U.S. Based Call Center Support – Location Makes a Big Difference in Customer Service and Profits
The outsourcing of call center jobs has become so commonplace it’s almost cliche, but that doesn’t mean the norm has been accepted by American consumers. In fact, increasing dissatisfaction with offshore call centers has been growing not just with customers but with businesses, too, as they realize that the immediate cost savings doesn’t actually add up to the bigger profits they’re looking for. We’re seeing a reversal of the outsourcing trend and data makes it clear: when it comes to inbound call answering, domestic is definitely the way to go.
Big Business is Learning that Good Business is Here at Home
According to estimates by industry experts, about 30% of call center jobs in the high-tech industry were outsourced to foreign countries during the first decade of the new millennium, with higher estimates for many other industries. As of now, that number is less than 12% and may still continue decreasing. Even foreign-run call center management companies are establishing U.S.-based call centers staffed by born-and-raised U.S. citizens, because they’re catching on to the simple truth that language skills, cultural customs, and customer service expectations simply don’t translate across oceans and borders as well as previously thought.
When customers are understood the first time, and when they are able to clearly understand the customer service representatives they’re speaking to without any difficulty, a satisfactory resolution to the customer’s question or problem is more than twice as likely to be reached. If a resolution isn’t reached, there’s the risk of losing the customer outright in addition to having them spread their negative experience around social circles.
If the customer doesn’t bail right away, they may try calling back again. But now companies are having to use up time and resources AGAIN to address what should have been resolved in the first place. This ultimately ends up costing businesses more than they intended in the first place. So now, not only have they failed to save the money they hoped, but they’ve also damaged their customer retention rates and tainted their brand reputation.
U.S. Based Inbound Call Centers Save Money and Solve Problems
The offshore call center experiment has demonstrated that inbound call centers staffed with foreign English speakers is really only effective at cataloging customer service problems. So offshore call centers are great if you just want someone to frustrate a caller before transferring them to U.S.-based customer service representative for an actual resolution. When companies move their call centers back to the United States, they see higher resolution rates and shorter call times. This makes the up-front cost savings of foreign call centers a wash, at best. Add in increased customer retention rates along with a stronger brand reputation and it’s easy to see what the smarter business decision is.
Providing effective, responsive, and reliable customer service is the best way to keep customer retention and acquisition costs low while increasing revenue and profitability. When it comes to your inbound call center, don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Let the professionals call center agents in the United States provide the assistance your customers crave.
Contact us today for more information about our U.S. Based Call Center Solutions.
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3 Critical Things to Master For Effective Phone Conversations with Your Customers