Running an online store is a busy job. You’re managing inventory, running ad campaigns, and packing orders. And suddenly, your phone is ringing off the hook with questions like "Where's my order?" and "How do I make a return?"
Modern customers expect answers instantly, 24/7. Trying to scale an in-house team to meet that demand can be expensive and time-consuming.
That’s why many brands turn to ecommerce call center outsourcing. For years, this meant hiring a traditional call center. Today, there are AI tools that can integrate with your Shopify store and act as an extension of your team.
Let's have a look at how outsourcing has changed and what it means for your business.
What is ecommerce call center outsourcing?
What exactly is ecommerce call center outsourcing? Put simply, it’s the practice of hiring a third-party company to manage your customer conversations. Instead of hiring, training, and managing your own team of support agents to answer phone calls, emails, or live chats, you partner with a specialist who handles it for you.
Your expertise is in creating and selling amazing products, not running a 24-hour contact center. Outsourcing lets you hand off repetitive, time-consuming support tasks so you can focus on what you do best.
The main reasons brands choose to outsource are straightforward:
- Cut down on costs: You avoid the overhead of salaries, benefits, office space, and equipment for a full-time support team.
- Be available 24/7: Your customers can get help at 2 AM on a Tuesday without you needing to staff an overnight shift.
- Tap into expertise: You get access to teams and technology built specifically for efficient customer support.
- Free up your team: Answering the same five questions a hundred times a day isn’t the best use of your team’s talent. Outsourcing frees them up for more complex, high-value work.
The three core models of outsourcing
Outsourcing models vary. The landscape has changed over the years, moving from traditional methods to more technologically advanced solutions. To better understand your options, let's look at the three main models.
Traditional BPO: The classic model
This is the classic model you probably picture when you think of a call center. A Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company provides you with a team of human agents, often in a different country, who answer your calls. For decades, this was a primary option for businesses looking to scale their support.
However, this model has several considerations.
- High costs: You're paying for people's time. Labor alone often makes up 60-70% of a call center's expenses. Hourly rates can range from $6-$18 in places like Asia to over $29 in the US. These are fixed costs you have to pay, regardless of call volume.
- Inconsistent brand experience: Getting hundreds of agents to capture your brand’s unique voice and tone can be a challenge. One call that doesn't align with your brand can impact a customer relationship.
- Slower scalability: During peak seasons like Black Friday, scaling a support team quickly can be difficult. Hiring and training new agents is a slow, expensive process, which can be a challenge during seasonal rushes.
ProsConsProvides a human touch for highly complex or sensitive issues.Labor and training are the highest operational costs.
Established infrastructure for handling large call volumes.Difficult and slow to scale for seasonal demand.Can handle a wide variety of non-standard tasks.High risk of inconsistent brand voice and service quality.
Hybrid models
Next is the hybrid model, which combines human agents with technology. This is where you encounter Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. You know the ones: "Press 1 for sales. Press 2 for support. Press 3 for billing..."
The idea is to use these automated menus to filter calls before they reach a human agent.
Challenges of this model include:
- Potential for customer frustration: Navigating phone menus can be frustrating for customers. Many often try to bypass the automated loop to talk to a real person, which can lead to higher call abandonment rates.
- Limited problem-resolution capabilities: The IVR primarily functions as a switchboard. It can't answer "Where's my order?"; it just routes the customer to a human who then has to look it up. The call resolution still depends on the agent.
- Limited integration: These systems often do not connect to your e-commerce platform. They lack information about your products, the customer, or their order history, which limits their ability to provide personalized, real-time information.
AI-powered phone agents: The modern approach
This brings us to the modern approach: intelligent AI phone agents. Instead of rigid menus or outsourced teams, you get an automated agent that can understand natural language, integrate directly with your store’s data, and resolve many common customer issues on its own.
This is where solutions like Ringly.io come in. Built specifically for Shopify stores, its AI agent, Seth, acts as a frontline support rep.
It can be set up in about three minutes and integrates natively with your store to handle the most common calls, such as order lookups, returns, and product questions, from start to finish.
Key advantages include:
- True 24/7 availability: An AI agent is always on. Your customers in different time zones get the same instant support, which is important for any global brand.
- Cost-effective scaling: An AI agent like Seth can handle 15 or more calls simultaneously. The average cost per call can be as low as $0.20, a significant difference compared to the ~$2.35 for a human-handled call. This allows you to be ready for spikes in volume without hiring for seasonal peaks.
- High resolution rates: Across more than 2,100 Shopify stores, Seth achieves an average resolution rate of 73% without needing to escalate to a human. This frees up your team to focus on complex, relationship-building conversations.
Key considerations for your outsourcing partner
Switching to an outsourced model is a big decision. To make sure you get it right, here are a few things to look for in a modern support partner, framed around what works for an e-commerce brand.
