Support As A Service For Your Company: Full Guidance And Useful Tips

Published on: 16 April 2021 Last Updated on: 30 December 2024

Customer support is a powerful thing that can help your business to grow. Customers pay attention to how quickly and effectively you respond to their requests and what information you provide.

For example, according to McKinsey, 70% of customers measure their experience based on customer service level.

If the company is not ready to provide good customer service, it’s better to find other solutions than to lose customers. And one of these solutions is called support as a service.

Support as a service: what is it

Briefly, it means outsourcing customer support functions. Let’s imagine that you are managing a middle-sized company and are going to organize customer support. What options do you have?

At least two. First, you may build a customer support department inside the company. Second, you may hire an outsourced customer service responsible for clients’ communications and requests.

What choice is better? You may pick up any of these options considering available financial, human, physical, and other resources. Let’s compare the main pros and cons of both decisions.

An in-house customer support department-

Pros:

The customer support team is fully involved in all processes.
You hire every team member.
You may manage everything on your own.
The success of your external communications with the customers is in your own hands.

Cons:

It’s pretty expensive (needed equipment and installation may cost thousands of dollars).
You pay customer agents for the whole working day and not for the number of calls.
You are not flexible and can’t change the whole customer department in case something doesn’t work.

An outsourced customer support team-

Pros:

You may choose from a variety of different providers unless you find an appropriate one.
You may influence all processes that take place inside an outsourced team.
You should not think about any technical aspects of customer support.
You pay only for the delivered service.
You free up a lot of resources inside the company and use them for more critical tasks.
Your customer service team may speak different languages.

Cons:

It’s possible to get poor service because not all providers guarantee good quality.
Sometimes you may experience issues, misunderstandings, and mistakes.
Your customers may not be satisfied.

Related Reads: Making Sure You’re SOX Compliant

Support as a service: who uses it

During the last five years, support as a service became widespread among different businesses. This model has a lot in common with another approach called SaaS (software as a service) or providing cloud software solutions on demand. Support as a service is popular in:

E-commerce:

People like shopping online (especially now, during pandemic times). They also want to choose goods on the weekend or late in the evening after work. So, customer support has to be ready to provide customers with the required information at any time. In these circumstances, an outsourced customer support team is the best option for businesses.

Tech and finance business:

Hiring a customer support agent with the relevant tech or software experience may last for several months. It’s a lot, taking into account that the company loses money during this time. Professional support as a service provider knows how to find required team members fast and effectively.

Season businesses:

Before Christmas or summer months, some companies experience an increasing number of customers’ requests. As a result, their internal customer support departments cannot handle all questions and answer them quickly. An outsourced customer support team on demand may solve this issue and take over part of requests only for a limited time.

Available services-

Another essential question is what exact services an outsourced customer support team may provide. In general, all normal functions of customer support.

Calls:

According to Zendesk, more than 50% of customers prefer to use phones for communication with the brands. That means that voice customer support plays a significant role in building a positive customer experience.

Emails:

Letters are an excellent alternative to calls. They allow sharing more detailed information with customers. But for better results and effectiveness, you should establish special rules on how soon customer agents have to answer letters, tone of voice to use, etc.

Live Chats:

If your company works with millennials and young generations, think of using modern communication tools like live chat or messengers. According to Statista, live chat has growing popularity in almost all industries.

Support as a service: how to start

Here is a checklist of everything you need to do to start collaborating with an outsourced customer support company.

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How To Ensure Your Customers Are Content With Your Content

