The days when customer support was nothing more than a back-office operation are long gone. Today, it’s deeply woven into daily business operations.
Business leaders have realized the importance of CX. To give tough competition to their rivals, companies have now started offering after-hours support.
And it’s not just a fancy service that only established companies can afford, but a mainstream solution that businesses of all types and sizes are embracing.
The reason? It’s one of the biggest drivers of customer satisfaction.
CX/CS research shows that 59% of customers find customer experience more important than price, and 86% tend to believe a brand more if it provides an excellent customer experience.
Given the significance of CX in the modern business world, it makes sense for companies to invest their time, money, and resources in creating a perfect customer support desk.
Many outsource the task to third-party service providers, as that seems a smarter, more affordable, and flexible option.
What is Outsourced After-Hours Support?
Suppose you need to buy something urgently on a weekend. You found a brand, selected the product, added it to the cart, and completed the checkout, only to get a message that says “your payment can’t be processed”.
What would you do? You might either call or email the support team, or, if you can’t wait, you may initiate a live chat to talk to an agent.
They may look into the error and help you understand the reason your payment is declined and what you can do to complete the transfer.
Now, imagine they don’t have a support desk available on weekends. Your next best option is to find another brand offering the same product. That’s how businesses lose customers.
You may have a dedicated customer support department that addresses your customers’ concerns during operational hours, but what about when your internal team signs off?
It’s important to consider after-hours support because customer queries can come in at any time.
And these aren’t always simple questions, such as how to use your software or how much the license fees cost. Sometimes, their concerns are more complex and require immediate attention.
For example, a customer using your server might experience downtime, or a bank customer could receive a notification regarding an unknown transaction from their account.
These issues can’t wait until morning or the weekend is over. This is exactly where after-hours customer support steps in.
Outsourced after-hours support refers to customer support services available beyond the regular business hours.
For example, if a business’s operating hours are from 9 AM to 5 PM, outsourced after-hours support will start at 5 PM, when the internal employees sign off, and manage all customer queries from there.
In-house Vs. Outsourced Customer Support
For after-hours support, a company can either create an internal support desk that takes over customer calls after business hours or outsource the service to an already established help desk.
The latter is a more feasible choice, as it allows you to scale up or down based on the volume of customer queries.
They already have qualified agents who can learn the call scripts and escalation protocols and handle after-hours support flawlessly.
Companies can also set up their own in-house support desk, where they will hire independent agents, train them, and rotate shifts to ensure smooth operations.
Either way, the goal is to ensure that there’s an agent available for your existing or potential customers. This helps build customer trust and loyalty.
Alternatively, some companies deploy a hybrid model, where the outsourced team is assigned the routine customer queries, while an in-house after-hours support team handles the more sensitive and complex concerns.
When Should You Outsource After-Hours Customer Support?
Not every business requires overnight, weekend, or 24/7 customer support.
However, if you have customer queries after business hours, it makes sense to consider outsourcing an after-hours support desk.
Still not sure whether the service is right for your business? Here’s when it’s worth considering.
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Your Customers Contact Your Business After Working Hours
The obvious sign that you should outsource after-hours customer support is that your customers contact you once your office hours are over.
The simplest way to know whether you have post-work-hours customer queries is by checking the support data.
Check the last few months’ records showing the time your customers send an email, send a social media message, or call your company.
If there are no customers contacting you after business hours, an after-hours support desk is not needed.
However, if you receive customer queries after winding up, it’s worth considering after-hours support. Every unanswered question increases the risk of your customers abandoning your business and switching to competitors.
Remember, not every customer can wait till the morning. And frequently delayed responses will be much more than just a matter of inconvenience to your customers.
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You Have Customers Across Different Time Zones
After-hours support is also an important consideration for businesses that run globally.
For example, if you have a software company based in India and clients located in different corners of the world, including America, Australia, and Canada, your normal working hours may be at midnight or early morning in other regions.
This may not be problematic initially, but as your clientele expands and you have a large number of international customers, managing the support desk can become increasingly challenging.
You can either extend the work hours of your existing customer support team and pay overtime bonuses or outsource after-hours support desk operations to 31West and get full-fledged call center services with multilingual support.
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When You Can’t Employ an In-House Team for After-Hours Support
A temporary solution to increased customer calls after business hours is to have your in-house customer service team take turns handling weekend and overnight tickets.
The catch? They can become quickly overburdened. Besides, they may have less flexibility outside their working hours.
It can become unnecessarily difficult for the employees to work different shifts and for the managers to create complicated schedules and manage absences. Sometimes, businesses do not have the resources and infrastructure that support after-hours customer desk operations.
With outsourced after-hours support, you work with a dedicated call center company that’s equipped with experienced and trained staff and modern infrastructure.
The right call center company can not just provide exceptional customer support, but also handle tickets, shift rotation, telecom infrastructure requirements, escalation systems, and the entire help desk operations effortlessly.
