If you’re running a small, growing business, handling customer queries can become a time-consuming task, pulling your team’s attention away from strategic projects. Customer service outsourcing can save you time and money, helping to improve service quality and meet customer expectations. Learn about the different types of customer service outsourcing available, as well as the customer service outsourcing companies to consider.
What is customer service outsourcing?
Customer service outsourcing involves hiring a third-party service provider to handle customer requests, questions, and concerns. A form of business processing outsourcing (BPO), customer service outsourcing can be a valuable resource for companies without an in-house team to handle day-to-day customer relations.
Different types of third-party providers can offer a range of specialized skills and services to help you provide excellent customer service. Customer service outsourcing can be classified by physical proximity: onshore (in the same location or country), nearshore (in a nearby country—say, in Mexico for a US company), or offshore (say, in India or the Philippines for a Canadian business). It can also be categorized based on tools used, such as phone support and online chat support handled by call center employees, versus fully automated support using chatbots. Often, businesses employ a hybrid combination of AI chatbots and human agents to help with customer service queries.
Finally, you can classify customer support outsourcing based on the activities being outsourced. For example, technical support outsourcing involves help-desk support for IT-related customer queries, often employed by software companies. Another specialized outsourcing field is customer support training outsourcing, where third-party experts develop training programs for your internal customer service team.
Advantages of customer service outsourcing
Companies outsource customer service for a wide range of reasons, from saving time to expanding into new markets. Some of the advantages of outsourcing customer service operations include:
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Cost savings. Outsourcing your customer service may lead to cost savings in the long run; a company that’s streamlined customer service operations may be able to do it more efficiently and for less than your in-house team.
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24/7 support. By outsourcing tasks to a company with dedicated agents or software tools that work around the clock, you can offer multichannel support at any time—even when you and your team are out of office or otherwise unavailable.
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Specialized expertise. Partnering with an experienced third-party provider can give your company access to professionals who have experience handling a range of customer service tasks, like establishing a ticketing system or communicating with customers in multiple languages or in countries where you don’t have an in-house team.
Disadvantages of customer service outsourcing
Before you hand over the reins of your customer service operations to an external team, it’s important to be cognizant of its drawbacks:
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You surrender some control. Hiring others to do some of your work can mean losing your ability to safeguard quality control in the customer service process. This can potentially hurt customer satisfaction if you choose the wrong partner.
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There may be additional security concerns. Outsourcing customer interactions means sharing sensitive data like account numbers and credit card details with a third-party provider. If your provider’s track record and security measures aren’t up to the mark, you could compromise financial and personally identifiable information (PII).
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Your company may not be the only priority. Outsourced customer service providers often have multiple clients, meaning you might not have the same priorities as an in-house customer service team with only their own company’s process to manage. This may mean agents take more time to answer tickets or use your brand voice less accurately when communicating with customers.
6 customer service outsourcing companies
If you run an ecommerce business without an in-house customer service team, here are some of the most popular third-party companies to consider:
1. SupportYourApp
Originally founded in Ukraine in 2010, SupportYourApp has grown into a global customer service outsourcing company that operates in more than 30 countries. The core services that SupportYourApp offers include outsourcing for call centers, live chats, help desks, and technical support.
Pricing: SupportYourApp creates a quote for potential merchants based on their requests, meaning prices vary depending on a company’s support needs and the volume of customer interactions in a given month.
2. Influx
Established in 2013, Influx is an on-demand customer experience (CX) partner that handles customer service outsourcing tasks like customer support and technical support, running call centers that operate around the clock. Influx offers operations teams that integrate AI with human intelligence, as well as part-time support agents that cost less than dedicated agents. Influx offers customer support outsourcing for clients in a range of fields, from gaming and fintech to startups and ecommerce.
Pricing: Influx uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model and includes training and management costs without setup fees.
3. AnswerFirst
AnswerFirst has decades of experience in the customer service outsourcing business, handling incoming customer inquiries through US-based call centers. AnswerFirst offers 24/7 answering services, dispatching services to relay important information quickly, and scheduling services to handle appointment booking for service-based businesses.
Pricing: AnswerFirst uses an adjustable pricing model employing a per-minute rate.
4. Aucera
US-based phone outsourcing company Aucera offers around-the-clock support to manage inbound customer interactions like customer support tickets across multiple communications, as well as outbound customer support like lead generation. Aucera works with companies in several fields, including ecommerce, insurance, health care, publishing, and education.
Pricing: Aucera uses an adjustable pricing model with fees based on usage.
5. HelpSquad BPO
HelpSquad BPO is a US-based customer support outsourcing company that offers call center outsourcing, live chat outsourcing, virtual receptionist solutions, and knowledge base management of essential information about your business, including website copy, articles, manuals, and frequently asked questions.
Pricing: HelpSquad BPO pricing varies depending on the specific service. For example, virtual receptionist services start at $8 per hour, with live chat services ranging from $185 to $600 per month, depending on the number of chats needed.
6. Simply Contact
Simply Contact is a European-based customer support outsourcing company offering omnichannel and multilingual support across social networks, messenger, call, chat, and email. Simply Contact serves organizations in fintech, travel, logistics, government, and ecommerce across the UK, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria.
Pricing: Price on request.
Customer service outsourcing FAQ
What is customer service outsourcing?
Customer service outsourcing is when a business pays for a third-party company or software tool to handle customer service tasks like fielding customer queries, resolving potential issues, and providing support across multiple communication channels, like phone, email, chat, and social media.
Is it cheaper to outsource customer service?
Outsourcing customer service can be a cheaper option than paying the salaries of an in-house customer service team. Customer service teams may operate call centers in countries with lower salaries, use specialized AI chat tools to handle routine queries inexpensively, and have streamlined processes that lead to savings across the board.
What are the disadvantages of outsourcing customer service?
Outsourcing customer service tasks can lead to a loss of control over the quality of the customer service process, data security concerns, and a lack of prioritization compared to an in-house team with only one company’s customer service to handle.
