Signs You Need To Outsource After-Hour Calls to BPO Customer Support Representatives

Consumers nowadays prefer on-demand availability, especially from customer service hotlines. They expect customer support to attend to them 24/7. And, if there is nobody to speak with on the phone, even during holidays, customers feel you neglect them.

Even when you give them the option to reach out through emails and other platforms, most customers today still want to deal directly with a representative via call. Don’t even try to route them through automated response systems. 

Take a look at these numbers:

• 56% of consumers perceived automated telephone systems as their worst experience when trying to reach a business. 
• One of consumers’ “most disliked” experiences is only being able to speak to customer support at specific hours.

Customer service suffers if you only attend to your clients within the usual business hours. But do you have the capacity to accommodate calls that go beyond your normal shift? Or should you outsource your after-hour calls to BPO customer support representatives? 

Here Are 5 Signs That It’s Time To Outsource Customer Support Representatives 

Sign #1: You’ve noticed an increase in customer calls outside your core team’s working hours.

Even the most hard-working people need rest. That’s your core team. 

At the same time, however, you shouldn’t expect customers to only reach out to you during hours or days convenient for your team. Bear in mind that an uptick in after-hour calls indicates your business is growing. 

Naturally, as your business expands, you’d attract more customers and grow your market. Now is not the time to neglect customer service. According to Zendesk’s Customer Experience Trends Report, many business leaders equate providing excellent customer experience with more revenue. 

Take a look at one finding from the report: 

• 70% of customers would place more purchases with firms that provide personalized, fluid, and hassle-free customer experiences. 

If an uptick in after-hour calls means a sales boost, your core team members are doing their jobs. Would you punish them by asking them to work beyond their regular shifts? That may seem like more of a punishment than a reward. 

Outsourcing your after-hour calls to third-party customer support representatives will guarantee you don’t exhaust your core team as they drive more sales to your business.

Now, here’s another finding from the same report:

• 79% of business leaders agreed they must invest more in customer support to remain competitive. 

That investment can be a manageable dent in your company resources. Outsourcing a customer service team from an offshore BPO guarantees a competitive cost advantage.  

Sign #2: You are servicing clients from multiple different time zones.

Operating your business online means you can access markets across vast geographical locations. As you service more markets, you must anticipate receiving both queries and complaints at different times. 

The challenge you may now face is this: If your customers reside in locations with a vastly different time zone from your home country, then they may call your business at odd hours, and many callers may not be patient enough to wait the next business day for a response. 

By the time you attend to them within your regular hours, they may have already moved on and taken their business elsewhere. 

Remember:

• 90% of customers expect an immediate response when they raise customer service questions. 
• For 60% of customers, “immediate” is paying attention to their queries in less than 10 minutes. 

For veteran customer service representatives, that “immediate” response is within what they call the First Call Resolution metric. FCR is a measurable KPI that BPO providers uphold to ensure they resolve customer issues on the first call or initial contact, helping eliminate follow-up calls or escalating consumers to supervisors and managers. 

You can respond to customer issues immediately with an outsourced customer service team handling your after-hour calls. It will be as if there’s no time difference between you and your customers.

Sign #3: You are preparing for the holiday rush. 

The holidays aren’t just a jolly season for customers. For many, it can be a stressful time too. The restlessness is most particularly apparent among e-commerce shoppers.

Online shoppers can become anxious worrying about whether their desired items are in stock, their gifts will be delivered in good condition, or their online purchases will be shipped on time.  

Seeing how hectic the holidays can be, your customers may become more impatient and demanding than usual. They might call businesses at ungodly hours for updates, to track items, or to obtain more information about their orders. With that, you must answer customer questions and incoming phone calls — even after business hours — to give them peace of mind and assurance.

Consumers are restless, from Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) to Cyber Monday. The anxiety can continue from Christmas up until New Year. 

That period is critical for any business as customer service quality can make or break holiday revenues. One common mistake among business owners is forgetting to prepare for the holiday rush beforehand. 

Heading into the holiday season unprepared may result in your business missing out on a massive sales opportunity. 

Take a look at these numbers:

• Online retail sales in the U.S. amounted to $240 billion in 2022.
• Cyber Monday sales accounted for the whole $10.7 billion.
• The period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday accounted for $37 billion.

With a designated team attending to calls coming 24/7, you have more chances of partaking in that billion-dollar holiday market. 

Sign #4: You’ve experienced a few missed sales opportunities because no one was around to pick up the phone.

There’s a hefty price tag for every sales call. When you leave your calls unanswered, you would not only waste potential opportunities, but also drive away once-loyal customers.

About 64% of clients search for the contact details of local businesses on Google. If a potential customer calls and no one is around to answer, then you’ve failed to make an excellent first impression. 

You’ve missed the chance to generate sales for your business. And, most likely, you’ll never hear from the potential customer again in the future. 

In short, missed sales calls = missed revenue.

Many companies strive for hot leads. To put it clearly, you want your clients to be very convinced and interested in your brand so they’re ready to purchase at any given moment. 

Failure to attend to client calls may take away that golden opportunity to nurture or advance them further into the buyer’s journey. Worse, you’d put your company’s reputation on the line. 

Only a few customers are willing to tolerate businesses that ignore incoming calls. Once you give buyers a bad impression, they’re likely to shift to the next best alternative.

An auto-attendant or an interactive voice response (IVR) for your calls may not be that helpful. A survey shows that 85% would hang up once they reach an IVR. Most feel a bot can’t help them through their complex customer concerns.

