Companies That Outsource Customer Service, Compared for Online Stores

In March, a Shopify store owner asked Reddit to recommend “a customer service agency that specializes in Shopify and Gorgias”.^[1] Gorgias is a help desk app. None of the replies still visible named an agency someone had used.

So you search companies who outsource customer service. Google gives you two kinds of answer. Most results are lists of outsourcing companies to hire. One result gets most of the clicks, by a keyword tool’s estimate. It lists famous brands said to outsource, with no source for any of them.^[2]

This guide covers both. First, it shows which well-known companies say in their own annual reports that they outsource support. Then it checks the 11 outsourcing companies named most often in Google’s top results against what an online store needs.

I’m Stefano Bertoli, founder of RuleInside. We build and run managed AI agents for WordPress stores, so we sell an alternative to outsourcing, not outsourcing itself. We are not in the comparison tables. I say where we fit at the end. There are no prices in this guide.

Many large consumer brands outsource part of their customer service. Some say so in their annual reports to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. A company’s own annual report is a stronger source than a blog list.

I searched those reports for outsourced support and read each sentence in full. The six well-known brands below say so in their reports for 2025. PayPal, Coinbase and Booking Holdings say it too.

Read the wording closely. Roku and Airbnb say the majority. Amazon, eBay and DoorDash say some, or say only that third parties assist. Expedia says it uses a mix of outsourced and in-house centres. None of the six names the outsourcing company it uses.

Outsourcing companies’ own annual reports show the other side. TaskUs is an outsourcing company traded on the stock market. It says its largest client, Meta, brought in 26% of its 2025 revenue.^[9] TaskUs also sells content moderation and AI services, and its report does not say which of them Meta buys.

The result with the most estimated clicks for this search names nine brands, from Target to Capital One. It gives a source for none of them.^[2]

For outsourcing in general, not customer service alone, the most common reason organisations now give is access to talent. That is what business leaders tell Deloitte, which sells outsourcing advice and its own managed services.

In Deloitte’s 2024 survey of more than 500 business and technology leaders, 34% named cost savings as the main reason. Four years earlier the figure was 70%.^[10] The survey says access to talent is now the first reason. It also found that 56% of organisations outsource front-office work, a group that includes customer service.^[10]

Gartner, which sells research, gives a 2024 figure closer to customer service itself. In research for customer service leaders, 84% of its survey participants work with at least one outsourcing partner.^[11] Its public summary does not give the sample size.

Store owners give a plainer reason. In the Reddit posts I read, 22 store owners and staff discuss handing off support. A few give a reason. The most common is their own time, energy or focus, and one names cost. One wrote: “I really need to outsource customer service. It drains my energy every single day.”^[12]

Outsourcing companies add reasons of their own, all things a small team cannot cover alone: nights, sales peaks, the phone and other languages. No store owner I read raised peaks or languages. Our guide on whether to outsource customer service weighs each of these reasons. It also covers what goes wrong after you sign.

Most of the lists that rank in Google come from outsourcing companies, and few are written for a store. I read the top 20 US Google results for companies who outsource customer service. A keyword tool last recorded them on 25 September 2026.

Of the 11 lists of outsourcing companies in those results, 9 put their own name first. The two that do not are by Shopify and Giva, a help desk software company, and neither sells outsourcing.

Fifteen of the 20 results come from a company with a stake in your choice. Of those 15 results, 11 come from companies that sell outsourced support or staff. Not all of them wrote one of the 11 lists. One more sells an AI phone agent. Three are directories or marketplaces that match buyers with providers.

Only 2 of the 20 speak to you as a store owner, and both are about Shopify stores. I also read four more pages from a second search: none of the 24 names WooCommerce in its text. Where they mention ecommerce, it is mostly a tag on a provider’s listing.

The companies behind the lists also name each other. Ringly, the company that sells the AI phone agent, names 7 other companies on its list. Five of them publish their own list in the same top 20.

I counted the outsourcing companies named on 13 pages in Google’s top 20: the 11 lists and 2 directories. Then I compared the 11 named most often. A company’s own list counts towards its total. SupportYourApp appears on 9 of the 13, and Simply Contact on 6. TP (Teleperformance), Hugo, Influx, EverHelp, Foundever, Helpware and PartnerHero appear on 5 each, and Liveops and TELUS Digital on 4.

