If the only way for your customers to reach out to your support team is via emails or long IVRs, you might be losing on your customers’ satisfaction.

As Leo Burnett said, “What helps people, helps business.” 

And slow responses haven’t helped any customers yet.

The average response time for each customer service channel. [Source - SuperOffice]
The average response time for each customer service channel. [Source – SuperOffice]

That’s why it’s crucial to make your customer services agile and accessible. And what’s better than introducing live chat for this!

In this article, we’ll see how to outsource the live chat processes from scratch and whether it’s sustainable compared to an in-house live chat team.

Why is live chat important for your business?

There are a lot of benefits of having a fast communication channel for your business. Some of the major ones are:

Better conversion opportunities  

When a visitor scrolls through the plans on the website and comes across a doubt, they might not call you up. Chances are they’ll simply move on to another brand. That’s why it’s essential to have a live chat to prompt the customer in the right direction of the buying journey in real time. Although this process is virtual, it’s quite similar to guiding your customers in a personalized manner by a live sales expert from your sales support outsourcing partner.

Improved customer satisfaction

Customers appreciate nothing more than the help received at the right time. Using live chat, you can provide the needed hand-holding and improve the overall customer experience.

Various reasons why customers prefer to reach out via the live chat channel. [Source - 99Firms]
Various reasons why customers prefer to reach out via the live chat channel. [Source – 99Firms]

More team productivity

Your team can manage only one email or one call at a time. With emails, they can juggle multiple customers at a time. It not only leads to happier customers, but your team can also breathe while managing more queries.

Edge over the competitor

Over 54% of the customers have more expectations from support services than they did the last year. It means that how a company serves its customers will act as a deciding factor when customers compare the options in the market. 

What is live chat outsourcing?

Live chat is a communication channel that’s quickly gaining popularity among customers. The reason is simple, it’s fast and allows real-time interactions.

Customers don’t want to refresh their inbox hoping for a revert or press multiple numbers to connect to the required team. They want their problems resolved instantly without the long haul.

Considering this, businesses have started using the live chat option on their website and product. It’s usually in the bottom right corner from where customers can initiate the conversation, and in the backend, live agents revert to those queries.

Hubspot’s live chat option for visitor assistance. [Source - HubSpot]
Hubspot’s live chat option for visitor assistance. [Source – HubSpot]

Since customers can visit your product or website across the globe, you must have a dedicated team set up to answer their queries 24/7.

It’s called live chat outsourcing when you hire a third-party vendor to handle your 24/7 live chat process.

What are the pros of outsourcing live chat?

Quick & hassle-free Implementation

Setting up a new live chat process is no easy feat.

Outsourcing takes off a significant load from your shoulders. All you have to decide is when you want to get started, and the outsourced agency will take up the rest of the mico-management.

Right from developing a strategy to setting up the team and infrastructure, the outsourced company takes care of the whole implementation process for you. It can save you a chunk of time and effort. It’s especially crucial when you want to up your service game before your customers start looking for an alternative.

Apart from it, outsourcing also ensures that regular system and process improvements are made without affecting your services.

Industry experts generating more revenue

Every business wants top talent to work for them, but how does one find and retain them?

It’s a pressing problem forcing businesses to spend a generous amount of money on hiring and training.

When you outsource the live chat process, you get an already trained team who knows about the ins and outs of the live chat system and are well-versed with the industry best practices. 

They know when to initiate the conversation and which direction they should steer it to tap the maximum potential.

Customer-oriented services

Irrespective of how stiff the competition is, nobody can replace you if you have happy customers.

And it’s even more relevant for outsourcing agencies because they have to show these results with your customers.

That’s why they use 24/7 available, rigorously trained teams to work with a customer-centric mindset.

With outsourcing live chat, you can expect a dedicated team to answer your customers round the clock effectively.

And since live chat requires someone skilled and quick on their feet to resolve the issues, it makes perfect sense to outsource the process.

Better overall productivity 

If your live chat process is robust, then your team doesn’t have to struggle as much with calls and emails. 

It allows them to focus more on their core tasks and leave the live chat to the outsourced team, which is an expert at it. 

Outsourcing live chat allows you to provide better customer satisfaction while ensuring more productivity among your team. 

Affordable scalability

Outsourcing involves a one-time investment, but it’s much less than what you will have to spend on hiring and training an in-house team. 

