The Best Inbound Call Center Services for 2022
66% of global call centers are located in the US. The most common industries using call centers are financial services, consumer services, and technology companies.
Do you have a business with a lot of customer service callers? Have you considered outsourcing inbound call center services? Do you want to learn more about what these services include?
Keep reading to discover the cost of services, a few top service providers, and how it can benefit your company.
COMPARE QUOTESWhat Are Call Center Services?
An inbound call center provides telephone support to customers calling in with a question or problem. These services are centralized customer service processes designed to retain current customers. Agents in call centers are trained to deliver exceptional service and resolve problems as quickly as possible.
Call centers can offer a variety of support, such as:
- Technical support
- Help desk
- Dispatch services
- Completing purchases
Call centers can be an internal or outsourced function. There are a variety of options you can use to make your inbound call services efficient and cost-effective. Call centers can offer email and chat support in addition to phone calls.
What Is the Cost of Call Center Service?
Every provider has a different pricing structure. The price is generally set by how long the call lasts and how high the volume is. The average amount is between $0.89 and $1.19 per minute. Many providers offer packages for a set number of calls or minutes.
You can usually get a lower cost the higher the package you purchase. It’s important to research call center providers and go with the one that has the best reviews. When researching, consider the following:
- Customer reviews on Google and social media
- Your budget vs. their services
- You call volume expectations
- Do you expect growth soon?
Once you understand these factors, making a decision will be much easier. Interested in learning more? Check out this article about call center software costs.
What Goes Into Pricing These Services?
The length of the call and volume are not the only factors that go into pricing call center services. Here is a comprehensive list:
- Phone time
- Initial and ongoing training
- Number of agents
- Center location
- Type of vendor
- Support staff
- Equipment
- Facility costs
- Human resources
- Infrastructure
As you can see, the service providers have the same types of costs you would if you created an internal department. The main difference is that the service provider will have many clients. This means they can distribute these costs across several clients instead of you being responsible for them all.
Benefits of Outsourcing Services
Outsourcing your inbound call center services can save you a lot of money! It takes a lot of resources to staff and train an internal customer service team, but it’s a necessity for most businesses. You also have to consider the benefits, salary raises, and other perks of full-time employees.
You can eliminate that large cost by outsourcing your customer service agents!
Outsourcing a core function like customer service frees up your time to focus on other revenue-generating areas. You also gain access to a team of experts who will deliver exceptional customer service for your business. This is a big benefit for global companies who need staff available at all hours of the day.
Customers feel frustrated or angry when they need to speak to a company and can’t. Having an outsourced team available 24/7 gets rid of that possible situation. You have experts on call at all hours to handle all types of situations.
How to Save on Costs
You can save on costs by working with a company that sets prices based on company size. It’s also important to set a budget and stick to it if you want to maximize your cost savings.
When choosing a service, you should consider self-service options to lower costs. This will also help the customers who need a quick answer to get through the system quicker. Fast service goes a long way in keeping customers satisfied!
You should choose a company that uses call center software with detailed customer histories. This will save you time and money because it won’t take so long to figure out what department a caller needs.
Types of Call Center Services
There are many types of call centers out there, but we’ll break them down into two distinct categories. There are domestic and overseas service providers. Both types come with their own set of pros and cons, discussed below.
Domestic Outsourced Services
Domestic outsourced service providers are those that reside in the US. The prices do tend to be a bit more than overseas centers, but there are also more benefits. Those include:
- Better data security
- Increased communication
- Agents may speak more than one language
- Data and privacy compliance standards
- Less of a cultural gap
- Improved brand reputation
The price for US-based centers may be much higher, but it is also worth it.
Overseas Outsourced Services
An overseas outsourced service provider will likely be much cheaper than a domestic provider. Overseas call centers are a popular job, so the staff will probably be well trained and deliver great service. Costs are also much lower due to currency conversions and labor laws.
Labor costs are cheaper overseas, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best choice. Potential disadvantages include:
- English isn’t the agent’s first language/heavy accent
- People tend to distrust overseas centers
- Limited recourse for unmet expectations
- Changing government situations
- Unstable power and IT infrastructures
If you’re tight on resources, an overseas call center is better than not having one. It’s also beneficial if you have customers all over the world who may not speak English.
How to Choose a Call Center Service
You should strongly consider your products and what kind of support you need. Do you need a tech support line to help people use a device? Do you need a quality assurance team to ensure calls follow complex processes?
