We’ve heard it again and again: the ‘customer experience’ (CX) is the new battlefield for earning and keeping customers in nearly all industries. Studies show that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for great customer experience, opening up a huge opportunity for businesses. (Source: PWC). So whether you’re a large organization, a start-up, or lean SMB, how can you get serious about beefing up your customer experience chops? One option is to hire an expert. By bringing on a full-time internal customer experience management companies can set a clear mission and deploy strategies to improve customer service, create engaged customers, and facilitate organic growth. A skilled customer experience manager can also help develop service procedures, policies, standards, so customers are getting the absolute best and most personalized experiences possible. Sounds great, right?
It does, but, unfortunately, you’ll have to shell out the big bucks to find a qualified person. The national average salary for a customer experience manager is $62,909 in the United States, according to Glassdoor. And these figures don’t include the technology and infrastructure needed to put these CX plans into action. Getting serious about managing the customer experience also requires having tools for things like multi-channel management, mapping out customer segmentation, sentiment analysis, and more. These types of line of business apps can take a big bite out of your marketing and sales support budget.
Are there any alternatives?
So, is there another way? Outsourcing – done right – is proven to enhance the customer experience, while keeping teams within budget and on track with other priorities across the business. You may be wondering, ‘why do customer experience activities pair so well with outsourcing?’ Let’s dig deeper into the nitty-gritty to learn more.
- Benefit from years of best practices and experience – One of the primary benefits of working with an outsourcing partner that’s knowledgeable about CX strategies is that they typically also service many other clients and often in different industries. Because of their breadth of experience, they may be able to offer greater insight into what works, such as creating a clear customer experience vision or taking steps to better understand who your customers are. Or, are you curious about omnichannel customer engagement? Or do you want to learn more about customer segmentation? Or how about building personalized messages for customers? The right partner can help optimize your efforts because of their experience and broad but specialized skill set – all while getting you up to speed on the newest customer experience strategies quickly.
- Save money while scaling your business – We already know that hiring full-time internal staffers to bump up your customer support operations can be expensive. Costs are exceptionally high in cities like New York, LA, or Silicon Valley, where the cost of living is extremely high and getting worse. Thanks to high-speed internet, mobile apps, online collaboration tools, and cloud computing, it’s now easier than ever to work remotely with teams, including customer experience specialists. If your strategy also includes leveraging contact center services, a remote team can be particularly beneficial because you can find skilled professionals outside of your area, where wages and the cost of living may be significantly lower. Also, it’s important to note that operations can still be kept onshore while also keeping costs down and better serving your customers.
- Building up business resiliency – Another benefit of working with an outside partner is that it builds in redundancy and resiliency into the business. If your company offices are all regional, including your contact center, what happens during a fire, hurricane, or other disasters? If customers need to get in touch to resolve an issue, can they still expect exceptional service? Outsourcing can distribute your team in more than one location to add redundancy so customers can always get the help they need, whether it’s by making a call, chat, email, or tweet.
Customer experience made simpler
The customer experience has solidified itself as a top priority in 2019, and the next decade will be no different. Luckily, cloud computing and mobile technologies have effectively removed many of the barriers to outsourcing, making it a smart option for businesses of all sizes. And while outsourcing shouldn’t be the ‘end-all-be-all’ of customer service or customer experience efforts, the right partner can act as a highly-qualified ‘customer experience sherpa’ – making recommendations and guiding you to optimize your efforts. In the end, customers will benefit big time, and businesses can establish long-term and more profitable relationships with customers.