HiredSupport

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in a company that produces a highly innovative 3D video game playing console and applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HiredSupport, and what were your goals??

We launched the new innovative device on the market and expect requests from our clients. We couldn't estimate the volume and the type of requests. So, we were looking for a reliable, professional partner for our clients' support who can offer a flexible, cost-friendly solution that could be scalable based on our current needs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I sent requests to about ten companies. All of them were asking for the value of the requests and types of requests and offered to hire agents for our project. As we operate worldwide and just launched our product, we couldn't tell exactly what the number of requests could be, and we didn't want to hire six full-time agents for unexpected workflow.

HiredSuppor was the only one who offered a shared agent with the option to have a dedicated agent if required. Their President, Joel Wolf, gave us all the required information and helped us to select the best option for us. He was knowledgeable and supportive and offered the value for the money we were looking for.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package, including any calling tools used.

We first needed web chat support, starting from the web chat. Then we added an email requesting support and social media comments. We have our dedicated specialist who covers tier 3 and 4 requests, but HiredSupport provides the first line of support. They are very experienced. We provided all information related to our product.

They are quite independent; we didn't need to supervise them much. Their answers are professional, and they communicate with clients on a highly professional level. I enjoy reading their replies. We work in Zendesk. They even helped me with Zendesk when I had some issues with integration. They act as partners. I'm happy to have them supporting our clients.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

We work with the manager who supervises agents. He is always online. We communicate through our company Slack. The responses are quick and professional. We have another person to communicate all issues regarding the contract and payments.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the service?

We are happy to have HiredSupport as a partner to support our clients. They cover all our communication channels - chat, emails, and social media. They operate efficiently with the information we provide. Their responses are on the highest professional level. Their reaction to changes in our current situation is very fast. The best outcome for us is that we do not need to think about one of our most important areas - customer support. Our partner is taking care of it on a highly professional level.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We communicate through our Slack channel and solve all questions online.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Besides the specific information about our company and product, they didn't need anything to start service. And the level of support they offer is incredibly professional. For the first time in my life, I do not need to manage the process and go deep into internal processes. I enjoy the service.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I don't see it so far. All issues we may have come from our side mostly because of lack of information or undefined strategy. Even in such an uncertain environment, they continue to provide support on a high level.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a online cycling apparel business. We make custom made to order cycling gear.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HiredSupport, and what were your goals??

We needed a way to offer 16x7 customer support so we could be available to hit a 30 minute first touch response time for customers in our primary markets. Hired support was able to provide agents as an extension of our support team as well as fill in for holidays, vacation days, and employee sick days on the fly.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

The deciding factors were the pod structure team to reduce our management overhead and training, the cost, and no long term commitment contract.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package, including any calling tools used.

They provide exceptional coverage anytime we need them. We need most of coverage during US and AU hours. The knew how to use the tools we already had in place and were not only able to assist our customers but perform back office swivel chair tasks to communicate with our suppliers.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

We have an account manager who is available whenever we need him. We also have quarterly business reviews and monthly check in calls so they can keep pace with how our business evolves.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the service?

Increase is CSAT and response time compared to internal members we eventually had to let go.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

N/A

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

N/A

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We operate a VPN and proxy business. We sell VPN and proxy services to thousands of clients around the world. I am the Operations Manager at said company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HiredSupport?

We used HiredSupport to handle pre-sales and post-sales customer support. They were able to bring down our time to first interaction with customers as well as handle our volume during the peak seasons without hiccups.

SOLUTION

How did you select this firm and what were the deciding factors?

We looked at a few providers before selecting HiredSupport. After a few discussions with their team, their prior experience in the industry, and price comparisons, we settled on HiredSupport and couldn't be happier with the quality of service.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

Our customers often come to our live chat and ticket system for pre-sales and post-sales help. A lot of our tickets are related to our service and how it works, billing questions, account related issues, and general FAQ.