Once you have a thorough understanding of what your company needs, you can start researching call center service providers. Not all providers are created equal. Not all of them provide inbound services, either.
You must research them thoroughly to understand what they offer and for what price. If available, schedule free demos or consults with each company you are interested in. This will give you a better understanding of their company.
It also allows you to ask questions in a one-on-one setting. Some companies even offer a free trial to see how their service could benefit your company.
Examples of Service Providers
There are many service providers who make the top of the list. Each provider offers a variety of packages with slightly different service levels. The ultimate goal of all inbound call center service providers is to take your incoming calls and keep your customers satisfied.
A few of the top providers include:
- Go Answer
- TeleDirect
- XACT
- Five Star Call Centers
You can learn more about each of these below.
Go Answer
Go Answer is one of the most popular inbound call center services. They have a pay-as-you-go pricing tier that increases with increasing call volumes. Go Answer also provides very competitive pricing.
Go Answer has the option for 24/7 support. You can also choose to have bilingual agents on your team. They offer the following support options:
- Phone
- Chat/Web
- SMS
Go Answer is best for mid-to-large businesses with large call volumes. They also offer a free trial for one month or 200 minutes to test their company. Pricing starts at $1.10 per minute for a 100-minute plan.
TeleDirect
TeleDirect call centers are for mid-to-large businesses with high call volumes. This industry leader is known for its exceptionally quick call answer time of 11 seconds. The company has a 98% quality assurance rating.
TeleDirect offers the following inbound call center services:
- Lead generation
- Order processing
- Customer service
- Direct response/media support
- Tier 1 tech support
- Overflow support
- After hours support
- Reservations
- Help desks
The minimum monthly package for TeleDirect is 1,000 minutes at $1.10 per minute. The largest package is for 20,000 minutes at $0.75 per minute.
XACT
XACT call center services are another industry-leading call center company. XACT has dedicated and shared agents, meaning the agents will understand your company better than most.
They offer 24/7 customer support across several channels. Those include:
- Phone
- SMS
- Webchat
- Work item
- Faxes
Your customers will have a variety of ways to reach out and get help with XACT. The company trains employees thoroughly, allowing them to help customers with common and unique service requests. Pricing is not readily available, but you can request a quote on their site.
Five Star Call Centers
Five Star services are available 24/7 for customers via many channels. These include:
- SMS
- Phone
- Chat
- Self-service
- IVR
- Social media
- Software
Depending on what your company needs, Five Star Call Centers may have the solution! The company dedicates time and money to training agents thoroughly. They focus on quality assurance and internal support to enable agents to deliver exceptional work.
Pricing is not available, but you can request a free quote.
CIENCE Technologies
CIENCE Technologies focuses on lead generation and customer support functions. The company is newer and launched in 2015. Since then, they have proven they are a trustworthy and professional company. The company works with HubSpot CRM to improve your sales function.
If you decide to work with this company, you will get a one-on-one workshop to learn how to use the platform. They are the US’s 8th fasted growing marketing and advertising company. Pricing isn’t available but you do have the option to speak to someone or request a quote.
Signius Communications
Signius Communications allows you to get started without a setup fee. They offer competitive pricing and phone and email support options. The company goes above and beyond for its clients to create a great experience for you and your customers.
A 50-minute package is $40. Each minute after 50 is $0.82. The pricing structure is great for small companies with limited resources.
AnswerConnect
AnswerConnect offers a variety of support options. These include:
- Phone
- Webchat
When you work with the company, you get your own dedicated toll-free number for your business. This is a perk most other companies do not offer. They also request a list of frequently asked questions to prepare agents for common situations customers will call with.
AnswerConnect offers 24/7 live answering so customers don’t get frustrated with self-serve systems. The average price per minute is $1.49. They also offer affordable packages with decreasing per minute costs the more minutes you buy.
Call Experts
Call Experts assist a variety of businesses and offer an easy-to-use scheduling system. You can easily update when you need agents with a few clicks of the mouse! Call Experts offers a wide variety of services and add ons you can purchase.
Call Experts is a 24/7 live answering company with flexible payment plans. Their standard plan is $49 for 50 minutes of calls. Each minute after 50 is $0.90.
The company offers customizable packages for companies that need it. You can discuss pricing options and your company’s needs with an agent to learn more.
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Now that you have a complete rundown of the best inbound call center services for 2022, we hope you can move forward with the best choice for your company! This article covered everything from what the services are to how to save on costs.
Are you ready to move forward? You should check out our pricing guide! Fill out this form to get a free quote about call center services.
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