Outsourcing Customer Services
Discussion
Good Morning,
Hope you are all well. I need to expand our customer services team (email, phone and chat, but primarily email), as our existing very small team is at breaking point daily.
We are set to expand into considerably bigger premises next year, however at the moment we have next to no space to take on extra staff and with the COVID pandemic ongoing many of my staff are not keen to introduce unknown members - we have a nice "bubble".
Thus, I decided to look at outsourcing customer service and quite like the idea, but do have several reservations.
Does anybody here have any experience of outsourcing? I have spoken with a firm called odondo and have a call with Ventrica later today.
Pro's
- easy to admin subcontracted labour
- flexibility. i.e increase/decrease amount of help as demand varies
- better coverage, i.e hours/days.
Con's
- never going to offer the same level of service as a fully trained in house team member.
- possible security risks having relatively unknown "agents" in the fold.
- creates a division in that dept with worse comms, i.e cant swing the chair round to X and ask about X customer.
I think if executed well it could be a great solution to our problem. However I think we would have to change the way the entire department works, creating several different streams of customer enquiries to ensure the outsourced dept are assigned only relatively straight forward enquiries. Our inhouse team can then take on more involved enquiries and be there to deal with "escalated" enquiries from the outsourced staff.
Id love to know if you any of you have any experience with the above.
Cheers.
Hope you are all well. I need to expand our customer services team (email, phone and chat, but primarily email), as our existing very small team is at breaking point daily.
We are set to expand into considerably bigger premises next year, however at the moment we have next to no space to take on extra staff and with the COVID pandemic ongoing many of my staff are not keen to introduce unknown members - we have a nice "bubble".
Thus, I decided to look at outsourcing customer service and quite like the idea, but do have several reservations.
Does anybody here have any experience of outsourcing? I have spoken with a firm called odondo and have a call with Ventrica later today.
Pro's
- easy to admin subcontracted labour
- flexibility. i.e increase/decrease amount of help as demand varies
- better coverage, i.e hours/days.
Con's
- never going to offer the same level of service as a fully trained in house team member.
- possible security risks having relatively unknown "agents" in the fold.
- creates a division in that dept with worse comms, i.e cant swing the chair round to X and ask about X customer.
I think if executed well it could be a great solution to our problem. However I think we would have to change the way the entire department works, creating several different streams of customer enquiries to ensure the outsourced dept are assigned only relatively straight forward enquiries. Our inhouse team can then take on more involved enquiries and be there to deal with "escalated" enquiries from the outsourced staff.
Id love to know if you any of you have any experience with the above.
Cheers.
russy01 said:
I think if executed well it could be a great solution to our problem.
Throwing more people at the problem might be a solution. However have you investigated why you're getting so many customer service issues? Are you capturing enough raw data to be making an objective, informed decision or are you reacting to people being busy? Could the money be better spent on some tech or automation or machinery or change in business process or something else that could address the problem at source rather than deal with the symptoms? Not trying to be "that guy" just wondering if you've exhausted all other possibilities for addressing the issues.
48k said:
Throwing more people at the problem might be a solution. However have you investigated why you're getting so many customer service issues? Are you capturing enough raw data to be making an objective, informed decision or are you reacting to people being busy? Could the money be better spent on some tech or automation or machinery or change in business process or something else that could address the problem at source rather than deal with the symptoms?
Not trying to be "that guy" just wondering if you've exhausted all other possibilities for addressing the issues.
See what you are saying. There are of course a few little areas where we can improve efficiency and my guy is currently working on new processes and a platform to streamline said areas. Not trying to be "that guy" just wondering if you've exhausted all other possibilities for addressing the issues.
There is definitely a requirement for more labour. It's not a case of us having a room full of people and simply trying to employ another room of "outsourced agents". We are very lean and the work load is simply not sustainable for the size of the team.