That’s why after-hour customer support is the optimal solution for this.

With 24/7 support, you’ll find yourself surrounded with many sales opportunities. Investing in offshore customer support representatives can be exactly what you need to gain a competitive edge in the global e-commerce marketplace.

Sign #5: You’ve observed a growing number of unsatisfied or disgruntled customers.

Your business may have its ups and downs in delivering customer support to clients. But the minute you notice dissatisfaction among your customers should be your wake-up call to change your strategies. Not doing so may cost you dearly, steering your once-loyal buyers away from you and driving them toward your competition. 

Research by Zendesk reveals that half of the customers will defect to a competitor after a single bad customer experience — and 80% will turn to a competitor after a series of bad experiences.

One disgruntled customer is enough to devastate a business, thanks to the power of word of mouth. If it’s negative, it can spread like wildfire. When a customer informs everyone about their bad experience, it can affect potential consumers’ attitudes toward a brand.

This is what Spiegel Research Center found about negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) on a brand:

• Individuals reduce their spending by 12% and purchase frequency by 5%.

For that reason, you should encourage positive word of mouth at all costs — because you’ll never know if your customer is sharing their experiences with your brand, whether online or in-person, with their loved ones. People tend to believe recommendations from friends and families rather than ads. 

Prevention is better than cure when it comes to handling angry customers. When you notice an uptick in dissatisfied customers, it’s wise to partner with a call center that provides after-hours support.

The outsourced team tackles customers’ concerns in a short but concise manner. They’re also known for their utmost patience in understanding and addressing customers’ complaints.

Industries That Benefit Most From After-Hours Customer Support

Automotive and Transportation

Phone calls are one of the most crucial elements for successful car sales. Most people prefer to call before visiting a dealership, making phone calls the most common first step in a car buyer’s journey. 

Take a look at these numbers:

• 61% of prospective car buyers call to know information about a vehicle after conducting research.
• 31.6% of overall calls convert to an appointment.
• 54% of prospective car buyers will pay more after a good buying experience. 
• However, 72% of calls made to dealerships were mishandled by agents who didn’t ask the callers for appointments.
• 35% of agents also did not offer alternative options when their first cars of choice were no longer available.
• Unfortunately, 25% of mishandled calls could still be converted to sales if representatives called the lead back.

A dedicated team attending after-hour calls ensures the dealership covers all bases 24/7. There will still be ample opportunity to rectify mishandled calls if a team works around the clock. 

Retail and E-Commerce

Usually, we think of retail or e-commerce support as more of an in-person experience — such as a retail assistant talking to a potential shopper or a customer service representative answering customer questions on the phone. 

However, retail shoppers’ expectations of customer service have drastically evolved. In the recent Customer Experience Trends Report, 60% of the respondents say they have set higher customer service standards. That’s why retail and e-commerce should provide the best customer service experience —and part of that is by implementing after-hours support.

Manufacturing and Distribution

Customer service has long been a necessity for the manufacturing and distribution industries. In 2019 alone, 68% of manufacturers invested more money in customer service.

At the same time, phone calls for manufacturing are no longer limited to client relationships, like order management and product dispatch. Neither service is limited to customer handling during the aftermath of disasters.

Today calls in the manufacturing industry involve employee attendance hotlines, shift notifications, and inventory management systems. The evolution requires 24/7 hotlines both for client serving and employee management. 

Hospitality and Tourism

Travelers need comprehensive customer assistance 24/7/365 when they’re in a new place. They require all the help they need to navigate places and avoid possible dangers, or they might encounter urgent problems, such as needing to reschedule a last-minute trip.

Outsourced customer service representatives may help guests by providing helpful information about a country and helping them make last-minute adjustments to their travel bookings or itineraries at any time. On top of that, their solutions are quick, personalized, and proactive. 

Banking, Finance, and Insurance

When it comes to financial concerns, people will want to receive customer support immediately. Imagine waiting for the next business day to resolve a problem with your bank account. This is why financial service companies need to provide after-hours customer service.

Thankfully, some financial or insurance institutions provide 24/7 support to update customer accounts and information at any time of the day. 

Having a dedicated customer support representative for your banking institution could result in:

• More excellent rates of recommendations
• Higher wallet shares
• Better chances of up-selling or cross-selling products and services to current customers

By outsourcing customer service, financial institutions can give their clients support no matter the hour or day and offer meaningful financial advice to help retain customer loyalty. After all, organizations handling money are all about trust.

Consumer Electronics

Most developers and manufacturers depend on customer feedback for making improvements in their products. Here are some of the critical roles of customer service support in the consumer electronics industry:

• Troubleshoot issues in real-time 24/7
• Identify problems and bugs in new items
• Determine the potential for brand-new features and functions
• Update customers’ needs and preferences

An outsourced customer service team can help companies expedite the development of new products based on consumer feedback. 

Furthermore, there won’t be delays in receiving customer concern tickets — and they’ll be dealt with smoothly. Having representatives around to answer after-hour calls can make customers feel that their feedback is appreciated and their concerns are understood even when they call outside business hours. 

Hire Top Customer Support Representatives in the Philippines

Having after-hour customer care support teams allows companies to expand business hours to ensure that there won’t be any missed opportunities. Collaborating with a call center service provider in the Philippines can help you systematically smooth out customer service operations for after-hours customer service. 

SuperStaff has served small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise-level firms. We provide outsourced customer service in the Philippines customized to specific needs and pain points. Contact us today, and let’s see how we can work together to boost your firm’s after-hour call capabilities.