If you’re looking to set up or hire a call center – be it for customer support or lead generation – you must look into the different types of call centers that exist. Here, in this article, we’ve made a list of the different call centers you can expect to find, the purposes and services they serve, and which businesses can benefit from them.
But first, let’s learn what exactly a call center is.
What is a call center?
A call center is an office where the staff handles a large volume of phone calls from and to customers on behalf of a company. Mainly, the call agents assist the company’s customers or resolve their issues to maintain customer relations and satisfaction.
What are the types of call centers?
Inbound call center
An inbound call center receives incoming calls from customers. When a customer dials the number of a company, it is usually to file a complaint, make a query, seek resolution for an issue, or report a technical issue, defect, damage, etc., regarding a product. There are times when customers place calls to seek guidance on how to purchase the product.
Inbound customer support staff handles these calls that come in from customers. These particular types of support agents often have to bear the brunt of a customer’s anger. So, the agents are trained to have phone etiquette, problem resolution, communication, and other related skills.
The main point of inbound services is to provide quick support and solutions so customers trust you and are satisfied with your efforts.
Purpose: to offer quick customer support or service regarding products or services they’ve purchased or want to purchase.
Services provided: customer support, technical support, appointment scheduling, order processing, and general assistance.
Ideal for: any business that receives high volumes of customer calls for enquiries and support needs. For example, real estate, transportation, eCommerce companies, telecommunication companies, and educational institutions.
Outbound call centers
An outbound call center is where the agents make outgoing calls to your existing or potential customers. They’re exactly the opposite of inbound call centers. Their tasks revolve around telemarketing, cold calls, lead generation, client onboarding, phone polls, market research (including CATI research), solicitation, follow-up calls, and so on. These are all tasks commonly done by the sales force. So, they’re often considered part of the sales team.
Purpose: to do customer outreach and serve as your company’s sales representatives, lead generalists, appointment setters, etc.
Services provided: telemarketing, market research, feedback surveys, sales calls, lead generation, follow-up calls.
Ideal for: any business that’s focused on sales, marketing, and customer outreach. For example, finance companies, healthcare institutes, insurance companies, telecommunications, software as a service (SaaS) companies, and tourism.
Blended call center
Blended call centers are a combination of inbound and outbound services. Hence, they’re also called hybrid call centers.
Here, the staff performs the tasks of both types of call centers (from sales calls to customer support) and makes use of both their tools. The staff employed in such support centers also must be skilled in support and sales techniques.
Purpose: to optimise the use of resources, improve customer experience, make operations more flexible, and increase cost efficiency.
Services provided: inbound and outbound call support services.
Ideal for: small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs), seasonal businesses, and businesses focused on customer engagement. Also, any business that needs both outgoing and incoming call services, in other words, sales and customer support. For example, eCommerce, healthcare, financial services, technology and software companies, real estate businesses, non-profit organizations, education institutions, travel and hospitality, etc.
In-house call centers
An in-house (or internal) call center is one that you own and manage by yourself for your own sales and customer support needs. They’re most commonly located within the company premises.
If a company has chosen to have an internal support center, it is most likely because they’re concerned about the privacy and security of business information. There are, of course, other reasons why companies choose in-house centers. One of the reasons is that they want to connect with their customers directly.
Purpose: to prevent security and privacy issues regarding company data, maintain direct contact with customers, have greater control, be flexible, and improve customer satisfaction.
Services provided: inbound and outbound call support services.
Ideal for:
- have intricate/specialized products,
- value customer experience above all,
- have sensitive data,
- have high volume of inbound calls,
- have complex interactions with consumers,
- want control and brand consistency, etc.
Technology, healthcare, insurance, financial services, high-end retail and luxury brands, legal services, telecommunication, multinational companies (MNCs), national chains and franchises, etc., are some of the types of companies that prefer internal customer support staff.
Outsourced call centers
An outsourced call center is an external company you pay to handle your sales and/or customer support calls. So, it’s the exact opposite of the previous one.
The external company can handle a wide range of tasks, and it’s up to you to decide which tasks you want them to do. It could be handling incoming calls, making outgoing sales calls, or conducting market research.
Companies choose call center outsourcing for different reasons. One of the main reasons is the availability of resources like time, labor, money, etc.