On 2 November 2026, I checked each company’s own website against the same five questions:

• Does it serve online stores?
• Does it name WooCommerce, and which help desks does it work in?
• Which channels does it cover, and at what hours?
• What is the smallest team a small store can start with?
• Does it sell AI, and whose?

I found no public help centre for clients at any of the 11. So every answer comes from sales pages and FAQs. Where two of a company’s own pages disagree, I say so. Not found means I read the pages and found no answer there. It does not prove the company cannot do it.

I left prices out on purpose. Several companies publish them, and they change. Each company’s own page has the current ones.

All 11 customer service outsourcing companies say they serve retail or online stores. They differ on three points: whether they name WooCommerce, whether they say they work in your own tools and how small a store can start.

Of the 11, 4 name WooCommerce in words on their own sites: Hugo, Influx, EverHelp and Helpware. Simply Contact shows a WooCommerce logo under its platforms heading, with no text.

Each entry gives what the company says it is, what it says about online stores and who it suits. The last part is my judgement from its own pages.

SupportYourApp sells outsourced support together with its own AI. Its ecommerce page says its AI handles order status and returns, while people take disputes and lost parcels.^[13] It works in Shopify and in the help desks Gorgias and Zendesk. It suits a Shopify store that wants people and AI from one company.

Simply Contact offers support around the clock in over 30 languages.^[14] It says projects “can start from 0.5 FTE on a shared-agent model”, meaning half of one full-time agent.^[15] Its ecommerce page says it partners with brands that sell in several markets or handle large volumes.^[14] It suits a store selling in several languages.

TP says it is present in nearly 100 countries and serves “leading brands”.^[16] It has a retail and ecommerce page, but I found no offer for small stores and no store platform named.^[17] It suits a large retailer more than a single online store.

Hugo’s FAQ names WooCommerce among the platforms its teams know, in its answers on digital operations rather than customer support. Its agents “operate natively inside Zendesk and Intercom”.^[18] Contracts run month to month, with dedicated full-time agents only.^[19] Its FAQ says engagements start at one dedicated agent. It suits a store ready for one full-time agent.

Influx says it works mainly with ecommerce, SaaS (software sold by subscription) and subscription companies.^[20] Its integrations page lists WooCommerce among the platforms where refunds and order lookups are “handled directly in your system”.^[21] You can start with one agent, month to month, with a month’s notice for most roles.^[22] Its pages disagree on shared agents: one sells them, two say there are none.^[23] It says it is generally not for buyers who mainly want “the lowest possible cost per seat”, meaning per agent.^[20] It suits a growing store that wants agents in its own help desk.

EverHelp sells human agents and its own AI agent, Evly. Its AI page lists WooCommerce among the platforms Evly supports.^[24] Its team’s tool list names WooCommerce too.^[25] Its plans start at one agent, or at a shared team it says suits early-stage startups with low ticket volume.^[26] It suits a store that wants a shared team before a dedicated one.

Foundever says it has more than 130,000 staff in 45 countries.^[27] Its retail page covers ecommerce too.^[28] I found no store platform named on its site. It suits a large retail brand with steady volume.

Helpware sells ecommerce and retail support. Asked in its own FAQ whether it integrates with WooCommerce, it answers “Yes”, then “through custom workflows”.^[29] It provides “only dedicated agents”, never shared ones.^[30] It says hiring your agents takes two to four weeks at minimum. It suits a store that wants its own agents and can wait for them.

PartnerHero now says it is “powered by Crescendo”, an AI company, and its AI is Crescendo’s.^[31] Its old ecommerce page address now leads to a Crescendo AI product. For low volume it sells Flex Support, “based on hours”.^[32] It suits a store that wants a few covered hours rather than a team.

Liveops gives companies “a network of certified, independent contractor agents”.^[33] Its ecommerce page sells a voice channel “for order issues, payment questions, and delivery problems”.^[34] Your agent team can grow for a holiday peak and shrink after it, with no fixed headcount. Its home page sells to enterprises. It suits a larger store with sharp phone peaks.

TELUS Digital says it has 83,000 staff in over 35 countries, and it offers video as a support channel.^[35] Its retail page says it serves clients “from SMBs to Fortune 500”: small businesses up to the largest US companies. It names no store platform.^[36] It suits a larger retailer that wants AI and people from one partner.

