Should You Use Overseas Live Chat Agents?

April 6, 2021

Live chat software based in your home country or a neighbouring nation is a much more productive service for websites than a live chat service that is outsourced to another country, especially one whereby the culture is entirely different. 

When you hire live chat agents, you want to know exactly who is going to be speaking with your customers. Whilst foreign markets offer live chat support that tries to win your business through price, in a race to the bottom, the live chat service you get in return is often poor in comparison to home-based live chat services. The focus is on quantity and not quality when answering live chat. 

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for in life, and these mega cheap services tend to come at a cost. Plus, if you choose a home-based business, you know they will adhere to all of the local laws with regard to document shredding and data retention.

How Local Live Chat Operators Build Better Rapport With Your Customers

One of the biggest reasons to use local live chat services is the culture of the people. We can all agree that culturally, no two countries in the world are the same. You would not speak to or address a person from China in the same way you’d approach someone in the UK, and the same applies online. Local live chat agents understand this, which is why they are able to offer the best live chat service for that particular area. 

When using live chat support, people want help there and then. They don’t want to wait or be referred and if they have to be, then you’ve probably lost their business. The best live chat agents understand this and your local culture, which is why they get to know your business and its products so well, so the help and answers customers need from the live chat are always ready with minimal fuss. 

Live Chat Customer Service Software Needs To Meet Customer Expectations Round The Clock

Understanding the culture of the general public is one highly important factor, but understanding business needs is another essential area. This is why the best live chat customer service software offers 24/7 live chat. 

It’s a known fact that more online traffic is generated from consumers in the evening, when they’re free of work commitments. To best suit the needs the typical customer has, live chat customer service needs to be accessible constantly. If it’s not, then people will simply go somewhere else. And these two critical reasons – culture and accessibility – is why live chat outsourcing has changed from being a tool that gives you an edge to an essential tool in keeping up with the competition. 

To maximise your business’ potential, live chat software and live chat support that is based in your local area are best suited to understand the requirements of our culture and its people. Outsourcing other services overseas can prove to be highly beneficial, but this is one area whereby local is best.

Mark Asquith

That British podcast guy, Mark is co-founder of Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast host. A Harvard, TEDx, Podcast Movement and Podfest speaker (amongst many more!), he's a wildly approachable Brit and Star Wars/DC Comics geek.

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