Since outsourcing live chat doesn’t require any infrastructure or equipment set up at your end, you can use it to scale your business at a cheaper cost.

You can add or remove the live chat agents depending on the message volume you’re getting from the customers.

Stats in favor of how live chat helps the businesses and the customers. [Source - Tidio]
Stats in favor of how live chat helps the businesses and the customers. [Source – Tidio]

What are the cons of outsourcing live chat?

No room for hasty decisions

Choosing an outsourcing company is a significant decision, one that involves an investment of money and time. So, you can’t take any shortcuts here.

You need to conduct thorough research of the available options and then conclude.

Look out for a trusted company with a success record and then understand how they can deliver the results for you.

Maintaining brand identity

Trusting an outsourced team with your customers can be a risk if you haven’t thought through your decision.

If the outsourced team isn’t trained well, it can create a brand disconnection and leave a wrong impression on your customers.

Data security

Data confidentiality is an apparent concern when you engage with a third-party vendor.

Often companies fear the misuse of their data, due to which they turn down the opportunity to outsource.

When should you consider outsourcing live chat? 

So, if you think you don’t need to outsource someone just to chat with your customers and your in-house team seems to be doing well, this section is for you. 

Here are some bright red flags you need to watch out for before making up your mind about outsourcing.

A burned-out team

If your team isn’t satisfied with their daily work, there is something wrong that needs your immediate attention.

When your team struggles to manage all customer communication channels themselves, it can get overwhelming and frustrating with time. Unfortunately, it leads to burnout and fatigue. 

Therefore, it’s crucial to balance the work by adopting cost-effective solutions like outsourcing. It allows your team to breathe and work on other creative tasks boosting their productivity. 

Customer escalations 

Escalations are the first sign of an unhappy customer. 

If your services fail to resolve customer queries or issues in time, it can lead to frequent escalations and impact the customer relationship beyond repair. Therefore, implementing an active live chat system is essential to serve customers better. 

High resource management cost

If you observe low returns compared to your investment, the chances are that your investments aren’t doing anything for your customers, who are the primary source of recurring revenue.

Investing in promising technology like live chat works well when combined with an expert team. It can promise higher returns from the get-go.

Considering all the pros and cons of customer service outsourcing and seeing the pain points it takes away from your business, it’s a no-brainer to have outsourcing for great customer service and support. 

Cost of live chat outsourcing 

The cost of outsourcing live chat can depend on several factors like:

  • The number of agents you require for your live chat operations
  • The availability schedule of the assigned agents, whether 24/7 support is needed or not
  • The country from where you are outsourcing the resources
  • On the monthly or daily message volume
  • The period of service requirement

There are outsourcing companies that offer plans based on the above factors and usually provide the flexibility to customize one for yourself.

Objectives of businesses while outsourcing services. [Source - InfoQ]
Objectives of businesses while outsourcing services. [Source – InfoQ]

How to choose a live chat outsourcing company?

Now, it’s the most important question that can decide the future course of your operations. How do you decide which company to trust with such a big responsibility?

Market reputation

It’s necessary to make a data-driven decision for a long-term and smooth partnership. Understand how the company has helped its existing clients provide better customer services. Analyze the metrics like customer satisfaction (CSAT) for this. Read the online reviews to get an understanding of their current market position and experience in outsourcing.

Team

Learn how many agents they have in their group and what skills they possess. Get insights on their hiring process and metrics they use to call an agent qualified.

Budget

It can be a make-or-break criterion for many businesses. But, instead of just viewing the plans, co-relate the price with the value they promise to bring to your processes.

Scope of work

It requires an extensive discussion with the outsourcing partner to inform them about your requirements and understand how they can help you. See how quickly they can get started and onboard agents for your processes. Also, learn more about their reporting and analytics feature because it will come in handy for you to judge their performance in the future.

Go on: implement live chat outsourcing for your business

The competition is fierce, and the customers are impatient. You can’t take chances with your customer services if you want sustainable business growth. 

Therefore, you must invest in empowering your customers with solutions and meaningful conversations without emptying your pockets, and outsourcing live chat is a perfect way to do so.

AM2PM Support offers one of the best live chat outsourcing services in the industry. To explore how our live chat outsourcing service can boost your customers’ trust and loyalty, book a call with AM2PM Support outsourcing experts.