An outsourcing company can work inside your WooCommerce store. But WooCommerce’s built-in role for store staff gives far more access than answering questions needs.

The obvious role is Shop Manager. WooCommerce says this role lets someone manage the store without full administrator access.^[37] It also lists what that role includes:

• full access to WooCommerce settings;
• creating, editing and deleting products and coupons;
• viewing, editing and deleting orders, and processing refunds.

An agent who answers where is my order? needs to read an order, not refund it. WooCommerce points to plugins that change what each role can do.^[37] You can use one to build a narrower role for your outsourced team.

Shopify sets permissions differently, but it cannot limit a user to single orders either. Its staff permissions apply to the whole store: you “can’t restrict permissions to individual orders, products, or customers”. Two narrow exceptions exist: app and channel permissions, and a B2B setting that limits a user to some company locations’ orders.^[38] Refunds are separate permissions, so you can leave them off.

The other route is to give the team access to your help desk, not your store. Influx says ticket content and customer data “stay in your helpdesk rather than being copied onto Influx systems”.^[22] A help desk app can show each order beside the customer’s email, without the right to change the order. Our guide to help desk systems for online stores compares which ones show your orders.

Your store needs the phone if your customers call, and many still prefer to. In a 2025 YouGov survey, 35% of Americans named the phone as their preferred way to contact a business.^[39] Email came second at 23%. Chatbots got 1%.

That is the case for call center outsourcing companies. Most of the 11 above name the phone or voice among their channels. Liveops’s ecommerce page leads with voice for order and delivery problems.^[34]

Two stores show both sides. A senior manager at an online toy store has one full-time employee for support, merchandising and product uploads, “alongside a call center”.^[40] A Shopify Plus brand said it has no staff to run a phone line. It does not want to outsource personal contact by phone either.^[41]

A call leaves an agent less time than an email to look up an order. So the rules you write for the agent matter more on the phone.

Few store owners describe hiring an outsourcing company, and fewer name one. I searched store owners’ Reddit posts since January 2024. I found 22 store owners and staff who discuss handing off support. Six describe a call centre or an outside company, and only 2 name one.

Six more chose a person, such as a virtual assistant, or plan to. Four do not want to hand off support, or not all of it. The clearest warning came from an ecommerce operator who has run Shopify sites handling £30 million of transactions. This operator lists the ways outsourced teams hit their response targets. The first is this:

In another thread, the same operator says to write your rules down first. The advice then is to measure the provider “based on customer reviews, not the number of tickets solved”.^[42]

The four owners who want to keep some or all of their support talk about reviews, feedback and personal contact. A one-person bag maker on Shopify called customer service “my number one source of 5 star reviews”. The same owner called it “the last thing I will outsource”.^[43]

Two posts that look like owners naming an outsourcing company came from dormant accounts that both promoted the same company. I left them out.

An outsourced agent answers from what you write down for them. An AI agent connected to the store reads some answers from the store itself. I tested that on our own demo store, Velàri Skincare, which is not a client’s shop.

On 2 November 2026 I sent our demo store’s agent seven text messages. Six were questions, and one confirmed my order details. It answered four questions from the store and its policies:

• the returns policy: unopened products within 30 days of delivery;
• delivery to Germany: typically 2 to 5 business days;
• order 821: being processed, the two products in it, and no tracking information yet;
• whether a face oil was in stock: yes.

Two requests needed a person. Asked to change the delivery address, it said “I cannot make address changes myself”. It offered to have a team member contact me. Asked for a person, it offered to connect me to one.

That split is the point. The questions with an answer in the store got one, and the agent did not guess at the rest.

The agent is our own product, so read this test as a demonstration, not a review. You can try the same demo store and ask it your own questions.

An outsourcing company fits when your customers need judgement and a human voice at hours you cannot cover. An AI agent fits the repeat questions your store data can answer. Many stores will want both.

RuleInside sells managed AI agents, so weigh my view with that in mind. A team of agents, each with one job, answers by phone, chat and WhatsApp. A person decides anything that moves money. Our guide to managed AI for online stores covers who runs it, and our pricing page has the plans.

Want the full picture of who hands off what? Our study of what store owners outsource counts a year of posts.