Outsource Ecommerce Customer Service: A Complete Guide for Online Stores
Key Takeaways
- Understanding why eCommerce business owners, operations managers, and customer support leads need to use outsourcing.
- How an outsource ecommerce customer support company scales your business by providing key solutions to increase customer loyalty.
- Leveraging different types of outsourced ecommerce customer services outsource types for better communications and timely solutions to customer queries.
- Connecting with CCCI lets your ecommerce business resolve customer queries effectively while staying focused on core business tasks.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- What Is Ecommerce Outsourcing?
- Why Get in Touch with an Outsource Ecommerce Customer Service Company?
- Types of Outsource Ecommerce Customer Services
- Best Practices to Improve E-Commerce Customer Service
- Pro Tips
- Bottom Line
- FAQs
Introduction
Why does your business need to outsource ecommerce customer service? Well, it is time to face this question, especially when ecommerce businesses experience rapid growth and look for hand support and greater resources.
Customer service has a great impact on new as well as existing customers. It heavily affects your business sales. According to Zendesk, nearly 73% of consumers move to a different business after just one negative encounter. These numbers are alarming as companies struggle to stay competitive today.
So, how amazing would that be if you had an option to outsource eCommerce customer service? It gives your customers a delightful experience each time they encounter your brand. The customer service representatives ensure a smooth customer experience across channels. They help customers with every step, and if needed, they even help them with their online shopping decisions. But before outsourcing ecommerce customer services, you need to know a few things. This is why we’re here with this guide.
What Is Ecommerce Outsourcing?
Imagine you are an outstanding baker running a cozy bakery. You could do everything on your own from scratch every morning. But it surely doesn’t mean that hiring staff for baking and mastering new crafts is unnecessary. You can partner with a top bakery in town to get bread every single day, so you can focus on other chores like perfecting the main courses.
In a nutshell, this is an outsource customer service ecommerce methodology, and it is not about losing control. It lets you make smart partnerships that elevate your entire operation.
Why Get in Touch with an Outsource Ecommerce Customer Service Company?
Flexibility
e-Commerce customer service outsourcing scales your operations up and down in order to meet both seasonal demands and long-term goals.
All support channels
An outsource customer service team serves your customers over various channels. They support your live chat, social media, and emails, and also ensure dedicated voice support 24/7.
Increased Customer Loyalty
The strongest predictor of future customer behavior is their previous experience with your company. This is why your customer service should always include a personal and emotional touch to every interaction with old as well as new customers.
Refocus Core Competencies
You can get experienced agents to support customers, so your team can focus more on significant operations and growth opportunities.
TurnKey Solution
You can incorporate eCommerce customer support services into your online store in a quick and cost-effective way. It allows you to avoid the hustle and bustle of hiring and training staff, and also saves the overhead costs of an on-site customer care team.
Types of Outsource Ecommerce Customer Services
With the growth of a business and expansion of its customer base, it requires a solid and effective workforce that can easily assist customers. Have a look at some of the types of eCommerce customer services that you can outsource.
Data Entry
Back-end specialists manage and record customer data, and for online stores that require constant updates of SKUs and inventory, a team of data entry plays a crucial role in such tasks. When you outsource data entry services, you will get accurate and faster turnaround times for encoding data.
Email support
It is one of the most conventional types of eCommerce customer service. Customer service through emails in the past can be much slower as it is lined up over time and not a live method. However, it is quite effective when it comes to resolving customer queries.
Help desk
It refers to customer service reps who provide immediate help to customers with their queries and even urgent solutions to their problems. An outsourcing help-desk team is highly beneficial to e-commerce customers.
Mobile support
Real-time SMS or Texts to customers is a great way to address customer issues during the buying process. Especially when most of your customer base is Gen Z and millennials.
Today, around 70% of global customers have a positive view of brands that are proactive in replying to their customers.
Inbound calls
Customer support teams receive calls to help customers with their concerns. Among other types, ecommerce customer service outsourcing to a call center can be your best approach. Audio call customer service is still the most efficient and widely used channel to contact customers.
Outbound calls
Calls to customers can be for various reasons. Some do follow-ups on customer concerns, while others offer newly launched products or provide status updates. You can consider outsourcing ecommerce customer support to a third-party that performs outbound calls to carry out these tasks.
Best Practices to Improve E-Commerce Customer Service
As the outsource ecommerce customer support team is the company’s ears to convey feedback and support, they can help play a crucial role in developing trust. This is why businesses should adjust their tactics to keep up with the ever-evolving buyer space.
Here are common ways to enhance your eCommerce customer service approach.
Build Strong Customer Relationships
eCommerce customer support outsourcing teams can access important information about customers, including their purchase habits and history, which can help businesses create a more personalized buyer experience. Furthermore, you can also maintain consistent communication, especially if you do promotions and deals.
Maximize Customer Service Tools
Task automation saves a lot of time and effort. It allows teams to focus on essential assignments. Around 96% of customers leave a bad service review if you don’t respond promptly. This is why automating and utilizing customer service tools helps in customer retention, so it would be best to keep using them.
Measure Customer Service
It is all about using different methods to gather customer insights, like sharing feedback forms or surveys with customers, and promoting engagement in your business’s social media comments section is another great practice to improve customer service. It lets you formulate better strategies to target your audience’s requests.
Be Responsive
When you operate online automatically, it sets your business way up for consumer expectations. Therefore, to avoid leaving behind, streamline your overall processes that improve your response times. You can also consider using self-service tools like chatbots for your customers.
Pro Tips
- It is most promising to choose expertise because experienced outsourcing firms communicate better.
- Share the entire brand guidelines and make sure your outsourced team sounds like your own.
- Keep communication clean and open by equipping frequent updates, feedback, and performance reports.
- Partner with CCC International to get a human and emotional touch to your eCommerce customer service.
Conclusion
Outsourcing eCommerce customer service lets you scale smart. And, with your business evolution, your customer base boosts, which also introduces the demand to outsource substantial tasks. Partnering with an experienced outsourcing company ensures your customers get a quick and effective reply, while you focus on your other business goals.
CCC International understands the importance of customer trust in online business. That’s why we have trained support professionals who are reliable and provide multilingual assistance across all communication channels.
So, contact us today and let us handle your eCommerce customer support operations!
FAQs
What is e-commerce customer service?
It concerns helping online customers during their purchase with a company or to solve any queries. It includes responding to questions, solving payment or delivery issues, and ensuring customer satisfaction.
What is the role of an e-commerce customer service specialist?
An eCommerce customer service professional connects directly with customers via chat, email, or on a call to solve product inquiries, assist with orders, etc.
What are the 4 types of e-commerce?
The four main types of eCommerce are:
- B2C (Business to Consumer): Selling directly to customers.
- B2B (Business to Business): Companies selling to other companies.
- C2C (Consumer to Consumer): Consumers selling to each other, often via platforms like eBay.
- C2B (Consumer to Business): Individuals offering products or services to businesses, like freelancers on Fiverr.
What does eCommerce customer service involve?
It relates to customer dealings that are connected to your online store. It cracks queries like getting real-time product information, tracking orders, and more.
How does live chat benefit e-commerce customer service?
Live chat lets customers get replies immediately while scanning your store. It assists in downsizing cart abandonment and enhancing customer satisfaction.