Building a customer support team in Indonesia can be a competitive advantage for your business. You can serve your Indonesian customers better by having a dedicated in-house customer support team.

Besides that, a customer support team can also show their importance and benefits to your business’ growth in Indonesia.

Below, we highlight the importance and benefits of building a local customer support team. And most importantly, on how to build a customer support team in Indonesia.

Importance of building a customer support team in Indonesia

Local customer support team attracts local customers

There are more than 700 languages spoken in Indonesia. Moreover, Indonesia is the number one trilingual country in the world. Besides English, locals speak Indonesian and most of them speak Javanese.

A customer support team in Indonesia that can engage in the local language can attract more local customers. Potential customers are more confident in buying your products or services when they can get support in their local language. And even better, in person.

Increasing customer lifetime value in Indonesia

Your customers can turn into repeat customers through further support in the local language or face to face.

It will not only increase your revenue but also your customers’ lifetime value. It will also prevent them from switching to your competitors in the country.

Driving customer satisfaction in Indonesia

Your local customer support team will drive the customer satisfaction of your business. Also, gain more understanding and positive feedback from your regular customers.

With no local customer support team, your customers may not have the expected support. You will fail to meet their expectation since they cannot use the products or services due to issues. 

Enhancing brand image in Indonesia

Your customer support team can enhance the brand image of your business in Indonesia. It is by leaving a good impression on your customers when providing solutions.

Even good local marketing can be worthless when there is no customer support team in place. Unresolved issues with your products and services can lead to bad reviews and a broken brand image in Indonesia.

Benefits of having a customer support team in Indonesia

Hospitable culture of Indonesia

Indonesia is known to have hospitable and courteous locals. In addition, Indonesians can actively speak English with a proficiency level above Cambodians and Thais.

Thus, your customer support team in Indonesia will be able to communicate with your customers with good hospitality and efficient English.

But, if you have your products or services in Indonesia, localization will be more effective for your business. It will help Indonesian customers better understand when using the local language and improve relationships with customers.

The low minimum wage in Indonesia

The highest minimum wage is in Jakarta, Indonesia, with only USD 309 per month. It is low compared to other countries known for offering customer service as well.

To illustrate the comparison, below is a table of the monthly minimum wages in each country.

AustraliaNew ZealandCanadaIndonesia
USD 4.879USD 4.800USD 3.840USD 309

By having a customer support team in Indonesia, you will spend less on wages. In this case, you can spend more money on business development and expansion.

Different working hours

Indonesia is divided into three time zones, such as:

  • Western Indonesia Time: Jakarta (GMT+07:00)
  • Central Indonesia Time: Denpasar (GMT+08:00)
  • Eastern Indonesia Time: Jayapura (GMT+09:00)

With this in mind, if you have a customer support team across the country, they will be available in different time zones. Moreover, if you have customer support teams worldwide, your business’ customer support can be available 24/7, even with the same 8-hour a day job.

How to build a customer support team in Indonesia

You can build a customer support team in Indonesia by firstly creating a legal entity in Indonesia. The options for foreigners in Indonesia to have a legal entity are the following:

By using Employer of Record service

Setting up a local customer support team in Indonesia can be complicated. It is since you will need to have a legal entity and handle the local HR bureaucracies.  

But, you can cut the legalities. It is by opting to use the service of an Employer of Record such as Emerhub. You can choose your candidates and we will put them on our payroll.

We will also handle the rest. It includes drafting and signing paperwork, managing payroll, providing HR assistance, and more. 

Fill in the form below for more information on building a customer support team in Indonesia. Emerhub’s professional consultants will gladly assist you.

Key tips and resources on expanding your company to the largest emerging markets in Asia