Purpose: to provide call support services so that the company can focus on the core business or work on business expansion.
Services provided: customer support, lead generation, technical support, feedback surveys, market research (including CATI research), handling queries, taking complaints, guiding callers through the purchase process, etc.
Ideal for:
- have limited resources (like SMEs)
- require niche skills
- have seasonal/variable call volumes
- want to reduce their operational costs
- need multilingual support
- want to focus more on the core tasks and projects
- require 24-hour call support
- are looking to grow fast
- need specialized services (like market research, telemarketing, and debt collection).
Automated call center
Automated call centers are support centers where customer calls are managed and responded to using different technologies. It’s mostly the routine tasks and customer interactions that are handled by technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, and others. So, these tasks have limited to zero human involvement.
If you want to cut down on time spent on routine customer queries and up your cost efficiency, consider getting automated call center services.
Purpose: to improve efficiency, reduce operating costs, and provide quick and consistent customer service.
Services provided: appointment scheduling and reminders, email management, automated SMS messaging, holiday greetings, chat support, etc.
Ideal for: businesses that have a high number of incoming calls, provide 24-hour call support, and focus on cost-effectiveness.
Offshore call center
Offshore call centers are essentially a type of outsourced call center. They’re located in a different country from where your business is located. The offshore call support centers are often located in countries or regions where the services are a bit more affordable. The most common places companies tend to outsource their call support work are India, Indonesia, South Africa, and the Philippines.
Purpose: to offer various call support and sales-related call services at affordable prices with greater efficiency.
Services provided: inbound and outbound call support services.
Ideal for: businesses that want to lower operation costs. For example, telecommunication companies, technology companies, financial institutions, utilities, etc.
Virtual call centers
A virtual call center is pretty much the same as other call support centers, but the agents work out of their own homes, or any other location. The agents don’t have a dedicated facility in a fixed location where they can gather to do the work. However, they can also work together in small groups in small offices spread across different locations. They only need a phone, computer, and an internet connection. It’s basically remote work, hence why they’re also called remote call centers.
Purpose: to offer call support services at affordable rates, 24/7.
Services provided: inbound and outbound call services.
Ideal for: businesses wanting flexible and scalable operations, as well as savings in cost.
Bilingual and multilingual call centers
Bilingual and multilingual call centers are those that offer call support in several different languages. In bilingual centers, the call agents are proficient in two languages. On the other hand, multilingual call support service providers have agents that are fluent in three or more languages.
If you have customers in different corners of the world, bilingual and multilingual can, on your behalf, give them support in their preferred languages.
Purpose: to provide seamless service in different languages to a diverse customer base.
Services provided: inbound and outbound call services.
Ideal for: businesses that operate in various parts of the world and have customers that speak a range of languages.
What are the benefits of outsourcing call support services?
If you’re on the fence about whether or not to outsource your call support needs, here’s a brief look at why it will benefit you.
- It lowers costs of operation.
- Frees you up to concentrate on core activities of the business.
- Gives you access to trained call agents and advanced technologies (like AI-powered tools) at lower rates.
- Improvement in customer satisfaction, as they get quick/timely responses.
- Easy to scale the resources up/down depending on your business needs.
Key factors you must consider when choosing a call center
You have to put a lot of thought into the process of selecting a company to outsource your customer support to. You can’t blindly pick one, no matter how daunting the task may seem. After all, it’s a partnership, and you must collaborate for a long time. Moreover, your reputation and customer relations are on the line.
Therefore, consider these factors when hiring customer support services:
- The type of service you need- inbound or outbound services, less-expensive services, etc.
- Volume of calls and type of interactions.
- You budget.
- Your priorities- quality of customer service, cost savings, flexibility, 24-hour availability, etc.
- Data security and privacy- if you have really sensitive data, you can choose to keep it in-house.
- Scalability of operations.
Over to you now
Although we have these different types of call centers (like outbound, inbound, offshore, automated, etc.), most call support service providers are a combination of the different types. It means that one service provider can fall under more than one category, depending on their location, the types of services, the number of languages they offer, etc. However, knowing the numerous types gives you a general idea of the kind of work they do and if they will suit your needs.
Hopefully, you’re better equipped now to find the right call support partner for you.