Plus you say issues. Customer service isn't all about issues - our demographic is relatively ageing and our product not always straight forward so many cases are sales/advice related.
Raw Data points and decision - Work load simply above team size, becomes issue when leave is taken etc.
Tech/Automation - Tweaking few processes as above, but good customer service generally needs people.
Here are a couple of things I have seen implemented
An improved FAQ section on the website - can eliminate a suprisingly high number of routine queries
An automated / intelligent email / chatbot that, if implemented well, can also deal with a surprisingly high number of queries (zen desk / chatbot.com / synthetix / ada for instance)
If you are going to expand and you think that you will create another CS role when you do that, why not recruit that person now, have them work from home for a while dealing with stuff and train them up so that they can come into the new building already rocking & rolling
An improved FAQ section on the website - can eliminate a suprisingly high number of routine queries
An automated / intelligent email / chatbot that, if implemented well, can also deal with a surprisingly high number of queries (zen desk / chatbot.com / synthetix / ada for instance)
If you are going to expand and you think that you will create another CS role when you do that, why not recruit that person now, have them work from home for a while dealing with stuff and train them up so that they can come into the new building already rocking & rolling
JPJPJP said:
An improved FAQ section on the website - can eliminate a suprisingly high number of routine queries
An automated / intelligent email / chatbot that, if implemented well, can also deal with a surprisingly high number of queries (zen desk / chatbot.com / synthetix / ada for instance)
If you are going to expand and you think that you will create another CS role when you do that, why not recruit that person now, have them work from home for a while dealing with stuff and train them up so that they can come into the new building already rocking & rolling
We sell on various channels which have their own systems/rules you must adhere to. Its hard to create a one size fits all solution, automated chat could help on say our website - however not well on international Amazon channels. An automated / intelligent email / chatbot that, if implemented well, can also deal with a surprisingly high number of queries (zen desk / chatbot.com / synthetix / ada for instance)
If you are going to expand and you think that you will create another CS role when you do that, why not recruit that person now, have them work from home for a while dealing with stuff and train them up so that they can come into the new building already rocking & rolling
We already have an element of automation in our existing system which already answers a good amount of enquiries.
As for employing somebody now and WFH, this is of course the other option. However I wanted feedback on experiences with outsourcing as this potentially offers further benefits regarding flexibility and peak periods (we are very seasonal).
Haven't been involved with outsourcing of customer services for a number of years now, but when I was the issues were ones which are unlikely to have changed - some random thoughts...
- staff have no sense of belonging to your organisation / no sense of pride in building your business
- works based on scripted responses, so the first step you take removes any intelligence / flexibility from your customer services team (only you will know if this is an issue, but generally it is...)
- out-sourced / scripted customer services by its nature looks to 'handle' / 'terminate' support calls - not to help and build the customer relationship - so is your customer portable, or have you invested to get the customer and now might kill that relationship?
- if a script can be given to an out-sourced member of staff, can that same script be used by bots / automated systems?
- have you done your analysis to find out what drives most calls, and found non-people ways of dealing with the higher % of issues - i.e. as above using FAQs / changing processes / etc.
we work with a number of our clients on process based systems - the principle being that good processes minimise the calls in the first place, and therefore minimise your staff... I would be making sure I exhausted every option there first, then I would ideally look at home-working staff to add to your team - if nothing else the recent events have shown how much can be done from home, and there are a lot of people for whom that would be a great job...
- staff have no sense of belonging to your organisation / no sense of pride in building your business
- works based on scripted responses, so the first step you take removes any intelligence / flexibility from your customer services team (only you will know if this is an issue, but generally it is...)
- out-sourced / scripted customer services by its nature looks to 'handle' / 'terminate' support calls - not to help and build the customer relationship - so is your customer portable, or have you invested to get the customer and now might kill that relationship?
- if a script can be given to an out-sourced member of staff, can that same script be used by bots / automated systems?
