Customer service processes: which ones to outsource

Key takeaways

The customer service processes to outsource first are the high-volume, answerable ones: order and delivery queries, first-line email and chat, bookings, returns admin and renewal reminders. Complaints and account changes usually split. Key relationships, service recovery and policy decisions stay in-house. Measure by resolution, not just speed.

• Outsource: order queries, first-line email and chat, bookings, returns admin.
• Split: complaints, account changes, renewals.
• Keep: key customers, recovery and policy decisions.
• Measure first-contact resolution, not only reply time.

Which customer service processes outsource best?

Processes with high volume, predictable questions and approved answers. Where-is-my-order queries, appointment bookings and changes, first-line email and chat, returns authorisation within policy, and callback handling all fit. They also benefit most from longer hours and cover, which a managed team provides more cheaply than a small in-house team.

• Which business processes should you outsource?
• 'Where is my order?' queries: handle them at scale
• outsourced customer support for UK SMEs

Which customer processes should be split?

Processes where routine handling leads to a decision. Complaints split at the escalation line. Account changes split at verification and high-risk changes. Renewals split at pricing and key accounts. The managed team runs the routine stages and passes the decision with the facts gathered.

• Complaints: routine fixes out, serious cases in.
• Account changes: routine out, high-risk changes checked in.
• Renewals: reminders out, pricing and key accounts in.

• Complaints handling: what to outsource and what to own
• Caller verification: confirm identity before you discuss accounts
• Subscription renewals: a process that keeps customers

Which customer processes should stay in-house?

Relationships with your most valuable customers, recovery after serious failures, changes to service policy, and any contact where your expertise is what the customer is paying for. A managed team can prepare these conversations, but your people should have them.

• Should you outsource account management?
• Does this process win you customers? The differentiation test

What does outsourcing customer service cost?

Indicative managed offshore rates run about £9–£18 an hour, with onshore outsourced support at about £20–£35. In an illustrative example, 25 hours a week of first-line email and order queries would cost roughly £225–£450 a week offshore. Cost per resolved contact is a better comparison than hourly rates. These are market ranges, not a GBL price.

• Cost per contact: compare in-house and outsourced support
• BPO cost per hour in the UK

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: around half of incoming contacts in an SME are the same five questions. Answering those well, quickly and at any hour, changes how customers rate the whole service.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Customer service process checklist

Work through these for each process.

• Count contacts by type for four weeks.
• Mark which have approved answers.
• Set the escalation line for each process.
• Write tone and verification rules.
• Agree resolution and response measures.
• Review a weekly sample of contacts.

• The process selection score: outsource, split or keep?
• Customer-facing processes: outsource with care, not fear

Next step

Send us four weeks of contacts by type. We will give you a verdict for each process and suggest where to start.