No matter how colorful, creative or clever your company’s website is, if the end user is technologically challenged, they may have difficulty navigating it. In the worst case scenario, they’ll give up and move on to the next Google search link. That’s why it’s crucial to have a competent and readily-accessible technical support team to help your customers with website navigation.
Benefits of Outsourcing IT Support
Here are the top five reasons why you should consider outsourcing your IT support to handle website navigation issues.
1. Capturing All Potential Business
Website usage matters. When completing an online transaction with your business, customers may require assistance registering to use a website, remembering user names and passwords, overcoming display issues, or figuring out how to complete an online purchase.
Benefits of website usage support include:
- Increased website visit duration and customer engagement
- Decreased bounce rates and abandoned shopping carts
- Increased sales volume and average order totals
- Improved website usage data collection that will aid in future website development and redesigns
2. Recognizing Significant Cost Savings
Maintaining an in-house IT team means additional salaries plus benefits, as well as costs for training and the purchase, maintenance, and upgrade of equipment. Plus, you need to be prepared for unexpected expenses arising from repair of systems or rehiring when an employee suddenly takes leave. Determining a specific budget for an in-house IT team is venturing into the unknown – which is detrimental to your budget forecasting efforts.
If you contract with an outsourced IT team, you have a fixed monthly expenditure and greater control of your bottom line.
3. Allowing You to Maintain Your Focus
Overseeing IT operations in-house requires an inordinate amount of time and attention. If a system suddenly breaks down, you need to be on top of it the issue. Instead of focusing on how to grow your business, you suddenly need to put this role aside to troubleshoot.
Outsourcing takes these time-consuming tasks away and frees you up to concentrate on what truly matters in the big picture and doing what you do best.
4. Picking the Brains of Known Experts
If you aren’t an IT expert yourself, it’s difficult to know for sure if the staff you are hiring are qualified experts. Instead of jumping through the hoops of screening, processing and certifying an employee to become an IT expert, outsourcing does it for you. BPO companies have highly-trained professionals who are already screened and ready to assist you.
5. Training for Employees, Too
In addition to providing support for end users, including website login support and navigational assistance, you can request training for your employees as well. Familiarizing them with a redesigned website or new software improves their confidence and productivity, and minimizes mistakes – which could mean the loss of customers.
Don’t assume that just because you are able to find what you’re looking for on your site that everyone else can. A second (or third, or fourth) pair of eyes trained in communicating to end users and employees about how to “get around” is critical to the success of your business.