- have you done your analysis to find out what drives most calls, and found non-people ways of dealing with the higher % of issues - i.e. as above using FAQs / changing processes / etc.
we work with a number of our clients on process based systems - the principle being that good processes minimise the calls in the first place, and therefore minimise your staff... I would be making sure I exhausted every option there first, then I would ideally look at home-working staff to add to your team - if nothing else the recent events have shown how much can be done from home, and there are a lot of people for whom that would be a great job...
I would echo what has already been said. In my experience they are marginal gains and usually end up just sending the majority of queries back to the existing team or pester them with messages if you use Skype or Slack to communicate.
Unless you have a way of re-routing the most simple or repeated questions and tasks off to them where they can copy / paste a fairly standard reply?
As others have said, if any automation can be put in place with things like on-site information, chat bots, build a knowledgebase for self-service etc then this will cut out a lot of the repetition and noise but I appreciate it isn't as simple on marketplaces such as Amazon.
I do know a guy who is local-ish to you who I have worked with previously. He is a marketplaces specialist and delivered some great results when I worked with him. He has just been made redundant so would be open to opportunities I am sure. PM me if you would like me to pass on his details.
Unless you have a way of re-routing the most simple or repeated questions and tasks off to them where they can copy / paste a fairly standard reply?
As others have said, if any automation can be put in place with things like on-site information, chat bots, build a knowledgebase for self-service etc then this will cut out a lot of the repetition and noise but I appreciate it isn't as simple on marketplaces such as Amazon.
I do know a guy who is local-ish to you who I have worked with previously. He is a marketplaces specialist and delivered some great results when I worked with him. He has just been made redundant so would be open to opportunities I am sure. PM me if you would like me to pass on his details.
russy01 said:
48k said:
Throwing more people at the problem might be a solution. However have you investigated why you're getting so many customer service issues? Are you capturing enough raw data to be making an objective, informed decision or are you reacting to people being busy? Could the money be better spent on some tech or automation or machinery or change in business process or something else that could address the problem at source rather than deal with the symptoms?
Not trying to be "that guy" just wondering if you've exhausted all other possibilities for addressing the issues.
See what you are saying. There are of course a few little areas where we can improve efficiency and my guy is currently working on new processes and a platform to streamline said areas. Not trying to be "that guy" just wondering if you've exhausted all other possibilities for addressing the issues.
There is definitely a requirement for more labour. It's not a case of us having a room full of people and simply trying to employ another room of "outsourced agents". We are very lean and the work load is simply not sustainable for the size of the team.
Plus you say issues. Customer service isn't all about issues - our demographic is relatively ageing and our product not always straight forward so many cases are sales/advice related.
Raw Data points and decision - Work load simply above team size, becomes issue when leave is taken etc.
Tech/Automation - Tweaking few processes as above, but good customer service generally needs people.
My 5ps worth for what it's worth is that it doesn't feel to me like outsourced customer service is the right answer. The sales/advice aspects should be in house people who have some skin in the game, a deep understanding of the products and an ability to represent your company, your values, up-sell where appropriate, play a longer game where appropriate, build relationships with customers and really differentiate your service from your competitors. For troubleshooting, problems, missing parts, knowledge base whatever, that should be automated in various ways via web, FAQs, YouTube videos, chatbots etc. If it can be scripted / broken down in such a way that you can engage an outsource team to cover it, then there will be a tech solution. Have the in-house humans provide the "value add" side of things.
JPJPJP said:
An automated / intelligent email / chatbot that, if implemented well, can also deal with a surprisingly high number of queries (zen desk / chatbot.com / synthetix / ada for instance)
Whenever I go to ‘live chat’ now and find it’s a chatbot I hang up.Maybe I’ve been unlucky but I’ve never found one that’s the slightest bit of use.
