The expectations customers have for contact centres have been steadily increasing. The cost-of-living crisis continues to drive contact volume as customers seek more support and reassurance. The role of contact centres is even more crucial and irreplaceable in a time when so many people need help.

Customers seek better customer service

90% of global customers continue to place a high value on the quality of customer service when choosing or staying loyal to a brand. Should they fall short of such expectations, 58% of customers show little hesitation in severing the relationship.

Optimism continues to be strong, with 55% of customers expecting better customer service year over year. This is especially true amongst those aged 18–34, with 70% indicating rising expectations.

Customers seek deals and more information

Businesses of all kinds are seeing an increase in churn as customers are motivated to seek out deals.

Customers are more informed and more likely to ask questions. Buyers have unlimited information and unlimited choices.

Buyers are researching before making their purchase decision, even for the most minor of items.

Increases in mobile searches include:

• 140% increase in searches for “best” umbrellas
• 110% increase in searches for “best” travel accessories
• 100% increase in searches for “best” toothbrush

Businesses must be prepared to answer questions and have information ready for buyers.

Customers seek care and support

There has been a shift towards conversations that require even more care and support. Assisted channels are more important than ever, as customers seek urgency and certainty.

The complexity of interactions is increasing. As the cost of living rises, so does the number of people in vulnerable circumstances, which drives up the volume of complex and emotional calls coming into the contact centre.

Recommendations from The Institute of Customer service:

• Demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence in interaction with customers and colleagues

• Assess the financial, physical and mental well-being of employees

• Provide advice and support to help employees manage the impact of inflation on their personal lives

• Understand the extent of vulnerability and your customer's exposure to the cost of the living crisis

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the current difficulty with recruitment and retention, working with outsourcers is very much in demand not only for cost reasons but to reduce management overhead.

Customers seek self-serve for simple queries

• Acceptance of self-serve for more straightforward queries such as delivery updates continues to grow, but for more complex transactions, consumers are less willing to self-serve than they were 12 months ago.
• The proportion of consumers happy to self-serve a complaint has dropped to 28% in 2022, down from 34% in 2021.
• Self-serve doesn’t replace human support, as many consumers still prefer speaking to a live agent when they have an issue. Instead, the two should seamlessly work together to provide an exceptional service experience that keeps customers coming back.

Customers seek omnichannel options

• Companies need to offer multiple contact channels to meet customer expectations and gain a competitive advantage.
• 66% of consumers actively use three or more channels for customer service processes.
• For customer service departments and contact centres, this has meant a massive shift towards adopting new channels. Currently, 96% of contact centres support voice, 93.6% email and 62% web chat. SMS integrations are also popular.

What are the benefits of outsourcing customer service

Cutting costs

By outsourcing to a specialist contact centre, companies can access the best staff, infrastructure and technology without making the required investments.

The cost of hiring an outsourced contact centre’s services is usually far less compared to setting up an in-house team; long-term savings can either increase a company’s cash flow or be reinvested back into their business.

Improving the operation

Outsourcing customer service now often constitutes a service upgrade, which brings with it a sustainable competitive advantage.

On average, outsourced personnel possess better customer service skills than their in-house counterparts – they have more experience with a broader variety of clients and are subject to higher quality training on a more frequent basis.

Omnichannel is on the rise

Customers are beginning to expect contact channels to be integrated, which will enable them to move seamlessly from one channel to another without interruption, known as Omnichannel capability. Adding an Omnichannel capability will become a necessity, which outsourced contact centres can provide.

Extra resource 

The most prominent benefits are improved business focus and the freedom to redirect company resources.
With customer service responsibilities outsourced, companies no longer have to worry about constantly managing an in-house operation, ensuring cover from limited staff or planning for sickness and other similar inconveniences. Instead, management and staff will be able to concentrate once again on the ventures which made their business prosperous in the first place; the removal of constant supervision and fixed labour costs will allow them to redirect time and money back towards those pursuits.