What are Inbound Call Centres and Outbound Call Centres? A Synopsis!

Posted by Prachi Priya

Are you looking for a BPO company that best suits your business needs? Well, the need for inbound and outbound customer support service is the key reason why companies today look for a call centre company. Managing the incoming and outgoing calls to the customer 24X7 is not easy, which is why an outsourced partner becomes indispensable.

Clear communication is the link between customers and the business, which is the reason companies cannot afford any risk to business communication standards. Inbound call centre firms handle the incoming requests/inquiries from customers wherein outbound call centre companies handle the calls made to the lead/customer to explain more about the business service.

It totally depends on the business needs to decide which call centre a company can outsource its services to, thus a wise decision is vital. Every customer is important, thus selecting the BPO partner needs precision to avoid landing up in a chaotic situation.

Since in-house hiring and training, a team of answering agents demands huge investment and time, which is why outsourcing to market experts is beneficial.

All about Inbound Call Centres:

The incoming calls to the business are the calls wherein a customer requests the organization by calling to seek information about the business offerings. Customers make inbound calls to the organization willing to gather more information about the business service.

If you are an E-commerce firm, you have to be spontaneous when it comes to answering incoming calls/texts/emails from the customers and for outgoing calls too made to the leads/customers to explain more about the business offerings/updates. This is where the need for an outsourced call centre firm arises, as not every company has a team of agents on-board to handle the customer support responsibility 24X7.

If your company is facing problems handling multiple incomings calls all day, it is better to outsource the responsibility to a BPO company, so that customer satisfaction is never at risk with the possibility of call abandonment.

Call abandonment data

Source - https://www.callcentrehelper.com/

At peak call-volume times, calls increase rapidly and can lead to customer dissatisfaction with increasing abandonment rates. Thus, outsourcing to reliable partners is never a bad choice, as BPOs are reliable and can help you boost your customer satisfaction by spontaneous 24X7 call answering. Inbound BPOs help to handle customer support service, technical support, lead generation, customer surveys, telemarketing service, appointment scheduling, and inbound sales services.

Therefore, even if your agents are on leave or have not agreed to offer overnight customer service, you have a partner to handle your customer requests well.

All about Outbound Call Centres:

Outbound call centre firms aim to handle the marketing and sales of your business. If your in-house agents lack the time and expertise to handle outbound calling to the customer and initiate personalized sales and marketing strategies, outsourcing to a reliable known partner from the market helps.

Outbound calling helps to turn on more leads towards the business, thus adequate agents handling the calls is imperative. Since customers are hard to deal with at times, thus experienced agents are essential so that any adverse scenario is handled perfectly with grace without the possibility of the customer being dissatisfied.

Hiring outbound and inbound customer service agents in-house is expensive, thus outsourcing becomes cost-efficient and reliable too. It is not mindful to waste the in-house agent’s time and the business’ money on tasks that can be easily outsourced, thus outsourcing is better than in-house management hassle.

The primary functions that demand the in-house expert’s time need to be handled by professionals, however, the secondary responsibilities like call handling can be outsourced to professionals in the same field. Outbound calls are of two types - cold calls and warm calls.

Check out the ways employees of inbound call centres and outbound call centres can help your company:

Distributing incoming calls proficiently as per expertise.
Handling outgoing calls precisely.
Handing texts and emails from customers.
Managing customer data.
Offering business-related information to the customers/leads.

Difference between Inbound Call Centre Firms and Outbound Call Centre Firms:

The main difference between inbound and outbound BPOs is the pattern of calls that take place. Most call centres handle both inbound and outbound calls so you can outsource both at the same time depending on your business needs.

When a company plans to collaborate with an outsourced BPO firm to handle the customer support responsibility, it is vital to understand the type of interactions the business wishes to outsource.

For example, if your company is receiving many inquiries from customers and your in-house agents miss incoming calls, you need an inbound BPO firm. However, if your agents lack expertise in lead generation, marketing and sales, it is better to collaborate with an outbound customer support firm.

While most call centres offer both facilities, thus your company can enjoy both in a limited budget. So why stress over in-house services when outsourcing is the key!

Call arrival pattern

Source - https://www.callcentrehelper.com/

Inbound calls increase comparatively with an increase in outbound calls, as the more calls the business makes to the lead/customer to explain about the business offerings, is the more the customer calls back to inquire about the organizations’ offerings. The better the outbound lead generation service is the more there is the chance of augmented inbound calls. After all, the more interested customers, the more calls intend to knock on your company’s door.

What is the Significance of Multi-Channel Support?

Call centres today have shifted to becoming contact centres wherein they handle customer support service through multiple channels. By multiple channels, we mean taking outbound and inbound calls/texts/emails, etc. through social and online mediums.

Nowadays customers connect over calls, social platforms, video chats, emails, etc. thus companies offering services need to be proficient enough to handle answering services over all platforms. This is where the need for a contact centre arises. Contact centre agents take care of outbound and inbound customer support service through multiple channels, as well as through traditional mediums.

Whether it about approaching a lead over a social platform or responding to a customer query online or a call, contact centres handle inbound and outbound support services splendidly.

Traditional inbound call centres and outbound call centres handled the customer queries over calls. However, today, the BPOs handle customer support on multiple channels depending on the customers’ preference.

Inbound Call Centre or Outbound Call Centre? Which is the best!

Well, this has been a topic of discussion, and we feel that both have their unique identities and can assist business needs accordingly. Both the call centres services are good and their efficiency depends on the business requirements. Most companies wish to outsource their outbound support responsibility because it aims at boosting sales.

Outbound calls are majorly made to potential leads and to loyal partners to sell more of the services, thus outsourcing the responsibility to market experts is anyway beneficial. Most companies understand that due to a lack of expertise, their in-house agents may not handle the outbound support responsibility excellently, which is why they outsource the same to expert BPO companies having prior experience in the same.

Since most BPO firms handle both outbound and inbound support services, thus eventually companies have their customer support service handled by an outsourced expert.

Wrap Up

Excellent customer service is the need of the hour and companies looking forward to augmenting their customer service need a professional expert to handle the responsibility well.

With the rising market competition, companies need a helping hand to assure supreme customer satisfaction. A good choice helps companies stand stagnant amid high rising competition, thus why stress over in-house service management when an outsourced partner can be your guardian angel!

Irrespective of repetitive hiring and training the agents in-house, it is better to partner experts so that new ideas help to grab customer attention better.

Tags: Inbound Call Centre Outbound Call Centre Call Centre in India Call Centre Outsourcing