Since the late 90s, technology and the digital space have continued to expand. Today, technological advancements have completely revamped our lifestyle compared to 20 years back. Our living style, work, and relations with customers are now technologically inclined and influenced.
The internet is one example of advancements in technology that has greatly influenced the way people communicate. However, over the years, the telephone remains a primary means of communication all around the globe, further stressing the importance of after-hours customer support for your business.
Below is a statistical analysis from EasyBee on why businesses need functional answering services:
1. Nearly 80% of business transactions happen over the phone
2. 80% of people would choose to talk over the phone than communicating through emails.
3. Business with poor caller services is likely to lose the trust of over 70% of their customers
4. More than 60% of customers would stop business relations with a business that has poor caller service.
5. The demand and expectations from customer service has significantly increased by 60% over the years
Many business relations and transactions happen over the phone, and as such, after hours customer support remains a crucial requirement for every business. After-hours customer support is essential to the growth and steady progress of your business. Below are four reasons why an after-hours customer support operations will help maximize your business growth.
1. Customer Satisfaction
Customer service has been greatly influenced by the emergence of the internet and mobile technology. The internet keeps people connected 24/7, and at all times, it is no surprise that customers expect this kind of connection from businesses. E-mails, social media, live chat on web pages and others have been very beneficial in keeping customer relations. However, people would rather communicate with a real person over the phone as it gives them a sense of security, trustworthiness and reliability. People are now expectant of an ever available customer service that can attend to their needs or complaints at any given time.
We live in simpler times. With the help of the internet, anyone can do personal research on the nature of your business, your customer services, and how other people perceive your business and with this information, they can easily decide if they want to patronize your business. It is important to keep your business customer support within reach at all times; this would help your business grow and speak volumes for your services anywhere. Always ensure that your customers can get across to your business at after-hours if they’re in immediate need of support or assistance.
2. Global Reach
Before now, businesses were limited to customers within their vicinity. Your customers may even live next door or down the street from your business location; they could easily walk to your business location to make inquiries or make a purchase without having to call. Today, the internet has given businesses the ability to operate far and wide and deal with clients from all over the world. Consequentially, dealing with customers from different parts of the world entails being subject to their specific time zones and operating on an after-hours support schedule.
For instance, if your business is located in New York and you have clients in Los Angeles, your after-hours begins during their 9-5. The same thing applies if your business is positioned in North America and you have a clientele base in Europe. When your clients can reach you at any time of the day and get reliable help and attention from someone on the other end of the line, they will be happy customers, and happy customers are the first sign of a growing and sustainable business.
3. Reduced Operating Costs
Call centers may be expensive to operate. However, outsourcing is an effective method of reducing after hours support operating costs. According to Mashable, it costs about $1 for each minute of every phone call coming into a traditional call center. In other words, it costs an estimated $10,000 for every 1,000 ten minute phone calls.
Some of the benefits of outsourcing your call after hours customer support include not having to worry about:
1. Hiring or training additional staffs (Staffing)
2. Leasing the space needed for a call center (overhead)
3. Purchasing required equipment’s for the call center (Technology and licensing)
4. Paying additional expenses that may be incurred from running the call center (Complexities)
With this, you can give your company the right after hours support services without incurring the cost of excess expenses from maintaining one on your own.
4. Increased Sales
Customer experience is not limited to just sales. For a customer to be fully satisfied with your services, they must enjoy total satisfaction in all aspect of your business. Customers usually have inquiries and issues from every purchase of any product or service. It is your duty as a reliable business to meet their needs and answer their questions. All these guarantee a satisfied and happy customer, which in turn helps direct your business towards sustainable growth.
This is not exempt for services on appointment. When an after-hours customer support solution is in place in your business or organization, customers can call in at any time to cancel or reschedule previous appointments. This is also beneficial to you, as at any time you can communicate an urgent change in business schedule or appointments with your customer. All this creates a smooth business-customer relationship that may not have been possible through email communications alone.
Make It Live
The importance of “live” after-hours customer support operations cannot be overemphasized. It is expedient for smooth business relationships with your customers and must be implemented for long term business growth.
A statistical report by Harris Interactive reveals that 75% of customers think it takes excess time to get through to a live customer service agent. This is rampant, as nearly everyone has experienced this when on the customer end of the line. However, this has an effective two-fold solution. Ensure to use an a customer support solution that has a call-back feature, with the right amount of live agents working after-hours to attend to every customer needs. This would enable customers to join a queue, saving them from the hassle of staying in line amidst their other daily activities. This is proven to establish your business commitment to customer satisfaction and encourage lasting growth.