Startups have a lot to deal with. In the early days, it’s easy to handle support queries because they tend to be few and far between. But, once the company starts gaining traction, things become a lot trickier. Eventually everyone has to pitch in to answer calls instead of focusing on building the business.
Most companies deal with this by hiring internally, but this may not be the right answer. Finding the right people takes time and the costs of managing an in-house team become prohibitive quite quickly.
Outsourcing gives startups another option: an external team can handle some or all customer interactions while the internal team concentrates on the product, sales and wider business.
The right provider depends on what a startup actually needs. A company selling software may require technical support and help desk coverage, while an online retailer might place greater importance on email, chat, returns and order enquiries. Language coverage, hours of operation, pricing and the ability to adjust the size of the support team also matter.
Where do startups turn with so many options on the market? This post goes through the top five providers for new, growing companies.
1. SupportYourApp
SupportYourApp is particularly well suited to startups that want to establish a support operation without building a large internal department.
The company provides customer and technical support across chat, email, phone and social channels, with services available around the clock.
It works with startups as well as larger businesses and says it supports customers in more than 60 languages across 30 countries.
One of the more interesting aspects of its current offering is the combination of human agents and AI. SupportYourApp offers AI-powered tools for routine enquiries while human specialists handle more complicated or sensitive conversations.
That model can make sense for a young company dealing with a mixture of straightforward questions and product-specific problems.
Startups can also begin with a relatively small support requirement. SupportYourApp advertises a model that can start with one agent alongside AI, with support going live in a month in its stated launch process. Its services include SaaS support, technical support, help desk outsourcing and multilingual customer service.
Security may also matter to startups handling customer or payment information. SupportYourApp lists PCI DSS, GDPR and ISO 27001:2022 among its certifications and compliance credentials.
For a startup expecting international customers or needing technical support rather than basic ticket handling, SupportYourApp offers a broad range of options without requiring the company to build the operation from scratch.
2. SupportNinja
SupportNinja takes a wider view of customer experience, with outsourced support covering several stages of the customer relationship.
Its customer support services include voice, chat, email, social media and in-app channels, with 24/7 coverage available. The company also provides technical customer support and services around onboarding and renewals.
Training is a major part of its approach. SupportNinja says its teams receive extensive training on a client’s brand and products, while quality is monitored through analytics, feedback and ongoing review. That can be useful for startups with products that require more than a standard set of scripted responses.
There is also room to adjust the arrangement as the company grows. SupportNinja describes its support model as flexible, allowing the size and type of support operation to change as customer demand changes.
For a startup that isn’t sure what its support requirements will look like six months from now, that flexibility could be useful.
SupportNinja may be particularly interesting to companies that see customer support as part of the wider customer relationship rather than simply a ticket-solving function. Its services extend from initial customer interactions through later stages of the customer journey.
3. Influx
Influx has a particularly flexible model for startups that don’t want to commit to a large outsourced operation immediately.
The company offers month-to-month support outsourcing and says businesses can start with one agent or ten. Its teams operate across 15 countries, providing 24/7 support coverage.
That month-to-month approach could appeal to startups dealing with unpredictable demand. A company may need additional help after launching a product, during a seasonal rush or while entering a new market. Being able to change the support arrangement without committing to a long contract can make budgeting easier.
Influx also places considerable emphasis on matching the client’s brand voice and performance measures. Its services can be used for ongoing support as well as periods when additional coverage is needed.
For Australian startups, Influx has another point of relevance. The company is based in Melbourne and specifically markets its support outsourcing services to Australian brands.
Influx is therefore worth considering when flexibility matters as much as the size of the support team. A young company may not need hundreds of agents. It may simply need reliable people available when the internal team can’t keep up.
4. PartnerHero
PartnerHero focuses on outsourced customer experience teams for businesses of different sizes, including companies starting from zero support operations. Its customer support offering covers team building, training, quality assurance, workforce management and reporting.
The company describes its services as modular, which means a startup can choose the parts of an operation it actually needs rather than automatically taking on a large package.
It also supports omnichannel customer service and provides managed teams rather than simply supplying individual agents.
PartnerHero has also incorporated AI into its current offering. The company says its outsourced teams can use AI assistance and automated quality assurance as part of its support operations.
For a startup founder, one advantage of this type of arrangement is having operational responsibilities handled outside the core company. Training, quality checks, workforce planning and reporting all require management time when handled internally.
PartnerHero may suit startups that have moved beyond the stage of simply needing someone to answer tickets and are looking for a managed support operation with defined processes and oversight.
5. EverHelp
EverHelp provides outsourced customer support through a combination of human teams and its own AI technology.
The company says it can launch a full support team in under 28 days and provides customer service, technical support, help desk services and contact centre support.
Its approach is built around matching people and technology to the type of support a business needs. Human agents handle customer interactions, while its AI system, Evly, can assist with ticket routing, drafting responses and handling routine enquiries. The company says its AI can operate across email, chat, social media and voice.
EverHelp also works with startups directly. Its site describes support for SaaS companies and other growing businesses, including a case study involving a SaaS startup that scaled to 40,000 tickets. It offers 24/7 support and multilingual coverage, with human agents supporting more than 30 languages.
Pricing can be structured around different measures, including tickets, resolved cases, interactions or hours, depending on the arrangement.
That gives startups several ways to think about support costs rather than tying every engagement to a traditional staffing model.
EverHelp could make sense for a startup that wants human support but is also interested in using AI for routine work. Its model leaves room for the balance between people and technology to change as support volumes develop.
Choosing The Right Support Partner
There isn’t one outsourcing model that suits every startup. The first question is how much support is actually needed. A business receiving a few dozen enquiries a week has different requirements from one handling thousands of tickets across several time zones.
The type of customer also matters. Technical products may require agents who can understand the product in detail, while an ecommerce business might care more about order enquiries, returns and response times. Language requirements can become important as soon as a startup starts selling internationally.
Money matters too. The cheapest hourly rate isn’t necessarily the cheapest support arrangement once training, management, quality checks and coverage are included. Startups should look at the whole service and ask what is included in the quoted price.
It’s also worth asking how the provider handles difficult cases. Customers won’t always arrive with simple questions.
Some will be frustrated, some will have complicated technical problems and others will need an answer that isn’t covered by the knowledge base. A good outsourcing arrangement needs a clear process for escalating those situations.
