Flex Support: On-Demand Customer Support Outsourcing

It’s never too early to think about customer experience

Flex Support is a perfect solution if you need to expand your support coverage but you don’t have the ticket volume to justify dedicated, full-time agents yet. Do you have low volume but need 24 hour coverage? Do you want to provide great support for your customers but don’t have the volume to require full-time team members? Consider Flex - outsourcing for your exact needs.

Scale up or down quickly without long-term contracts.

Email and Chat Support Coverage

 Customers send a quick email or start a short chat with you to get answers fast with less effort than a phone call. This could happen at any time and you want to be there for your customers. But what happens when you don’t have enough volume to hire full-time employees to handle customer service? What if your emails and chats arrive scattered during the day and night but your company can only respond during business hours? Do you need to focus on other tasks and need help with your customer service?

What if you could provide coverage to support all of your emails and chats, no matter what time of the day it is? 
We built this service for you. Flex Support guarantees that you can provide timely, high quality responses to your customers no matter when they get in touch. We are experts at scaling workflows and adopting brand voice so your customers get the experience they deserve.  

Flex Support is a group of experienced customer service professionals out of our Manila hub with a bandwidth of 24/7 coverage. Tell us the coverage you need and we adapt to it. Four hours in the morning, two in the afternoon, three and a half at night? Whatever it is, we’ve got you covered!  If you are outsourcing for the first time or need only one support person, this is for you.

Provide amazing customer service experiences through email or chat support, whenever you need it by outsourcing with us. 
We’re here to help. The goal is to let you focus on other crucial tasks related to your business knowing that your customers are taken care of.

A step closer to happier customers and freeing up your time

On-demand customer service pricing

Get a customized plan and only pay for the coverage you actually need.

Our pricing model is simple. You pay a fixed hourly fee for the coverage you need and we’re here when you need us.  

You might not have enough volume to hire full-time customer service professionals to handle your customer support, but need to cover some non-business hours or weekends - you can delegate to us. 

You can modify your coverage or add additional services at any time. PartnerHero scales alongside you as your needs grow. Choose between Low Utilization Coverage (33% of the hour) and Full Utilization Coverage (100% of the hour). You can upgrade to a Dedicated Team at any time. 

Setup fees: There is a one-time setup fee of $1,500 that covers the training of your initial group of customer support or content moderation associates. Quality Assurance and Monthly Business Reviews are included. Quality is our game. From rubric creation to regular QA analysis, our QA Team ensures that every response shines. 

Add-On Services: Training as a Service: If you do not have a training plan available, Flex Support can assist. With our Training package, you can work with our Learning & Development subject matter experts to develop training and construct courses to ensure a successful knowledge transfer to your Flex Support associates.

Not sure about outsourcing on-demand customer service?

Here are some of our clients who outsource with us through Flex Support

Who will be handling your Flex customer service?

One of our key strengths is hiring

We find the best customer support talent to work with your brand. A team of fast learners that are ready to tackle any customer interaction with the voice and passion you bring to customer interactions yourself. All associates have at least one year of customer service experience and excellent CX skills. 

Additionally, all Flex associates are full- time employees of PartnerHero with benefits. This makes all the difference in the level of engagement you receive from your outsourced team compared to freelance networks. 
Meet some of our amazing teammates that put their heart and soul to customer service for other partners who decided to outsource with us.

Meet some more of our heroes or connect with us to learn more about building your team.

How PartnerHero’s Flex Support works

Step 01

Tell us the coverage you need. Whether it’s 24/7, scattered hours during the day, weekends only, overnight hours, or just an extra pair of hands in case you’re on PTO, we’ve got you covered. Forecasting seasonal spikes? You can quickly scale up or down your customer service team’s hours. 

Step 02

You create or migrate your training material into our shared learning & development platform, which we use to create the knowledge bases for all the Flex Support partners we support. If you don’t have training material created, our L&D team can help you craft it as an add-on service.

Step 03

Once the training material is up on our L&D platform, you start training your customer service or content moderation team right away and in just one week they will be ready to answer customer inquiries with the macros, templates, and the voice of your company. From product knowledge and tools, to processes and brand voice, our customer service professionals are fast learners who will give your customers a great experience.

Step 04

Your team is running smoothly now. Kudos! But this is not traditional outsourcing. It isn’t about filling a seat, but generating valuable impact for your team and customers. We’ll be in touch regularly, through shared channels like Slack, weekly or monthly meetings with leadership for custom reports, customer insights and anything else that might be relevant for you and your team.

No need to look for temp agencies to find qualified customer support professionals on short notice for temporary assignments. 

Low volume, seasonal spikes, short commitment. Whatever it is, we adapt while delivering great outcomes.

Get in Touch

Is Flex Support a good fit for you?

Here are some key features to consider when looking at working with Flex Support:

If you need higher level support, multilingual support, phone support, or more coverage, consider using Dedicated Teams instead.

Experts in the tools that make Inbox Zero possible

Below are just some of the CRM tools that we've used for email support with partners for years. Besides helping you navigate the nuances of each of these unique solutions, our in-house engineering team can help you customize your CRM experience with unique integrations to make your job easier.

