The Best Call Center Services for 2020

Because you'll most likely be working with a sales rep to design your service plan, you might be able to negotiate pricing, terms or services. These pointers can help you get a good deal.

Figure out what you need. Before you call any companies for quotes, determine your average monthly call volume and exactly what you need the call center to do. This will help you get accurate quotes.

Get a ballpark idea of how much call center services cost. Although most companies don't post their pricing online, some do. Examine pricing tiers, fees and included services, then consider which one best aligns with your business. Use this information as a gauge as you evaluate additional companies.

Gather price quotes from at least three companies. Besides monthly rates, ask how much it costs to get set up, how long the contract is, what fees you'll pay and if there are monthly minimums. Ask if the company is running any specials or promotions. Finally, ask the sales agent to email you a quote and a contract to review.

Compare rates, fees, contract terms and services. Of the companies on your shortlist, read the contract and talk with the sales rep. Ask about any fees you don't understand or that weren't disclosed in the quote. If you were quoted lower rates, fewer fees, better terms or bonus services elsewhere, ask if the service you'd like to use will match them.

Finally, many of the services we evaluated offer a free trial period. Take advantage of it to ensure the service will truly help your business. During the trial, make several test calls so you experience their customer service firsthand. If there are issues, work with your sales rep or the customer service team to correct them. If you're pleased with the trial and satisfied that you're getting a good value, go ahead and sign up. Otherwise, consider the next company on your list.

Below are the criteria we looked for when evaluating call center services. Customer support is critical, because call center representatives are ambassadors for your company, and their interactions with your customers directly affect your business.

Services Offered 

The best call centers provide several types of inbound and outbound calling services. Many companies assist with lead generation, market research, seminar and event registration.

Inbound calling services are critical, too. Some popular inbound calling services handle customer assistance and technical support for a program or software.

Many call center services now offer live webchat support as well as email and social media management services. Consider which services your business needs by determining where your customers are most likely to contact you (and what channels are most convenient for them) and then choose your call center partner accordingly.

Campaign Success Features

Look for a call center solution located in the U.S. to ensure a positive customer experience. Many call centers are located overseas and hire employees for whom English is a second language. This may be an issue if your customers have a difficult time understanding and communicating with representatives, which can cost your business money. Every company on our list is based in the U.S. and employs native English speakers.

Another tool that can contribute to a successful campaign and a positive customer experience is script development. The best call center services help you create a script that the service's representatives follow when speaking with your customers. This script helps call center reps provide knowledgeable, professional customer service to your clients. It also ensures that the representatives deliver consistent information, which is important for marketing and sales.  

Reporting 

Many call centers provide call completion and refusal reports. A call completion report shows how many agents completed the entire script with a customer before the call ended. A refusal report shows the number of agents who were not able to complete the script or how many individuals declined to make a purchase or take the survey. Many companies offer customizable reporting options, so you can receive key statistics on the progress of your campaigns.

The frequency of reports is another important factor, especially if you are contracting with a call center on a time-sensitive campaign. Many call center companies give you the option of receiving daily reports so you stay abreast of your campaign.

Help and Support

The support you receive from a call center service is critical. After all, call centers interact with your customers, and you want them to receive the best assistance possible. All of the services we evaluated provide phone and email support. In addition, many have online resources, such as FAQs and articles, for finding answers on your own.

We began our research by drafting a list of call centers. We searched the web and consulted other lists and reviews. We ended up with 50 call center services to examine. 

From there, we visited the websites of each vendor to compare pricing and features. We scrutinized services (inbound, outbound), invoice requirements, call minimums and additional features. Services that did not meet our initial requirements were eliminated.  

Next, we contacted the remaining services, posing as a customer. We wanted to go beyond the marketing rhetoric and get a feel for how the companies handle actual customer interactions. We asked each customer service rep the same set of questions about the company's features, options and pricing, and we recorded our observations about the experience.

Our ultimate decisions were based on several factors, including which ones offered the best balance of affordability, useful features and how professional and helpful the services' representatives were.

Some call center services offer every service under the sun; others specialize in particular areas. To more easily determine which service is right for you, consider whether you need an inbound service, an outbound one or perhaps a hybrid of both types of services.

Inbound vs. outbound call center services

Inbound call center services take incoming calls from customers, clients, suppliers or partners. In other words, the call originates outside the call center and an agent is answering the phone on your behalf. Inbound call center services include message taking, customer service and complaint management. Inbound call center services can also include omnichannel support, such as live web chat support or email management.

Outbound call center services involve a call center agent making calls on your behalf. These services are typically considered more sophisticated and generally require the skills of a dedicated agent. Outbound call center services include services like lead generation, polls, surveys and market research.

