On outsourcing technical support: What makes customers stick?

If you are a business owner, you care for your brand and put great efforts in advertising for your target audience to recognize you. But there are things you can’t control as a brand owner if you just rely on advertising alone.

You also need to attend to your customers' suggestions, questions, and most importantly, complaints. Big brands and small businesses alike know that this is hard to handle—that's why most of them are outsourcing their technical support.

Therefore, the common ground between the brand and the outsourcing firm is customer retention. The brand hires the latter, of course, to keep its consumers' belief in its products and services.

But what is the science behind customer retention? Why do some brand-building tactics end up successful and some don't? Why do many customers remain loyal to a brand even though it has been involved in many controversies and faults?

Bad service kills, really

Firstly, we should talk about why customers leave. In an infographic created by TheWebCitizen, a large percentage—(68%)—of consumers say that they leave simply because of the treatment they received. And that treatment is from the technical representative whom they talked with regarding their complaint over a product.

Two years ago, the American Express Global Customer Service stated that 59% percent of those who were unsatisfied with the customer service ended up trying a new brand to get what they didn't from the other. And these numbers tell the reality that, often, the fate of the brands largely depends on the efficiency of the technical support representatives—whether they can provide satisfying service or not.

Customer experience matters

Imagine: how did Toyota manage to remain a superb and trusted automobile brand despite the series of recalls in the past few years? How did Apple maintain its positive brand image in spite of the countless labor and environmental criticisms it obtained ever since it was founded?

Customers will not just abandon their car just because its wiper isn't working, nor will they stop using their favorite smartphone just because it was manufactured against environmental conservation ideals and labor ethics.

Most of the time, friendly TSRs are enough to pacify the disappointment of the customer. That's why technical support representatives should know how to help their customers. And because they are representatives of the brand, the simple gesture of politeness, the ability to find information easily, and capability to give the customer a worthwhile and satisfying talk are enough to leave a good reputation.

The real power of word of mouth

Making customers satisfied is not just about making them content. Outsourcing technical support means finding representatives who know that the future of the brand they're handling lies on them. If the conversation ends in favor of the customer, this will surely convert to word of mouth. And we all know how powerful this is. A simple positive review on discussion boards can turn a non-supporter into a new customer. Most people, without doubt, trust brands that people they know trust, too.

In essence, what really makes customers stick is the positive customer experience they get from the brand representative, which, in this case, the technical support agent.

Open Access BPO strongly believes in the significance of customer retention each time it represents a brand. More about the brand can be found on its Google+ page.