Live chat has continuously ranked as the top customer service channel over the past few years, with 41% of customers choosing it over all other channels.
But a lot of businesses still have reservations about whether to implement it on their website. They worry about the cost of purchasing live chat software and adding another employee to their payroll.
Instead of keeping their live chat support in-house, high-growth companies like Nikon have discovered a more cost-effective way of implementing live chat support. It helped them capture more leads, drive sales, increase customer satisfaction at a fraction of the cost. Do you want to know their secret? They resorted to live chat support outsourcing in the Philippines.
What is Live Chat Support Outsourcing?
Live chat support outsourcing is the process of subcontracting a third party service provider to perform your live chat support functions. Companies often outsource their live chat support to access industry-leading software and tap live chat expertise not present in their organization.
Outsourcing companies combine the expertise of human agents and live chat technology. They embed a live chat software on a company's website and employ live chat operators that work on rotational shifts. Through a pop-up chat window, customers can send their questions and get an instant response.
Canyon Bikes, a well-known bike manufacturer, demonstrated one of the best live chat examples. Their customer service team prominently displays live chat support at the front and center of its homepage. As a result, they reduced the friction in the customer’s buying journey and captured all sales opportunities across their website.
Here are various customer service functions a live chat support can assist your business with:
- Taking and processing customer orders
- Answering product or service inquiries
- Setting up customer accounts
- Troubleshooting customer issues
- Cross-selling and upselling
- Appointment scheduling
Top Benefits of Live Chat Support Outsourcing
1. Provide instant website assistance
Suppose that one of your online customers is about to place an order to your Ecommerce site. But there’s a problem—your customer is not tech-savvy and got lost in finding your check-out page. With so much frustration, they ended up leaving your site and cost you a potential sale.
Without real-time assistance on your site, you may not know how many potential customers your business is driving away. If you want to ensure you don’t miss on any chance a customer places an order, then outsource live chat support.
Live chat support provides your business with constant availability for customers with problems they can’t solve. By adding a chat button on your website, your customers can reach out to your live chat agents and assist them with their order concerns. This will reduce the friction in your customer’s buying journey which results in higher customer satisfaction.
2. Free up internal resources
Outsourcing live chat support services can support your in-house staff so they can focus on other areas of your customer service. There are tons of customer service channels your in-house team should prioritize too. They also need to be present over the phone, in the email, and even on social media.
If you want to optimize your customer service, then outsource live chat support agents. You can boost your team morale by letting your in-house staff concentrate on their specialized fields. They can bring more value to your business and leave your office with great satisfaction. Plus, you can retain your high-performing employees which can result in low turnover rates.
3. Increase average order value
You noticed that your website has a decent amount of traffic. However, your order values are not that impressive. Perhaps, your team is not selling enough to increase your sales from customer orders. Hiring live chat support agents can help you increase your average order value and online sales through their proven and tested upselling and cross-selling tactics.
Outsourced live chat agents understand that every chat interaction is a goldmine of sales opportunities. They are adept at nudging customers to buy your high-ticket products or avail your latest offers. Also, they can help you curate high-converting sales scripts that you can use across your Ecommerce channels.
4. Generate actionable customer insights
One of the best places to collect customer insights is through your chat history. Using a live chat software, you can store and organize customer transactions for future references. You can use this data to understand customer behavior and preferences to develop targeted marketing campaigns.
However, the cost of live chat software stretches from $20.00-50.00/user every month. If you want to eliminate this from your overhead costs, then consider live chat support outsourcing. Reliable live chat outsourcing companies can deploy up-to-date software and integrate it with your Ecommerce website. This will streamline your live chat resolution and save you on software that comes with recurring monthly billing.
5. Gain competitive advantage
In a live chat study of 1,000 websites, SuperOffice has found that only 9% of websites use live chat to provide real-time web assistance. Imagine how many businesses are sleeping on live chat support? If you want to crush your competition by delivering a proactive approach to customer support, then outsource your live chat support services.
Industry statistics have revealed that 51% of customers buy again from businesses that offer live chat support. It’s because modern-day customers prefer instant responses instead of being hung up or directed to voicemails. Outsource live chat support services and build long-lasting relationships with customers that encourages repeat business and higher customer lifetime value.
Hiring In-House Staff vs. Outsourcing Live Chat Support: Which One Is Best For You?
According to Glassdoor, the average monthly salary of chat support agents in the United States is $3,268.75. This is non-inclusive of other benefits such as health insurance, paid leaves, wellness benefits, allowances, and bonuses.
Meanwhile, when you outsource to a Philippine-based outsourcing company like ManilaPros, you can hire a skilled live chat support at a fixed monthly rate of $1,920. That’s close to half of the wage rates offered in the US.
In addition, every live chat support you hire comes with training, quality assurance, back-up support, and a dedicated account manager. We can help you scale your operation up quickly while reducing your labor costs by up to 70%.
When choosing between hiring in-house staff or outsourcing live chat support, you must take into account your finances. If you’re struggling to keep cash flowing into your business, then the most cost-effective solution for you is outsourcing.
Boost Live Chat Support by Outsourcing Customer Care to the Philippines
Scale your customer service team with the best offshore teams in the Philippines. Work with highly-trained live chat support agents knowledgeable of live chat best practices and maximize opportunities to increase revenue for your retail store.
At ManilaPros, we offer full-service, five-star customer care for retailers. We help online retailers get a quick and higher ROI from their customer service. We provide real-time live chat responses to their customer’s queries for a seamless order fulfillment. We'll provide you with customer support agents who are vetted, trained, and certified for your brand.
Contact us today to learn more about our retail customer care services.
