Not sure whether to outsource your customer service? That is understandable. You partly hand over contact with your customers, and that is an important decision. In this article we list the pros and cons honestly.
The advantages of outsourcing
More time for your business
Answering customer questions takes a lot of time. Outsourcing frees up that time for your product, your marketing and your growth.
No recruiting, onboarding or rosters
Building your own customer service team takes a lot: recruiting, onboarding, scheduling and arranging cover for illness or holidays. A customer service partner takes that over.
Flexibly scaling with demand
Peaks around holidays, promotions or growing marketplace sales are hard to absorb with a small in-house team. A specialised partner can scale up and down more easily.
Wider availability
Customers also order in the evenings and at weekends. With a partner you can extend your availability without running evening and weekend shifts yourself.
Expertise and insights
A specialised partner brings experience with customer contact across channels and can help you with reporting and improvements.
The disadvantages and points to watch
Less direct control
You no longer work in every inbox yourself. That calls for good agreements, reporting and a fixed contact person at your partner.
Knowledge transfer takes time
An external party has to learn your products, policies and tone of voice. A careful start with a good knowledge base is therefore essential.
Risk of impersonal service
Some providers work with canned answers or rotating agents. That can come at the expense of the personal experience your customers are used to from you.
How to remove the disadvantages
The disadvantages of outsourcing can largely be prevented with the right partner and way of working:
- Choose a dedicated team and one contact person.
- Make sure there is a knowledge base about your business that stays up to date.
- Make clear agreements on permissions, escalations and reporting.
- Choose a partner that puts people in the conversation, not just bots.
That is exactly how Mijnsupportdesk works. We combine a knowledge base and AI support with real agents who get to know your brand. Read more about customer service outsourcing or see how we work.