E-commerce integration and expertise
A generic call center agent reading from a script can't tell a customer exactly where their package is. For that, you need deep, native integration with your e-commerce platform. Look for a solution that plugs directly into Shopify.
An AI agent like Seth can access real-time order data, process returns according to your policies, and answer detailed product questions with accuracy. This allows for intelligent problem-solving beyond simple call answering.
Scalability and pricing
Traditional BPOs may lock you into rigid "per-agent-per-hour" contracts. You pay whether you get 10 calls or 1,000. That model can be challenging for e-commerce, where your call volume can swing wildly from one week to the next.
Look for a flexible, usage-based model. AI solutions are typically priced based on call minutes, which aligns your costs directly with your needs.
For example, Ringly.io's Grow plan includes 1,000 minutes per month, and if you go over, you just pay a clear, predictable rate of $0.19 per extra minute. You only pay for what you use, which is a more flexible way to manage your budget.
Brand alignment and control
Your brand's voice is one of your most valuable assets. Maintaining brand voice across a large, outsourced team can be challenging. It can be difficult to ensure every agent perfectly represents your brand on every single call.
AI offers an alternative for maintaining consistency. You can train an AI agent like Seth on your specific FAQs, return policies, and brand tone. It learns your business and applies that knowledge consistently, every time.
And since it can speak over 40 different languages, you can deliver a consistent on-brand experience to customers all over the world.
Comparing pricing models: BPO vs. AI
Let's get down to the bottom line: what does all this cost? The approaches to pricing are quite different, as this comparison shows.
Traditional call center pricing
BPOs typically do not list public prices on their websites because everything is a custom quote based on your needs, call volume, and agent location. Generally, you can expect to pay anywhere from $7 - $16 per hour for an agent based in Asia to $29 - $42 per hour for one in the US. This creates a high, fixed monthly cost that can be a significant expense, especially for a growing store with unpredictable revenue.
AI solution pricing: An example with Ringly.io
In contrast, modern AI solutions often focus on transparency and value. At Ringly.io, the pricing is straightforward and designed to grow with you.
Billing doesn't start until Seth is resolving at least 60% of your first 100 calls, offering a risk-free way to evaluate its impact.
The future of e-commerce support
For years, outsourcing customer support involved choices between cost, quality, and customer experience. The landscape has shifted.
While traditional BPOs served a purpose in a different era, the demands of modern e-commerce for instant answers, brand consistency, and cost-effective scalability have led to the development of new approaches.
AI-powered phone agents like Seth are becoming a practical solution for many online stores.
They can deliver faster and more affordable service, allowing you to provide a world-class customer experience without the high overhead of a traditional call center. The future of support is moving towards more integrated and intelligent solutions.
For a deeper dive into the benefits of outsourcing your customer support, the video below offers expert insights on how it can improve efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Outsourcing e-commerce customer service can significantly benefit businesses by improving efficiency, customer satisfaction, and scalability.
Ready to automate your phone support?
With Ringly.io, you can deploy Seth, an AI phone agent for Shopify stores, in just three minutes. Seth handles up to 73% of customer calls, from order tracking to returns, so your team can focus on what truly matters.
Start your 14-day free trial today and pay nothing until Seth resolves at least 60% of your calls.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the biggest benefit of ecommerce call center outsourcing for a small but growing store?
The biggest benefit is scalability. With ecommerce call center outsourcing, especially using an AI agent like Seth, you can handle a sudden rush of calls (like during a sale) without hiring and training new staff. You get 24/7 coverage and only pay for what you use, which is perfect for a growing budget.
How much does ecommerce call center outsourcing typically cost?
Costs vary wildly. Traditional BPOs can charge anywhere from $7 to over $40 per agent, per hour, leading to high fixed monthly costs. Modern AI solutions like Ringly.io are much more affordable, with usage-based plans starting at $99/month and an average cost per call around $0.38.
Can I maintain my brand's unique voice with ecommerce call center outsourcing?
It can be tough with traditional BPOs where many agents need training. However, with an AI solution, it's much easier. You can train an AI agent like Seth on your specific brand tone, return policies, and product details, ensuring every customer gets a consistent, on-brand experience.
How quickly can I set up an AI-based ecommerce call center outsourcing solution?
It can be much faster than you might think. Solutions built for platforms like Shopify can be incredibly quick to deploy. For instance, you can get Ringly.io's AI agent, Seth, up and running in about three minutes.
What's the main difference between a traditional BPO and modern AI for ecommerce call center outsourcing?
The key difference is intelligence and integration. A traditional BPO provides human agents who follow a script. A modern AI agent integrates directly with your store's data (like Shopify) to give real-time, accurate answers about orders and returns. It resolves issues on its own, rather than just routing calls.
Is ecommerce call center outsourcing suitable for handling returns and exchanges?
Absolutely. While a basic BPO agent might just take down information, an integrated AI agent can do much more. A solution like Seth can access your store's return policies and process a return or exchange request right on the call, completely automating a common and time-consuming task.
