24 Hour Help Desk

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There’s a movement in the business world that is pushing companies toward adopting an “unplugged” hours model. But just because businesses are embracing this model, does it also apply to customer service?

Especially when customers are stressed, overworked, or are in the middle of a big life change like moving their homes, things as simple as an incorrect order or a missing item could leave them in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Should that mean that customer service teams should be there to answer their call at 4 AM?

There could be a lot of good reasons to adopt a 24 hour help desk, and this article will go over all the 24 hour help desk benefits and whether it’s worth it for your business.

The cost of 24 Hour Help Desks

Before we get into the benefits of the 24 hour help desk, let’s cover some of the costs.

If you’re outsourcing a 24/7 call or chat provider, which a lot of customer service agencies do, the costs can look a little differently depending on how the contract is packaged.

• Outsourcing call center per minute: If you’re outsourcing a 24/7 call center service and paying per minute, you can expect to pay about $1.00 per minute, which can lead to about $1,000 per month for a basic coverage package of 1,000 minutes per month. Or you can hit the maximum minutes at 1,000 minutes for usually a lower cost –  somewhere around $8,000.
• Per agent hourly rates: If you take on agents per hour, the cost can be anywhere from $10-$25 dollars per hour depending on your location and the agency.  Some of these agencies will require a monthly minimum that must be met through the agent hourly rate, so if you don’t meet that amount with the additional agents you’ve hired, there could be an additional cost.
• In-house staff: In-house staffing models are simpler, but are harder to do with larger enterprises or businesses with more demand. If you can manage to keep your staffing needs in-house, there’s nothing wrong having an in-house model, but bringing on highly trained third-party service agents is always available for larger projects or to ease the load.

Additionally, these costs get moved to several other aspects of your business – passed on wait times for understaffed times, benefits for employees, or increased cost of product or service. These can all affect your bottom line.

[Read More: Live Chat vs Phone Support]

24 Hour Help Desk Benefits

Better meet customer needs

Providing a 24/7 help desk service means that customers’ needs will always be met. If we think about those customers who are up late at night wondering about their orders, a 24-hour model can do a lot for your organization in terms of customer experience and customer satisfaction.

Can actually reduce cost

With platforms like Gladly, having a 24 hour help desk can reduce cost of overall customer service. 82% of customers said they would make another purchase after a personalized experience, and 84% said they would go out of their way to spend more money with better customer experiences.

Reduce wait times by outsourcing these efforts

Adding an outsourced customer support technology can significantly reduce wait times for customers. This makes the most sense for companies with an international reach or enterprise-level businesses that need the extra support.

[Read more: Call Center Software]

Market to all types of customers

In terms of how to maintain an edge over the competition, 24 hour customer service is a hugely beneficial marketing tool that can separate you from other businesses.

Earn customer trust and loyalty

64% of customers said they just feel like another ticket when working with customer service representatives. If you project care and trust to your customers by being available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, they are more likely to reward you with loyalty.

Gladly can help fill your 24 hour customer service needs

If you need to outsource customer service agents and are concerned about the quality of the service or agents, be assured that Gladly’s personalized and cutting-edge software will make it easy for agents to place the customer at the center of the experience. Gladly’s solutions reduce wait times, provide all-in-one customer history logs, and provide agents with the tools they need to thrive.

And if you are a mainly in-person business that may not need outsourcing needs, Gladly is still the best option for businesses looking for a radically personal touch to their customer service approach.

Keep up with your customers’ needs and expectations, and try Gladly today.