Should You Outsource Your Shopify Customer Service?

As a Shopify store owner, you have to take care of every aspect of your business. You have to prepare financial reports, build a store that attracts a loyal customer base, and market your products. And you have to hire the perfect team that understands the importance of the customer experience.

With so many responsibilities on your plate, you might start to think about outsourcing some tasks — especially your customer service.

Outsourcing often has a negative reputation. You may think of it as a system that sends your company's customer service jobs to a foreign entity that pays low wages. But this is not reality. As the e-commerce industry has continued to boom, so have the technologies and services that power it.

According to SalesForce, 47% of customers will not shop with a store again after an underwhelming customer service experience. 91% won't even complain directly to the brand.

What It Means to Outsource Customer Service

Outsourcing customer service is when you hire a third-party company to handle all your customer care needs. The third-party company can hasten your store's response time to customer comments and questions, provide tailored and professional support channel management, and ensure overall customer satisfaction.

5 Customer Service Channels to Offer Your Customers

Live Chat

Your website should have a live chat interface where you (or a third party) can communicate with your customers in real time.

Social Media

Your social media team can field questions and comments left by visitors to your social media pages. In a study by Bain & Company, researchers found that 20-40% of customers who engage with businesses on their social media pages spend more than other customers.

Email

Email is not the fastest form of customer support, but it's still common for consumers who don't use social media and may not be comfortable using a chatbot widget.

SMS Texts

You can set up a contact form that lets your customers input their phone number. Your mobile support staff will then text the customer to answer any concerns they may have.

Phone Calls

The original form of customer service support is still relevant today. Because this is direct, voice-to-voice communication, it's important that your support staff has a deep knowledge of your business and is friendly to customers.

The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Shopify Customer Service

Pros

Professionalism

Customer service teams are trained to provide the best customer care, 24/7. By relying on them, you'll save the money you'd spend training your own staff.

Brand Messaging

A strong customer service team will familiarize themselves with your brand and work to maintain it when interacting with customers.

Focus

You and your staff have other things to do. With a third party handling your customers, you can focus on growing your business.

Cons

Choosing the Right Team and Services

It takes research to find the right team and services for your store. Depending on the services you end up with, outsourcing can get rather costly.

Lack of Quality Control

It's tough to hand control of your store's customer care to a separate entity, so you have to put a lot of faith in this third-party service.

When Is It Time to Outsource Your Customer Support?

You Want to Be More Competitive

Outsourced customer service teams don't just work during typical work hours — they work after hours and on holidays, too.

You and Your Staff Are Overwhelmed

A growing business is wonderful, but it means you have new concerns. By partnering with the perfect customer support service, you can focus on scaling your business.

It's Holiday Season

Having an outsourced customer care team in place during the holidays ensures you never miss a potential sale due to poor customer service.

Conclusion

Smaller e-commerce stores may prefer to keep their customer service team in house to save money and retain a personal touch. But, it makes sense to outsource your customer service efforts if you run a thriving business and want to focus on operations.