Outsource Customer Service Without Losing Quality

Customer service is one of the most common things businesses outsource, and one of the easiest to get wrong. Done well, you get faster answers for customers, calls covered outside office hours and a lower cost per contact. Done badly, customers reach someone who does not know your business and your reputation takes the hit.

This guide explains how to outsource customer service without losing quality: what to hand off, what to keep, which model fits, how to measure the results and what it costs.

What to outsource, and what to keep

Start by sorting your customer contacts into two groups.

Good candidates to outsource

• Answering inbound calls and taking messages.
• Order status, hours, location, pricing and other repeat questions.
• Appointment scheduling, reschedules and reminders.
• Lead capture and first-contact qualification.
• After-hours and overflow calls.
• Basic account questions that follow a clear script.

Usually better to keep in-house

• Complex complaints that need judgment or authority to resolve.
• Refund and exception decisions.
• Technical issues that need your product experts.
• Relationships with your largest accounts.

The outsourced team handles the first contact and the routine work. Anything outside the script goes to your staff, with the details attached so the customer does not have to repeat themselves.

Three ways to outsource customer service

1. A shared outsourced team

You pay for minutes or calls, and a pool of trained agents answers for several businesses. It is fast to start and works well for after-hours coverage and overflow. The trade-off is that different people may answer each time. See OnCalla’s inbound call center services for this model.

2. A dedicated outsourced agent

One person works only on your account. You help choose them, they are trained on your scripts and tools, and they get to know your customers. You pay for that person’s time instead of per call, and it is easier to hold one person to a standard. OnCalla’s dedicated agents start at $7 per hour using our nearshore operations in Guyana.

3. Keeping it in-house

You hire, train and manage your own team. It gives the most control and the highest cost. A full-time in-house receptionist averages about $39,460 a year in wages alone (U.S. average, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics) before taxes, benefits and coverage for time off. See our cost comparison.

Protecting quality: the five controls that matter

1. A written script and knowledge base. What to say, what to ask, what to never promise. Update it whenever your products or policies change.
2. Clear escalation rules. Which situations go to your team, how fast, and by what channel.
3. Call review. Listen to or read a sample of conversations each week for the first month, then monthly.
4. A short scorecard. Pick three or four measures, such as response time, first-contact resolution, customer satisfaction and the number of escalations, and look at them on a regular schedule.
5. One point of contact. Someone on your side who owns the relationship and can answer the provider’s questions quickly.

Nearshore or offshore?

Location affects time-zone overlap, communication style and how easily you can work with the team. A nearshore team shares much of your working day, which makes training and feedback easier. OnCalla’s team works from Guyana, an English-speaking country in your general time zone. Read the full nearshore vs. offshore comparison, or see how Guyana stacks up against the Philippines and India.

What outsourcing customer service costs

• Dedicated agent: from $7 per hour using our nearshore operations in Guyana, about $14,560 a year for a full-time schedule of 2,080 hours.
• Monthly plans: $99 for 100 voice minutes, $249 for 300 and $399 for 500. See pricing.
• Market comparison: well-known U.S. live receptionist services publish plans that work out to roughly $3 to $5 per minute, and some charge per call.

The cheapest option on paper is not always the cheapest in practice. Count the cost of unanswered calls and customers who do not call back.

A 30-day plan to get started

1. Week 1: list your top ten customer questions, write answers, and define your escalation rules.
2. Week 2: launch with limited coverage, such as after hours or overflow.
3. Week 3: review call samples, correct the script and add anything that came up.
4. Week 4: look at your scorecard and decide whether to expand coverage.

Warning signs when choosing a provider

• They will not let you hear sample calls or speak to the people who would answer for you.
• Pricing is vague or has unexplained extra fees.
• No clear process for changing scripts.
• They cannot explain how your customers’ information is handled.
• Long contracts with no trial period.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between outsourcing customer service and an answering service?

An answering service mainly takes messages and routes calls. Outsourced customer service goes further: scheduling, answering common questions and resolving routine issues. Many providers offer both on the same team.

Will customers know the service is outsourced?

Calls are answered in your company’s name using your script. Customers reach a person who can help them and pass the details to your team.

Can I start small?

Yes. Many businesses begin with after-hours or overflow calls and expand once they see the results.