I haven't ever outsourced customer service before, but I have been involved in scaling a team from 0 -> 150 during the growth of my last business, including establishing teams in foreign countries. Outsourcing is something that happens a lot in our industry (IT) but for us ownership of the customer service experience was a big factor, even if those direct employees were based elsewhere it was really important to make them feel a part of the company as a whole, so we regularly flew people backwards and forwards for training and so on. It worked really well and allowed us to scale our business much more quickly than would otherwise have been possible.
The other aspect is a massive number of companies still see customer service as a cost centre and a "necessary evil" rather than something that can be a strength and drive your growth forward. Not saying you're guilty of this but it's something to consider whether you can flip it around. When the team is small it is unfortunately inevitable there will be quiet periods where there aren't calls or emails coming in, so one thing is to give people side projects to work on, building out knowledgebases, drafting blog articles and so on. Obviously getting regular feedback from the customer service team is really important - where do they think things can be improved in other aspects of the business?
The other aspect is a massive number of companies still see customer service as a cost centre and a "necessary evil" rather than something that can be a strength and drive your growth forward. Not saying you're guilty of this but it's something to consider whether you can flip it around. When the team is small it is unfortunately inevitable there will be quiet periods where there aren't calls or emails coming in, so one thing is to give people side projects to work on, building out knowledgebases, drafting blog articles and so on. Obviously getting regular feedback from the customer service team is really important - where do they think things can be improved in other aspects of the business?
Ok lots to take in, thanks for your replies.
48k - agreed. Anything sales/advice that is likely to lead to a sale will be handled in house by staff who have the product knowledge and as you say skin in the game.
The system that we currently use has the ability to filter out messages on various criteria - message subjects and content.
So, with the automations incoming messages are categorised into various streams and then assigned to either more advanced in house staff or outsourced staff based on what each person is trained for. I would be looking to outsource the basic stuff...
Drawweight - Chatbots, both phone and online absolutely drive me nuts similar to you. As I said in a previous message a solution like this can only really be utilised on one of my channels, so I'm not too keen. Either way I will investigate...
dazmanultra - I dont see CS as a necessary evil - our team are very good at bringing a customer back round and our top agent puts away thousands of pounds of upsells. My issue is that I simply do not have space to recruit staff into a desk at the moment, thus was considering outsourcing instead of employing and letting them WFH from day one.
I am by no means sold on the idea, as we like to offer a personal service and be in full control of our staff - however there are other merits to the business , so it was at least worth considering.
VEX - You'd soon get fed up with it! A couple hours on a customer service desk and I'm pulling my hair out - there is simply no pleasing some people!
Automation/FAQ - Its been mentioned many times about having good enough knowledge on the web so that customers dont have to contact you. We already have pretty good information (but will look to improve), but regardless of this there are certain age group and demographic (typically older) that want to speak with an actual human and can only just about place an order online (let alone browse FAQ) - we happen to deal with a lot of these.
I have actually had an online conference with the Head of Operations at two outsourcing companies today. It was very interesting, one was an organisation of 600ppl who sit in an office taking calls and reading scripts all day (exactly what I dont want) and the other was more like a recruitment agency simply offering experienced customer service staff to you at a fixed hourly rate.
The latter company would dedicate specific staff to your business (if you commit to enough hours) and they would essentially be your member of staff, but on their payroll. You handle the training and they access your systems directly and communicate with you directly as if they were a full time member of staff. If you were able to get hold of the right person from an organisation like this it could work - but thats the hard bit, getting the right person.
48k - agreed. Anything sales/advice that is likely to lead to a sale will be handled in house by staff who have the product knowledge and as you say skin in the game.
The system that we currently use has the ability to filter out messages on various criteria - message subjects and content.
So, with the automations incoming messages are categorised into various streams and then assigned to either more advanced in house staff or outsourced staff based on what each person is trained for. I would be looking to outsource the basic stuff...
