If your business has decided to engage with an outsourced call center to implement a new customer support strategy, your first step will be deciding whether to use an offshore, onshore or nearshore call center.
Traditionally, most US companies would use an offshore outsourced call center in a bid to access reduced labor costs and minimize the amount they spend on customer service.
However, an increasingly competitive marketplace means the majority of businesses now offer incredibly similar products and services. The only differentiator between your company and its competitor may be the customer experience (CX) you offer, and a nearshore call center will help with this.
What is the customer experience?
Customer experience is simply the perception that a customer has of your organization.
Everything your business does contributes to the CX, from your customer service, the products/services you sell, your brand messaging, your engagement with customers and much more.
CX has become increasingly important in recent years, with customers no longer perceiving price as the real differentiator. Customers now value the customer experience above everything else, from the first point of contact they have with your company to every single one that follows.
What effect has this had on the traditional outsourced call center?
Since the customer experience tops anything else that your company can offer, it’s no longer enough to provide basic customer support. It’s essential that your business is customer-centric and offers frictionless support across the entire customer journey.
This will result in more revenue opportunities, an increase in profits, the ability to build a loyal customer base and much more.
Unfortunately, however, the traditional offshore outsourced call center generally doesn’t create a customer experience strategy. The result? Customers have been left frustrated by long hold times, language issues and a lack of omnichannel support.
The advantages of a nearshore contact center
That’s why many organizations are now turning to nearshore call centers - and for good reason!
The very best nearshore call centers - such as those based in Canada and Jamaica like Advantage Communications - will create a complete customer experience strategy that makes use of new technologies such as contact center artificial intelligence (AI), omnichannel support strategies, live call guidance technology and much more.
Here are five key reasons why your organization would benefit from outsourcing your customer service to a nearshore call center:
- Friendly cultures: Both Jamaica and Canada are known for their incredibly friendly cultures - being polite is simply a habit in these countries. This means nearshore customer service agents have the perfect personalities to address customers, deal with complaints and empathise with issues they are experiencing.
- Close proximity: Are you sick of dealing with jet lag and paying for expensive long-haul flights when meeting your offshore call center? Jamaica and Canadian nearshore call centers are located far closer to your business meaning in-person meetings can be set up more frequently.
- Highly-educated workforce: Both Canada and Jamaica offer a highly-educated workforce, which combine both work experience and world-class education. In fact, Jamaica offers BPO-specific training at the university level.
- Similar business hours: Trying to get in touch with the manager of your outsourced call center to change strategy, or simply ask a question but can’t? This is an issue all too many businesses will be familiar with due to the time differences between your organization and many outsourced call centers. Thankfully, Jamaica and Canada are located in similar time zones to US businesses meaning nearshore call centers are always on hand to answer your call.
- Access to bilingual workers: If you have a bilingual customer base, then you’ll need bilingual customer service agents if you want to deliver a superior customer experience. Thankfully, Canada is naturally a bilingual country with more than 35 per cent of Canadians speak more than one language.
Customers expect more from your organization now than ever before, and your investment in a nearshore call center solution will go further to creating a world-class customer experience.
Are you looking for more information about outsourcing your customer service to a call center in Canada, serving global clients? Contact Advantage Communications today and learn more about how we can help.