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You Cannot Afford In-House After-Hours Support Services
Building an internal team for after-hours or 24/7 support services can be costly. You may think the only extra you’ll pay is the employees’ salary, but the total expenses go beyond that.
If you are considering building an in-house support service for after-hours operation, make sure you include salary, overtime bonus, training, management, scheduling, software, equipment, and infrastructure costs.
For example, if you need extra support service from 6 PM to 5 AM, the same group of employees can’t work the evening shift and then stay up all night. You need to create a sustainable shift structure, which can add to the overall after-hours support desk cost.
External support desk services can be an affordable alternative. From management structures, scheduling, and technology to training and staffing processes, the help desk company manages every support service task. The payment model can vary, depending on the service agreement, but most companies charge based on agent hours, tickets, and seats.
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You Experience Seasonal Peaks
Outsourcing a help desk makes sense when your business experiences seasonal peaks rather than consistent after-hours customer demand throughout the year.
Creating your own support desk operations for temporary peaks isn’t a smart decision. You will end up paying for the unused capacity during quieter months.
An outsourced help desk provides you with greater flexibility when it comes to staffing patterns.
They can extend coverage when customer demand spikes and reduce it later when the number of incoming queries after work hours declines. This level of flexibility matters a lot for businesses that expect seasonal peaks.
For example, if you receive hundreds of thousands of customer inquiries during a specific promotional campaign, building an in-house team or using your existing employees for extra-hours service may not be an efficient option.
If you have unpredictable demands, i.e., fewer customer calls on some days and a large number of inquiries on other days, it makes sense to outsource after-hours help desk operations to a reputable support desk company rather than increasing or reducing the number of in-house agents.
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When the Nature of Your Business is Sensitive
Another factor that matters is the nature of your business. Not every small retailer requires an overnight support desk.
For example, the nature of customer inquiries at a clothing store isn’t usually urgent. A customer may request the details of the return policy or may want an update on the refund. Such concerns can wait until the next morning. However, IT, healthcare, banking, or other such companies may have customers who depend on their business’ service round-the-clock. They can face server downtime, connection errors, account-related issues, or security problems at any time of the day.
Even a server downtime that lasts a few minutes can have a huge impact on your clients’ operations. So, for such businesses, a practical decision is to hire after-hours support services.
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You are Spending Most of Your Time Answering Customer Questions
When you have just started, it may seem practical to handle customer concerns yourself. But as your business scales and you add people to the team, managing customers, finances, HR, and all other areas of operations might not be possible.
It’s not about whether you can manage late-night customer calls, but more about whether you are using your time efficiently.
As a business leader, your focus should be on the ways to expand your business and areas that require your direct involvement rather than customer management.
Outsourcing the after-hours support to a third party will save you and your team time in answering basic customer inquiries, and handling issues that truly deserve your attention.
Final Words
An increase in customer tickets after business hours isn’t usually the only factor that signals a business to expand its customer support desk operations.
Mostly, it’s a combination of factors, such as customer demand suddenly peaking, your internal team being incapable of handling a large volume of tickets during business hours, you not having the budget to create your own support desk that works outside business hours, or you simply planning to use a reputable IT help desk company that can handle your customer inquiries seamlessly.
All these factors combined make outsourcing customer support a wiser, efficient, practical, and an affordable option.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does after-hours support provide 24/7 support?
No, both are different. After-hours support is limited to the duration selected in your service agreement, which may be overnight, weekend, or holiday coverage. 24/7 support includes a comprehensive support service that runs all day, every day.
Is after-hours customer support available for small businesses?
Yes, many service desks offer customizable after-hours support operations that can cover your customer demands, whether you need it for overnight tickets or just for holidays.
Does after-hours support make sense for a business that doesn’t receive customer inquiries after business hours?
No, there’s no point in having support agents when your business receives no after-hours calls.
Do outsourced agents have proper knowledge of a business’s offerings?
Yes, they are provided comprehensive training about a business’s products and services.
Can I only outsource the support desk for overnight customer calls?
Yes, you can hire a support desk for overnight customer tickets.
Do I need to have global clients to outsource after-hours support?
No, many local businesses without a global presence work with external support desk companies.
What’s the biggest benefit of outsourcing your after-hours customer support to third-party service providers?
It builds customer trust, saves you significantly on customer management, and allows you the time to work on tasks that require your direct involvement.
What coverage does the after-hours support desk team provide?
The number of hours covered depends on your service agreement.
Should I hire in-house after-hours support?
Building an internal team makes sense when you receive a large volume of customer tickets throughout the year and have the budget to build an infrastructure that supports after-hours support operations.
Is outsourced after-hours support cheaper than in-house support?
In the long run, it’s more affordable because you don’t pay for agent hiring, training, software, and other expenses.