Drawweight - Chatbots, both phone and online absolutely drive me nuts similar to you. As I said in a previous message a solution like this can only really be utilised on one of my channels, so I'm not too keen. Either way I will investigate...
dazmanultra - I dont see CS as a necessary evil - our team are very good at bringing a customer back round and our top agent puts away thousands of pounds of upsells. My issue is that I simply do not have space to recruit staff into a desk at the moment, thus was considering outsourcing instead of employing and letting them WFH from day one.
I am by no means sold on the idea, as we like to offer a personal service and be in full control of our staff - however there are other merits to the business , so it was at least worth considering.
VEX - You'd soon get fed up with it! A couple hours on a customer service desk and I'm pulling my hair out - there is simply no pleasing some people!
Automation/FAQ - Its been mentioned many times about having good enough knowledge on the web so that customers dont have to contact you. We already have pretty good information (but will look to improve), but regardless of this there are certain age group and demographic (typically older) that want to speak with an actual human and can only just about place an order online (let alone browse FAQ) - we happen to deal with a lot of these.
I have actually had an online conference with the Head of Operations at two outsourcing companies today. It was very interesting, one was an organisation of 600ppl who sit in an office taking calls and reading scripts all day (exactly what I dont want) and the other was more like a recruitment agency simply offering experienced customer service staff to you at a fixed hourly rate.
The latter company would dedicate specific staff to your business (if you commit to enough hours) and they would essentially be your member of staff, but on their payroll. You handle the training and they access your systems directly and communicate with you directly as if they were a full time member of staff. If you were able to get hold of the right person from an organisation like this it could work - but thats the hard bit, getting the right person.
Short term you’ve got a space problem, longer term you’ll have bags of space - If you employ 1 outsource bod you take 1 bod away from your stretched team to train (and re train and re train!) and very soon will have a them/us game going on.
Could you insert some home working on your current staff (rotating through the team) to create the physical space for an additional person for now? And then give yourself breathing space to decide whether to change your operating model or whether, given more space next year, keeping things in house is your preferred MO?
Rgds
Jim
PS - I’m loving the extra working from home thing currently, and team productivity is up!
Could you insert some home working on your current staff (rotating through the team) to create the physical space for an additional person for now? And then give yourself breathing space to decide whether to change your operating model or whether, given more space next year, keeping things in house is your preferred MO?
Rgds
Jim
PS - I’m loving the extra working from home thing currently, and team productivity is up!
VEIGHT said:
What's the big chunk of work you have to get through? Emails / Messages or telephone calls?
If the former, Zendesk not only made our CS team much better it made everyone so much more productive. Might be worth a look if you don't have a ticketing system already.
We use a multi-channel platform called edesk. We looked at Zen a few years back but went against it, as edesk handled multi-channels better. i.e we sell via our website but then also via various other marketplaces - which have restrictions on how you can communicate through them. Thus the API integration that edesk has ticks all the right boxes for these channels. If the former, Zendesk not only made our CS team much better it made everyone so much more productive. Might be worth a look if you don't have a ticketing system already.
But, it does everything that can be done - creates a case, connects with our ecommerce platform (ChannelAdvisor) to bring in order details, connects with our shipping management system to bring in shipping info. So any agent can do everything they need to do from edesk...
As I said above I only really want extra labour to do basic emails, i.e our existing team will handle escalations and sales related enquiries where anybody extra can simply take on a basic stream of messages (return enquiries, where is my item, product damaged on receipt etc etc.)
Turn7 said:
If space is an issue that will be resolved in the future, then surely getting a decent person on the books and having them WFH is the answer ?
Solves all the issues raised above ?
I think you are missing my point a bit - your statement is entirely true. However, as an employer I want to hear experiences of anybody who has actually outsourced basic email customer service as an alternative to employing them directly. Solves all the issues raised above ?
Whilst employing somebody to WFH immediately is a perfectly viable solution, as an employer there are various benefits (and cons) to outsourcing - so I would just like to see if anybody has done it and if they have, how it went.
Cheers.
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