6 Best Small Business Customer Service Outsourcing Companies
Running a small business without a robust customer service operations team can be a death knell. This is the reason many small businesses are outsourcing customer service to a third-party provider for a dedicated customer support team to handle. Opting for a business process outsourcing (BPO) company means one less thing to tackle each day and ensures customers are getting the service they need.
As a small business owner, you probably have a good understanding of the importance of providing high-quality service to your customers. If you provide exceptional customer service experiences, you’ll promote customer loyalty, which means they will buy from you again and tell their friends and family about the positive experience with your company,further growing your customer base. You can’t afford to damage your brand with poor customer service quality, so it’s vital to ensure you have a dedicated team of customer service agents to do just that – provide customer service.
Outsourcing to a customer service provider means your prospects and customers get the help they need when they need it, no matter if you’re busy tending to other business needs or it’s after business hours. It means no new lead will get lost and possibly go to your competition rather than waiting for you to get back to them. Your customers will feel taken care of and have a more pleasant experience with your company.
Here are some statistics to back up this sentiment:
- Companies have a 15% higher average churn rate when they ignore customer inquiries and support requests on social media than those who respond.
- 13% of customers that are unsatisfied with a company tell 15 or more people about their bad experience.
- 61% of consumers have given up on brands due to poor customer service contributing to poor customer retention.
- 19% of customers say they only give a brand one chance to gain their loyalty.
- 42% of businesses use a help desk system for their customer service needs.
- 24% of small businesses use outsourcing solutions to improve efficiency for customer interactions.
Finding The Right Fit For Your Outsourcing Needs
It’s extremely important to find an outsourcing partner that matches small business culture and values—one that understands your business and could effectively handle your needs and provide exceptional service to your customers. Most outsourcing providers are flexible and customize packages to fit their clients’ needs, so if you have a unique one, don’t hesitate to ask if it could be fulfilled.
Nowadays, answering the phone isn’t enough for customers when looking for a service for their questions or buying needs. They want their requests answered through other communication channels such as email support, SMS support, live chat support, and social media support. Millennials especially don’t want to wait for a response. They want a response pretty quickly, or they will move on to another company, so it’s essential to have your customer service team available through multiple channels at any time of the day or night.
Finding the outsourcing company that is the right fit for your business will typically take a lot of time researching and interviewing before you find the perfect one. We’ve done the research for you and compiled a list of the six best small business customer service outsourcing companies in the industry.
The Best Small Business Customer Service Outsourcing Companies
1. Awesome CX
Awesome CX provides a high-touch, personalized, omnichannel customer experience for small businesses and entrepreneurs. After 12 years of partnering with high-growth startup companies, they have developed a unique results-driven approach to customer service. First-class customer service solutions are custom designed for each client to fit their needs and company culture. Their amazing company culture is a winning one with upbeat, real people that are friendly and easy to work with, and you can tell they really love what they do.
Stats to back up their amazingness and quality assurance:
- 86 ePNS score (industry average is 54)
- 92% eCSAT score (industry average is 77%)
- 96% CSAT score for clients (industry average is 88%)
- 22% Attrition rate (industry average is 90%)
Newsweek Best Customer Service ranking for 2021 selected seven of their brand partners in the top 3 of the respective categories.
Customer service is provided via:
- Phone
- Live Chat
- SMS
- Social Media
2. Speciality Answering Service
Specialty Answering Service provides a live phone answering service that combines all of your business communications with virtual receptionists. Some of the top industries they work with are HVAC, real estate, property management, legal and medical. With extensive training for their team members, they provide great customer service, and they have 30 years of experience in the call center service industry.
Customer service is provided via:
- Phone
- SMS
- Webchat
3. Helpware
Helpware builds customized teams to provide customer service for companies. They put focus on having a great company culture that treats their employees well, which shows in their work. By assigning dedicated customer support agents to each client, they’re able to provide a high level of service. Having eight offices worldwide, including bilingual staff, they have the tools and manpower to handle any size project in any time zone. They’ve worked with some big brands like Universal and Zendesk but also work with small businesses.
Customer service is provided via:
- Phone
- Chat
- Social Media
- In-app
4. XACT
The US-based XACT provides customer service for small businesses here in the States. They deliver customer support and engagement experience for your customers through their extensive training and onboarding process as well as their branded implementation and support tools. They have a call center in Orlando, FL and another contact center in Unity, ME. They are committed to providing their partners affordable and effective solutions for their customer service needs.
Customer service is provided via:
- Phone
- SMS
- Chat
5. Dial America
Dial America provides a range of full services to B2B and B2C businesses. They have grown to be one of the largest privately held call service companies in the United States. With evaluating and reporting, they’re able to make changes and customize to increase performance. They provide an online dashboard to read about your data whenever it’s convenient for you to open and review.
Customer service is provided via:
- Phone
6. Support Your App
Support Your App is a customer service outsourced company operating in Kyiv, Ukraine, but they work with businesses worldwide. With their global reach, they’re able to provide customer service in 31 different languages. They have a team of customer-centric, empathic, and professional individuals providing service for more than 100 customers over the 10 years they’ve been established.
Customer service is provided via:
- Phone
- Online chat
- Social media
The Bottom Line
Hiring an amazing team to handle your customer service needs will allow you to do what you do best-run and grow your business. It gives you the freedom of not being bogged down with customer issues or complaints, and you could rest assured your customers are taken care of by professionals providing first-class service.
The exact pricing of outsourcing your customer service needs will vary, but generally, it’s much more cost effective than staffing an in-house team and can help you lower your overhead costs. These cost savings could be used instead for things that will scale your business and help take it to the next level.
Providing excellent customer care is not done by mistake. It takes full intention and commitment to it day in and day out. Companies known for providing exceptional customer service have a positive reputation in terms of customer satisfaction, like free marketing for a business.
Satisfied customers who had a pleasant buying experience with your company turn into loyal customers who spend more with you than occasional customers. Loyal customers also refer friends and family to your business to help you grow your business with no out-of-pocket marketing dollars spent.
Finding a company with similar values and company culture will make it easier to work with them where you will feel they are indeed part of your team. The company should fully understand your business’s ins and outs to effectively answer any questions or concerns that come up. When a customer has an issue, they want it resolved quickly in one interaction. By providing your outsourced team with a Q&A they’re able to quickly handle any issues that come up to ensure your customers are happy and quickly taken care of.
Call Awesome CX today. We’ll show you how we will wow your customers with awesome first-class service to take your business to the next level through loyal customers and tons of customer referrals.
Sources:
Small Business Company Culture: Why You Need It (And How to Build One) | Credibly
What do customers want? - 37 customer service statistics | Small Biz Genius