An outstanding customer service strategy is the base for attracting potential customers in this highly individualized world. Building a successful firm in today’s Asian market requires a good product and a solid customer service provider.
To assist companies catering to the Asian market in finding and hiring new vendors and service providers to handle their customer care needs, “Implementing New Customer Service Vendors in Asia” was created as an important guide. The right business process outsourcing step requires careful planning and strategy.
We have carefully crafted this step-wise guide with this important concept in mind. You can follow these practical steps to develop a well-thought-out strategy to introduce and implement new vendors for successful BPO in Asia.
But first, let’s have a quick look at some basics!
Customer Service Strategies: What Are They?
A customer service strategy lays out a detailed plan for dealing with client interactions and delivering a consistent experience to customers with the help of proven techniques and processes.
Companies may follow a well-thought-out plan to reach “what they want to achieve,” “what their customers want to achieve,” and more.
You need a well-structured BPO plan to provide better customer service along with cost reduction.
What do Asian Customers Expect from Western Businesses?
Asian customers have very high expectations for Western products, and businesses trying to break into the Asian market would do well by keeping this in mind.
Western brands must match the needs of the Asian market (including Japan, China, and Korea) and achieve long-term success by knowing the values and preferences of Asian clients.
Here are some important points you need to consider to fulfill their expectations:
- Asian customers demand good Western customer service. This includes fast, helpful service via phone, email, online chat, and personal assistance.
- Western businesses should be mindful of and respectful of local customs and beliefs. To do this, one may need to be aware of the local culture and refrain from using expressions or symbols that are considered insulting or improper.
- Popular Western businesses with a solid reputation are usually more appealing to consumers in Japan, China, and Korea. Because of this, they have a more favorable impression of these brands and are more inclined to buy their items than those of lesser-known brands.
Steps to Implement New Customer Service Vendors in Asia
1. Vendor Selection – Go for a Local Recruiter
Finding qualified vendors for BPO in other countries is challenging, especially in Japan, China, and Korea.
Where do you even begin to search?
You will find applicants of different quality on the same online job board in two countries. For example, a board that works well in the US won’t work in Thailand or Africa. Time zone differences and possible language challenges may hinder the conduct of interviews.
Locating potential vendors that meet the requirements and criteria of the business is the most important step. As part of the outsourcing process, it is necessary to investigate the Asian market extensively and assess potential vendors’ competence, dependability, affordability, and cultural fit.
2. Set Up Standard KPIs
Helpful key performance indicators (KPIs) include the number of chats per hour and the time it takes to resolve an issue. They are particularly useful for geographically dispersed teams. This is because they allow support managers to rest easy knowing that their clients are getting the same high-quality service no matter where they are.
Asian BPO vendors have special benefits, like offering cost-effective solutions and using a wide range of skilled workers who can speak many languages and understand regional differences. Using standard KPIs in these situations makes things run more smoothly and keeps service quality high for various clients and languages.
3. Respect and Value Diversity In Cultural Practices
Your team’s success depends on everyone’s dedication to the same goals and principles. Teams can overcome geographical barriers by adhering to common values, such as open communication, personal responsibility, and a dedication to the satisfaction of customers.
It’s important for the plan to understand and cater to Asian customers’ unique tastes and cultural norms. As part of this process, educated or trained vendors fulfilling the regional expectations, communication styles, language competency, and customer service norms common throughout different Asian nations will be the key to success.
4. Create a Robust Customer Service Toolbox
Your BPO representatives must be able to think, make choices, and manage many channels quickly and discuss simultaneously. No matter the medium via which they interact with a business—be it social media, in-person, over the phone, etc.—almost three-quarters of customers would rather have a constant experience.
A strong customer service toolbox and the correct tools are necessities in today’s omnichannel world. Follow your customers’ lead and use different channels for communication. Nevertheless, keeping tabs on every channel separately is wasteful. If you want to streamline the management of all interactions with customers, a VoIP phone system or UCaaS tool might be a great aid.
In three convenient ways, help is at your fingertips:
- Live chat
- Phone
This way, your support workers in Japan, China, and Korea will save time switching between technologies.
5. Establish Targets for Asian Customer Support
The SMART framework is a good place to start when developing a plan to assist customers in Asia. You may stay on track to reach your objectives within a set timeframe by using SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
If you want to find the slow spots in your processes and fix them, set SMART targets. In place of generalized ambitions, you begin by outlining concrete objectives. Every objective is area-specific in its unique manner.
Then, set objectives that are difficult enough to spur further development and manageable with deliberate effort. These goals should affect how much money your business makes.
6. Create a Continuous Improvement Plan
There needs to be a one-and-done strategy for developing an effective business process outsourcing in Asia. You should carefully consider including a continuous improvement approach since the path must constantly evolve.
Doing so will allow you to routinely evaluate your customer service in all aspects and spot opportunities and threats you might not have thought of before.
Improving and monitoring key performance indicators regularly is another way to ensure higher service and satisfaction.
7. Make Use of Customer Service Chatbots
Compared to their Western counterparts, Asian consumers are far more open to embracing technology. Customers in Asia often interact with customer support chatbots, even though the typical customer in Los Angeles would rather not.
In 2013, OCBC Bank of Singapore introduced Emma, an AI-powered chatbot that could offer prospective house loan customers expert advice. With Emma’s help, the bank has made huge strides in the local market since it opened. In response, rivals have created customer service chatbots like Emma to meet the growing customer demand with the help of AI.
Key Considerations Before Implementing
Important considerations to bear in mind when developing and implementing BPO vendors in Asia are as follows:
- Prevent poor service for consumers at all cost.
- Prioritize the requirements of your customers.
- Try to be quick and adaptable.
- Keep up with ever-changing expectations.
- Focus on maintaining a high level of service quality.
- Leverage the feedback from customers.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, understanding the needs of the average Asian consumer requires you to completely retrain your marketing brain from what you’ve learned as a Western expert. If you want to know how they spend their money, what they buy, and how they behave as consumers—all of which might impact your BPO strategies—you need to focus on the details, not the big picture.
Ensure your strategy to implement customer support vendors in Asia (especially Japan, China, and Korea) stays up-to-date as your organization expands globally.
In the end, the success of your business depends on how you keep your customers happy and satisfied. To develop a customer care team that can satisfy Asian consumers’ expectations for real-time service, it is recommended that you follow the above guide strategically.
Author: Greg.B
Executive with 25 years of proven success in call center management and revitalizing business units. Proven career record of producing multimillion-dollar profits through pinpointing operational inefficiencies and encouraging the revitalization of employee morale and corporate culture change.