With so many providers available, what should you look for when choosing a white label partner?
Communication channels
To manage your workload effectively, any white-label service that you choose to partner with should be able to provide you with multiple communication options. If your work volume is large you may even need a dedicated account manager that helps you manage and execute all of your accounts requirements. While communication should be easy and open, companies who engage the services of white label services will also need to be realistic. It is virtually impossible for any service to provide round-the-clock 24 hour support, so things like time zones or business location may be important when choosing your white label service.
Services offered
Some white label services will offer a huge range of services in a complete end to end solution, while others may specialise in areas like social media management or advertising. Consider the kind of services that you provide and select your white label service accordingly. Even if a company looks great, it will be no good using them if they specialise in Facebook advertising, while your biggest business offering is content writing. You need to select a company that is experienced and has expertise in the services that you sell.
Technical support
Even with the best systems, things can go awry sometimes so you will need to choose a white-label service that can offer some level of support. Bugs or technical problems may arise that you will need help with, or the providers own systems may occasionally run into issues. What happens if their delivery channels crash or their invoicing system breaks down? You will need to know how that impacts your business in the event that operations are halted or disrupted.
Business reputation
As the saying goes ‘the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior’ and this can be useful to keep in mind when looking for a white label service to partner with. Check things like reviews and customer testimonials from past partnerships to see what the reputation of the business is like. Did the customer have a good experience or are there a high instance of negative reviews? Do some research and build a picture of the white label service, if you find a substantial amount of information about missed deadlines or other problems, then it may not be the white label solution that’s best for you. Find companies who have built a positive reputation both online and offline and that can demonstrate positive customer ratings.
Work portfolio
Any business that is worth its salt should be able to provide examples of their professional work. So whether you are providing social media content, or supplying blog articles to your end-user, the white label business that you choose should be able to produce samples. Along with a level of professionalism, the work provided should be of good quality, things like graphics, text and branding should be spot on to align with the customers brand. If you happen to find a company that is unable to supply samples of past work, then beware. It is not likely to be a good sign, no matter what they say.
Project management
Before you partner with a white-label service you need to know what their work process is and how they provide transparency to projects currently underway. This could be by using project management tools to provide visibility to work in process as it moves through each stage, or to track things like deadlines and completion dates. The key here is that both you and the white label partner should have complete visibility to work projects and where they are at each stage of the development and delivery process.
Scalability
Typically, companies that engage the services of a white label provider are focused on expanding their own business or scaling their business operation. Therefore it will be important to select a white label provider who is capable of meeting your work requirements. As you grow, you will need to be assured that your white label service has enough staff and is capable of handling your increasing requirements. Smaller agencies may not have the capacity to handle your growing workload so you will need to carefully consider the kind of volume you want the white-label service to manage.
Customer service
All companies need good customer service to be really successful so check the methods of communication that your white label agency uses. Is all communication handled by email or do they have chat support? You will also need to know what kind of response time you can expect. If you need an answer to a customer’s question you might need the help of the white label provider to answer it quickly. A team that take 3 days to respond to your inquiry will not help your customer relationships or lead to a high level of satisfaction. You need a partner that will be willing to work with you to answer questions or resolve work issues quickly. It is also worth finding out if the service can manage one-off customer work demands on an ad-hoc basis to meet customer occasional need. Customers are notorious for needing unexpected work yesterday, can your white label partner accommodate it?