Ensuring customer satisfaction is high is one of the most important parts of the business. Without customers being content, there will be little customer retention, and this can impact customer acquisition. Here are a few tips for ensuring that your company’s customers are content with your content. 1. It Starts Before the Sale To ensure customer satisfaction with your products, start before the sale. When you list your products online, make sure you list everything properly, and all the information is up to date and accurate. This can go a long way to ensuring your customers choose the right product for their needs 2. Invest Some Time in your Customer Service Team Similarly, the quality of your customer service can help a lot too. When a customer service team has proper staff with high quality training, this will increase customer confidence in the company. It will also increase customer satisfaction and allow them to make a more informed decision before they even purchase anything. It also allows you to deliver a more personalized and bespoke service. Without your customers, you wouldn’t have a business, so make sure to make them feel special for supporting you. Be available to answer questions and acknowledge their needs, personalizing the service you can give them. 3. Quality Control When it comes to the actual products, they regularly undergo quality control assessments. This will ensure that if there ever is a problem it will be picked up and rectified as soon as possible. By doing so, there will be less of a negative impact on customer contentment. 4. Use Quality Packaging It can be easy to overlook your product’s packaging in favor of what’s inside. However, the packaging is more important than you might think. In fact, global packaging demand has risen over the past few years. The packaging is the first thing that your customers will see, and it is what they might make their first impressions of. This is why it is important to choose a quality packaging solution like those from Duplo International. If your packaging is eye-catching, has a nice feel to it, and is clearly of high quality, customers are more likely to choose your product and be satisfied by its contents. 5. What Does the Customer Want? To make sure that your customers continue to be content with your product or service, regularly compare what you are producing against market research of what your customer base wants. This will make sure that you identify any weaknesses or areas of potential development. 6. Ask for Feedback and Implement it Arguably, the most important tip for ensuring your customers is content with your content is to ask them their opinions! Whether you ask them to fill in a quick survey or put out a call for product development feedback, embrace your customer’s feedback and implement your findings. If you follow these ideas, your customers will stay content with your company’s products and services. 7. Stay Consistent Across Channels Consistency is key to maintaining customer satisfaction. If your company operates across multiple channels, be it online, in-store, or through social media, ensure that the customer experience is seamless everywhere. Customers should feel like they are dealing with the same brand, regardless of where they engage. Consistency builds trust and gives them the reliability of your products or services. This also talks about your brand’s voice, visual identity, and even the way you handle your customers. Consistent messaging and service make your customers feel secure in their choices, leading to much higher satisfaction. 8. Keep Your Promises Nothing frustrates customers more than unfulfilled promises. If you promise fast delivery, deliver fast. If you guarantee quality, ensure your product lives up to that standard. Customers remember when a company over-promises and under-delivers, and it can harm your brand’s reputation. On the flip side, when you meet or even exceed expectations, customers are more likely to stick around and recommend your brand. In the long run, keeping your promises fosters loyalty and makes customers feel valued. 9. Build a Strong After-Sales Support System Your job doesn’t end when the product is sold. In fact, customer satisfaction often depends heavily on what happens after the purchase! A strong after-sales support system ensures that customers can easily reach you if they face any issues or have questions about the product. Whether it’s a clear return policy, accessible customer service channels, or a helpful FAQ section, providing solid support shows that you care about the customer’s experience even after the sale. Offering warranties or guarantees can also be a reassuring factor that keeps customers satisfied. 10. Reward Loyal Customers Another way to maintain customer satisfaction is by recognizing and rewarding loyalty. Offering loyalty programs, discounts, or special offers to repeat customers can keep them engaged with your brand. It’s a way of saying “thank you” for their support. Even small gestures, like sending a personalized thank-you note or offering early access to new products, can leave a lasting impression. By making customers feel appreciated, you increase the chances of them sticking with your brand for the long term. Final Thoughts Customer satisfaction isn’t just about meeting expectations—it’s about exceeding them whenever possible. It’s an ongoing process that requires continuous attention and adaptation. From quality control and packaging to feedback and after-sales support, each touchpoint in the customer journey matters. By focusing on these areas, you can create a positive experience that keeps customers coming back. Read Also: Online Marketing: Selling Your Product And Services Tips on How to Create Repeat Customers Not all customers are always right

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Making the Best from Third Party Lab Testing

Venturing into the hemp market? Like other niches, there is no doubt that your goal is optimizing profit and growing your enterprise. However, the cannabis niche is a bit tricky because it is pretty new, resulting in an influx of poor-quality products. Although the Farm Bill Amendments of 2018 opened the door for all, it is now apparent that you cannot simply trust the products because they are labeled the "best." To be sure of identifying the best cannabis products, you need to move one step ahead and use third party lab testing. These are accredited independent labs that are allowed to help people test the content of their products. While testing the cannabis products is the primary goal for most traders in the cannabis niche, we will tell you how to use lab testing to enhance your competitive advantage. Use the 3rd Party Lab Tests to Check the Cannabinoid Profile One of the key issues that the FDA has noted with cannabis products is that some of them have false information on their labels. In one of the recent cases, the FDA reported that some cannabis products had CBD levels lower than manufacturers had indicated on labels. Because the bulk of clients looking for cannabis products intend to get their therapeutic benefits, you do not want to sell them products with wrong info. Third-party lab tests help you to check the cannabinoid profile, which shows the different cannabinoids and their quantities in a sample. When you notice a product with false information, it implies that a supplier or manufacturer cannot be trusted, so keep looking. Check for the Presence of Harmful Components According to the FDA, every product being released into the market should be carefully produced and proven to be harmless to the user. However, some cannabis products contain products that can be dangerous to the human body. For example, if a cannabis product contains heavy metals, your clients are at risk of suffering from serious cell-structure damage. Other harmful components that can be found in a cannabis product include bio-contaminants, pesticides, and organic solvents. When you subject your hemp product to third party lab testing, the results will show whether there are dangerous components that can harm users. If the harmful components are in qualities that are higher than what is legally allowed, the best idea is not stocking that product. Instead, keep checking until you identify the hemp products that are safe. Tell Clients about the Tests in Your Profile When you take your products for testing by independent laboratories, make sure to tell your targeted clients. This will help you to stand out because clients will be sure that they are buying high-quality cannabis products. They will also refer to others, meaning that your sales and profits are likely to grow. The emerging cannabis market has proven to be challenging for traders because not all products available for sale can be trusted. However, you can use third-party laboratory testing to ensure you stock high-quality products and strengthen your brand. Read Also: What is Cannabis Oil and how does CBD Oil Work? The Benefits of Drug Testing in the Workplace using Drug Test Cups

Support As A Service For Your Company: Full Guidance And Useful Tips