Take Aprikot everywhere you grow

Here to ensure Quality stay front and center—even in your Inbox

What is Flex Support customer service outsourcing?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is “Flex Support”?
Flex Support is a community workforce — a group of experienced customer service professionals, providing Tier 1 support or moderation on behalf of multiple organizations with a bandwidth of 24/7 coverage. You pay a one-time setup fee and a low monthly fee that is based on the amount of coverage you need.

It is a macro-oriented product for very straightforward help desk resolution tickets, in which our associates (customer service professionals) will rely on the information you create in our Learning & Development (L&D) platform. 

Flex Support associates work only with the information in the L&D platform, so if something is not in there, they will escalate it to someone on your team. This is the Training Material Migration Guide and a Training Roadmap our customers use. If you are considering Flex Support we’re happy to do a walk-through session to explain the Training Material Migration guide and answer any questions you might have.

How much does it cost to outsource flex customer service? 
There are different pricing options depending on the coverage you need: 

- Low Utilization Coverage: $10 per hour (up to 20 production minutes per hour booked for coverage)
Example: Your investment for 40 hours of coverage per week would only be $400.

- Full Utilization Coverage: $18 per hour (up to 60 production minutes per hour booked for coverage)
Example: Your investment for 40 hours of coverage per week would only be $720.

Note: The minimum coverage is 40 hours per week and you can schedule those hours when you need (8 hours per day, 5 days per week or 10 hours per day, 4 days per week, etc).  

I see that the minimum required coverage is 40 hours. Can these hours be adjusted any way that works best for my strategy?
100%! You can book the hours as they work best for you, there's no need to have them be in continuous blocks of hours.

If I transition from Flex Support to Dedicated Teams, will the launch timeframe still be 4 weeks?
Yes, if you transition from Flex Support to a Dedicated Team, it will take 4 weeks to launch since we will need to go through the process of custom hiring, creating tailored assessments, and making sure we find the right people that will be working with you only, to provide you with a full organic extension of your in-house team

What is a Tier 1 agent?
An agent is a customer support or customer service representative who solves customer inquiries through multiple support channels, like live chat support, email support, and social. They can handle both inbound and outbound interactions. They are customer-oriented people who are ready to give the best customer experience they can. 

Tier 1 implies that they are helping with basic questions that can be largely answered using macros and other templated responses. Some examples include password resets or general questions about your product or service. 

Which industries do you serve?
We work with many Fintech, eCommerce, EdTech, Health & Wellness and SaaS but are open to working with other industries as well. 

Can I upgrade or downgrade my Flex  Support plan?
Customers may upgrade or downgrade their Flex Support plan at any time. We are happy to discuss more details on how to do it. 

What type of support does Flex Support provide?
Your Flex Support can help with Email, Chat, and SMS support. 

What is Full Utilization Coverage?
Flex associates support multiple partners at the same time. If you have a special project or influx of work that demands a dedicated block of an associate’s time, you can book dedicated hourly coverage support. 

What is the scope of support of the associates?
Low Utilization Coverage: Flex Support may be used up to 20 minutes for every hour booked (33% Utilization). If the weekly average utilization exceeds 33%, partners will be required to pay the Dedicated Hourly Coverage fee for each hour beyond 33% utilization.
This sounds more complicated than it is - get in touch with our team to learn more. Full Utilization Coverage: 100% Utilization, meaning that an associate from the team will  provide coverage for a full hour, during every hour that you book for coverage. 

How do I know if I am going over the 33% utilization mark?
We’ll send you a weekly report where you can see how much time your Flex Support is spending every hour managing support for your business. This will help decide if you need to upgrade or downgrade your Flex Support coverage plan or shift to Full Utilization Coverage.

What is the typical background of a Flex Support Associate?
All Flex Support associates have at least one year of customer service experience and excellent CX skills. Additionally, all Flex Support associates are all full-time employees of PartnerHero with benefits, which makes all the difference in the level of engagement you receive from your team. 

Can I upgrade to a Dedicated Team?
Partners can shift to a Dedicated Team at any time. Just get in touch with your PartnerHero contact to initiate the move. 

What is the term length for Flex Support?
Flex Support contracts are three months. At the end of this time period, it renews for another 90 days, unless you decide to terminate the contract. The agreement may be canceled at any time with thirty (30) days written notice by either party. Cancellation goes into effect at midnight after the ninetieth day of the current contract. 

How do I start using Flex Support?
It is very simple and it only takes a few steps:
Sign the Terms of Service (TOS) agreement
Pay the Setup Fee
Setup the auto-payment for your account
Upload the training material
Provide access to the tools the associates will use
Go Live!

What is the setup fee?
A one-time fee of $1,500 that covers recruiting and training.

Have more questions or ready to get started?

If you're ready to discover an email support solution tailored for you, our solutions team is here to make it happen. For teams of all sizes working in a wide range of industries—from tech to retail, PartnerHero can tailor a custom solution to best fit your needs.

Talk to our Solutions Team for a free consultation.

Interested in working with us and starting a career providing email support? Check out our careers page and learn more about why people love working at PartnerHero.

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