People can easily reach out to a certain brand or company given today’s multiple communication platforms for customer service.
However, inbound & outbound calls are still the most commonly used tool for customers who wish to resolve or report certain issues.
Inbound & outbound calling in call center
Call center agents or representatives are the people that interact with customers and cater to their needs. A typical day at a call center involves agents handling volumes of both inbound & outbound calls.
What is inbound calling?
Inbound calling is when customers and potential customers phone in for customer service. From the term itself, it refers to inbound calls mostly from people that need answers to certain questions or to solve certain concerns.
Inbound call center representatives have in-depth knowledge with regards to the company and what it offers. They are also known to be polite and respectful as they also usually deal with complaints from frustrated and angry customers.
What is outbound calling?
Compared to inbound calling, outbound calling is when call center agents perform outbound calls to customers, potential leads, and partners. The goal for outbound calling is to reach out to people to make sales or market the company.
Outbound call center representatives are responsible for cold calling current and potential customers. This helps the company in adding more sales as well as in improving their services while reaching out to customers.
Difference between inbound & outbound calling
While both inbound & outbound calling happens through voice calls, they are opposites. Inbound call centers are commonly classified into three types, mainly, customer service, technical support, and inbound sales.
Outbound call centers, on the other hand, are more focused in obtaining sales. Further, this type of call center is divided into two categories – cold calling and warm calling.
As mentioned earlier, inbound calls main objective is to address and resolve customer concerns and issues. This helps in promoting trust among the customers and maintaining a loyal clientele. In contrast to outbound calls, it aims to stimulate people’s interest towards the company, its products and services.
Call centers’ shifting to contact centers
Call centers and contact centers are two terms that are usually used interchangeably. Call centers are now considered a traditional way of performing customer service and support. It seeks to attend to as many customers as possible through voice calls. It is usually the customer’s last resort whenever they wish to directly speak to a company representative.
While contact centers also handle both inbound and outbound calls, it offers a variety of communication channels wherein customers can interact with a company. Contact centers have an omnichannel approach in terms of customer service and support.
More so, a lot of business leaders opt for contact centers these days as it is more beneficial for their company as well as their customers.
Contact centers are centered in providing customers with more personalized interactions. Including real-time and timely results from the customers communication platform of choice.
