus on the customer and drive you toward outsourcing success.
Tech Will Guide You Along the Way
Outsourcing your company's customer service can be a breeze, particularly with the help of an industry-leading cloud contact center solution. If you're ready to take the leap and outsource your company's customer service department, consider implementing a cloud contact center solution for the reasons mentioned above. To provide a unified, high-quality customer experience, you'll need modern technology to guide you through the murky waters of outsourcing customer support.
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