HiredSupport arranged a team for us to work with and we went through training sessions where HiredSupport reviewed our current SOPs, knowledgebase, FAQ, and downloaded our software (and even used it). We made sure that they understood what our product does and its popular use cases. We allowed HiredSupport to shadow our current team, ask questions about existing support operations, and to review our closed tickets and live chat interactions.

After soaking up as much knowledge as possible, we started to have them take on test tickets that were pre-created to see if they understood how to answer them perfectly. After a few sessions of training and testing, the agents were perfectly ready to take on our current support operations.

For our product, it took about a good solid week of back and fourth sessions before we were confident in the agent's abilities to understsand our systems and how to handle 98% of our most common scenarios we run into. HiredSupport went live after the many training sessions and we were able to response times and increased our customer satisfaction ratings (using exit surveys) from 69% to 91%, well above our goal of just hitting above 80%.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had a team of 6 agents that helped us around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as customer support agents. They helped specifically with live chat and tickets in our help desk.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

Our response times (both in live chat and tickets) were reduced severely. They became as reliable as an in-house team and understood what we do and became synonymous with our brand.

Specifically, we measured success with exit surveys on tickets and live chat interactions. Before HiredSupport, they were around 69% on average. Within the first month, we were around 83% (our goal was just to average 80%). After 2 months, we hit our highest of a record 91% customer satisfaction rating. We're really happy with the results and glad we found HiredSupport.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They actually helped iron out our workflow. On our side, we realized our documentation wasn't as strong as it could've been, and they helped clean things up which made for a real seamless experience. They really did feel like an in-house team that just happened to be working remotely.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What I found most unique was their passion to really just do better. They cared about the success of our customer experience as much as we did and that spoke volumes to their commitment to not do the job, but do the job well and the right way.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

From my experience, we were satisfied at all points.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our business is in the marketing industry. I am the main manager and supervise most of the work.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HiredSupport?

We needed support from chat agents.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started out by creating a Skype group to train their agents in because it isn’t possible for just anyone to begin working with us without an explanation. They learned how to use our dashboard, how to check orders, and how to reply to customers. They also make notes, which I then check and complete the orders.

We have a lot of traffic, with around 3–4 visiting the site every minute, so HiredSupport’s scope right now is solely responding to online chats; there are no phone calls. I take care of the emails from my end. 

What is the team composition?

We have three dedicated agents, and one person is there for the shift change. They have added more people for the shift change, and in our Skype group, there are 6–7 people. We also have an account manager. I am in direct contact with the chat agents.

How did you come to work with HiredSupport?

My CEO hired them after a friend of his who’d worked with them in the past suggested HiredSupport. We were looking for a serious company to work with; they had to sign an NDA, as everything needed to be confidential. Whoever is using our panel has to be trustworthy.

How much have you invested in them?

I think they became dedicated to us 3–4 years ago, providing shared support prior to that. We pay around $1,800 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since April 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

In Norway, the costs are high to hire someone to work in front of the computer for eight hours a day, and when our CEO brought on HiredSupport, I didn’t know how it would impact our sales. Our credibility increases when customers chat with an actual human rather than a bot, so if one of HiredSupport’s agents is able to resolve a customer’s issue quickly, then they will come back to us to order. They’ve had a good impact in that way, as well as by saving us money. 

How did HiredSupport perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate with them through Skype only.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If there is something that the agents don’t understand, then they will get in touch directly. They write down notes and pay close attention to detail.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve been working with them for five years. I don’t think we will look for another vendor to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you are a large company, then I think you should start with dedicated agents. If you are a small or medium-sized business, then maybe you’ll benefit from shared support as we did initially, and then after you get good results and more traffic, you can move to dedicated agents.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Allergy and intolerance testing company in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HiredSupport?

For LiveChat support.

SOLUTION

How did you select this firm and what were the deciding factors?

We had worked with HiredSupport under different management before.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

We hire their team to cover our live chat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

6

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

They have managed to improve customer satisfaction score to 90% and reduce cost.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They had a very effective workflow.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to listen and receive training regularly means they are a vast improvement on the last company.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No