Key Differences Between Inbound and Outbound Call Centers

People around the globe are familiar with Call Centers and its services, but many of us are still unaware of the terms ‘Inbound’ and ‘Outbound’. In this article, we will understand the meaning of inbound call center and outbound call centers, and the comprehensive set of services being offered by different types of BPOs to small scale as well as large scale businesses.

Inbound Call Centers and Services:

Inbound call centers offer services to safeguard the well-established business by answering the incoming calls. They receive calls from customers where calls are handled and managed by the helpdesk. Inbound call center executives often answer customer queries through email, chat or telephonic conversation and focus on providing the most updated and advanced information.

These calls are initiated by customers for issue resolution, customer care or technical support. Customer calls the company in lieu of service request or to inquire about any particular product or solution(s). The call center executives are trained professionals, well equipped with technical knowledge about the particular product or services. Customers or sometimes employees call the inbound customer service center whenever they need assistance.

Outbound Call Centers & Services:

Outbound Call Centers are ones where executives or agents make calls to existing customers as well as prospective buyers. The agent explains the products and its price to the customer, books order for the product and arranges the delivery as instructed by the customer. Outbound customer services offer a more proactive approach and enable process managers to make greater use of agents while improving productivity.

Increased contact improves customer relationship and delivers enhanced customer experience. A welcome call to a new customer reinforces customer relationship while providing additional details about the products and services. Calling customers for feedback gives the existing customers a chance to share their views and opinions about any particular product or services and on the other hand, it gives the organization a chance for improvement.

How Call Centers Differ in Terms of Services?

As discussed above, the inbound calling centers are customer services focused while outbound call centers focus on sales and marketing of products and services. The main point of difference among the inbound and outbound call centers is the type of calls being made.

If the majority of calls are made by the call center employees to the customers, then it is considered to be an outbound call center. On the other side, if more than 50% of calls are made by customers to call center executives, it is known to be an inbound call center. In terms of technology, both inbound and outbound call centers follow an individual approach.

Planning and implementing technology for different types of call centers is a challenging task and requires a professionally outsourced call center services expert with the capability to provide constant supervision. For example, inbound call centers may not require a dialer as that of an outbound call center. The outbound call center also demands an advanced call monitoring and analytics tool to scrutinize the live call and decide the quality parameters thereafter.