5 Benefits of Customer Experience Outsourcing
To meet the needs of the NOW Customer, many CXOs and CX leaders are turning to customer experience outsourcing. What benefits does it offer over in-house solutions?
Here are the top five benefits of customer experience outsourcing, which we will discuss in greater detail later on in this article:
- Predictable, optimized costs
- Unmatched expertise
- Technology with no overhead
- 24/7 coverage, 365 days per year
- Better risk management
Before we take a deep dive into learning about these benefits, however, let’s explore what CX outsourcing is, some possible CX outsourcing solutions, and the Now Customer’s relationship with traditional contact center models.
What is Customer Experience Outsourcing?
Customer experience (CX) outsourcing is when a company utilizes a third-party service to manage its customer interactions and communications versus using its own in-house employees. CX spans every point of a customer’s buying journey, from marketing to sales to customer service and everything in between, so businesses may decide to transfer part of this work to contact centers and call centers that employ seasoned customer support agents using cutting-edge CRM (customer relationship management) software.
The Now Customer and BPO contact centers
The on-demand digital economy and the high standard set by websites like Amazon have created a new kind of consumer — a “NOW Customer” who is always on (and always online) and expects rapid resolutions and engaged interactions from their brands at all times and across every touchpoint.
NOW Customers expect rapid and empathetic resolutions on their terms (not yours). When companies miss the mark, they leave NOW Customers feeling neglected, which results in decreased sales and revenue for your business.
The traditional contact center model of business process outsourcing (aka BPOs) isn’t built to meet the high customer service standards of the NOW Customer.
Fixed staffing, training, and scheduling challenges force CXOs and CX leaders to make costly compromises that ultimately leave customers feeling deflected and neglected instead of feeling like a highly valued VIP and five-star fan.
To revolutionize customer experience, think outside the contact center
There are many different ways to outsource your customer experience. From complete off-shore solutions to bespoke on-shore teams to NOW CX — there are several customer-centric options that will complement your current operations and contact centers.
Depending on your needs, you’ll need to study the benefits and determine for yourself which ones are important to you. Let’s take a deep dive into each of the five benefits now.
1. Predictable, optimized costs
Let’s start with dollars and cents. A lot of companies make the decision to move to outsourcing because they find the expenses are more aligned with their resources. Outsourcing is not always a low-cost silver bullet, although there are many options that undercut in-house expenses (with an expected drop in quality).
Having an in-house customer experience team means paying salaries and benefits. Add in the expense of on-premise technology, management, and overhead, and you have a large, fixed expense dragging down the ROI of your CX every month, which could impede your overall economic growth.
Companies often opt for NOW CX outsourced service because it replaces these unavoidable fixed expenses with a more flexible pay-as-you-go option. As you scale up and down, you only pay for what you need, making sure you’re always right-sized and cost-optimized.
2. Unmatched expertise
Let’s face it, providing customer experience through a contact center is not your core business. But for BPO call center companies, it’s all they do. And they are very good at it.
It might take you several years and considerable expense to effectively train your team of customer service professionals to deliver the levels of customer experience that fit your brand. And that could all be wasted as your best agents move on to other jobs, as retention can be a real challenge.
Outsourced CS can be perfectly customized to your brand in days with agents who are accustomed to being coached and trained. And as you have complete control over the human resources available, you have opportunities to hand-pick a team to tackle special projects or peaks in demand.
3. Technology platforms with no overhead
Contact center technology is constantly improving and advancing at a pace that’s hard to keep up with. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has brought this to the forefront with teams having to go remote and needing the tech to still perform at its best.
Outsourced customer service takes the telecommunication cost and complexity out of the equation. You do not have to rip out legacy on-premise technology to pivot to something completely new. BPO companies bear the brunt of new technology investment and changes, ensuring that their contact centers are up-to-date with the latest cloud-based communication technologies that will deliver flexibility, scalability, and security.
4. Open for customers 24/7, 365 days per year
Your customers now expect an excellent customer experience at any time of the day and every day of the year. In-house contact centers are not always able to deliver this constant support. It might be because they have long-standing labor practices or they simply do not have the ability to hire extra shifts.
Outsourced customer experience answers these 24/7 staffing needs by providing teams at your request, available when you, and your customers, need support. These teams can work across all the digital channels your brand is on, including email, social media, instant messaging, and more. It’s a sure-fire way to show up for your customers!
5. Better risk management
Like other examples of BPO, when you outsource your customer experience you strategically spread risk. As we have seen recently with the COVID-19 pandemic, entire companies can be affected by health issues. A BPO call center, for instance, might not be affected like the rest of the business and be able to successfully maintain operations continuity without your customers being aware of a problem.
Risk, or lack thereof, also applies to legal and human resource issues. BPO call centers handle all the exposure and in most cases shelter you from lawsuits and other issues. They’re a great partner to have in terms of managing a multitude of risks.
The bottom line…
No matter what industry you’re in, having a top-notch, outsourced customer experience could greatly improve your customer experience and service, plus boost the overall growth of your business. Whether you’re in healthcare, retail, or manufacturing, high-quality CX outsourcing can help your company gain trust, prevent a bad review, drive more sales, improve customer satisfaction, and increase revenue. How you treat your customers is powerful enough to make or break your company, regardless of whether you have significant market share or your products are superior to that of your competitors.
Staffing with 24/7/365 coverage when customers expect always-on availability can be expensive with conventional solutions. But a quality outsourced option is always available should you need it. If you’re still feeling conflicted, just remember the bottom line: It’s up to you whether CX outsourcing is the right move for you and your business.
Interested in taking your customer experience to the next level with a human-first, machine-enabled CX solution that meets the demands of the NOW Customer across all digital marketing channels? Trial a solution like ours! Simplr combines people, tech, and data analytics to transform customer experience from a cost center into a revenue-driving advantage. We not only use AI to ensure and scale the service quality of our entire network, but also to provide our partners with the insights and metrics needed to proactively identify and fill any experience gaps that are causing friction for your customers. Check out our case studies and customer stories to learn more.