Most inbound services can generally be performed with less-expensive shared agents, while many outbound call center services require a dedicated agent. This is not a hard and fast rule; it is a general expectation you should keep in mind when evaluating various services.

Contracts 

Some call centers have minimum requirements you must meet, such as a minimum time commitment and/or a minimum number of calling hours within a defined time frame. For example, you might have to agree to at least 100 hours of representatives interacting with your customers. If you fail to meet these requirements or break your contract early, you could be charged a fee or for the hours remaining in your contract, even if you have not used them.

Call centers can be great resources, but they're not always necessary. Use our checklist below to determine whether you need a call center service. If several of the statements below are true, consider trying a call center solution.

• My employees and I spend too much time answering phone calls.
• My company is losing sales because we don't have time to follow up on leads.
• I don't have time to run my business because I am answering customer questions.
  
  
• We miss many customer calls because the phone lines are busy.
  
  
• It takes my team longer than 24 hours to return customer phone calls because there's so much to do.
  
  
• We have a hard time keeping track of appointments.
  
  
• My team doesn't have time to call and remind clients about upcoming appointments.
  
  
• Several of our customers speak languages other than English, but none of my staff can assist them.
  
  
• I know we need help, but I don't think we have enough work to hire a full-time receptionist to answer phones.
  
  
• Customers often call asking for help with placing their orders, and we don't have the staff or extra time to guide them through ordering processes.
  
  
• We want to improve our customer service, but we don't currently have the resources to do so.
  
  
• Our customers call at all hours, and we can't always answer the phones when our clientele needs us.

Q: How do call centers work?

A: The companies we reviewed are U.S.-based and available 24/7. All of them have bilingual agents who speak Spanish, as well as English, and several can help your customers with other language needs.

You can instruct representatives to do any number of things with your calls. They can take messages from inbound calls or transfer calls to you, they can set appointments and help with order processing, or you can have agents handle technical calls following a custom script about your business and its products or services. Some companies charge extra for custom scripts, especially for complex ones. Keep this in mind when shopping for a call center service.

You can have the call center perform outbound calls in addition to taking inbound calls. Outbound call services include administering surveys, placing scheduled calls to customers for follow-up purposes, lead generation services and even cold-calling, though some call centers no longer participate in cold-calling if you do not have the customer's information in your system already.

Q: What are the benefits of a call center?

A: Call centers free up your and your employees' time so you can focus on the important aspects of running your business while others handle your phone calls. A call center is a good way to improve your customer service without taxing your current resources, and it's a cost-effective solution, especially if you purchase a plan that lets you pay for minutes you use them.

Call center services also help you close sales since someone is available to assist with order processing and appointment setting. You can also have call centers follow up with your customers and work on converting leads into customers.

Q: How much do call centers charge?

A: Call centers vary significantly in their cost from company to company. While many advertise per-minute rates, more goes into pricing than just the rate alone. Many charge a setup fee, and some charge additional fees for certain services. Some round usage up, which can inflate costs; some round to the nearest 6-second increment, while others round up to as much as the nearest minute. A call center that rounds up usage might have a lower rate, but your total bill will likely be much higher. The best call centers will explain your rate and any additional charges.

The features you choose and your average monthly call volume also influence how much you will pay for a call center service. On average, call centers charge 75 cents to $1.15 per minute, which, depending on your call volume, could total several hundred dollars a month. Further, if you want a dedicated agent, you'll pay an hourly rate, which can range from $25 to $65 per hour.

Q: How do inbound call centers work?

A: Inbound call centers typically involve what is known as a shared agent environment, where several representatives handle your account alongside other clients. Inbound call centers manage incoming calls from a customer to your business, including customer service inquiries, order taking, complaints and more.

Every call center is slightly different. Some simply capture caller contact information and take a message, while others manage the call from start to finish without transferring it over to you. Most inbound calls can be handled by shared agents, although some more advanced functions might require dedicated agents, which are more expensive.

Q: How do outbound call centers work?

A: Outbound call centers almost always require expensive dedicated or semidedicated agents, which are focused on only your account, or your account and just two or three other businesses. Outbound calling campaigns involve telemarketing, lead generation and market research, such as polls and surveys.

Outbound call centers typically focus on drumming up new leads or gathering market insights to inform broader business strategies. They tend to be campaign-driven, rather than continuous like inbound call center services. Outbound call center services are commonly used by larger companies.

Q: How can call center outsourcing help business growth?

A: Call center outsourcing can help small businesses grow by improving customer service and the overall customer experience without detracting from operational resources. Call center agents are trained in customer service and professionalism; they are tasked with boosting customer satisfaction and increasing retention rates. For small businesses that have general staff manning the phones in addition to their other duties, a call center service agent takes the pressure off and frees up staff to focus on other tasks.

Q: What companies outsource call centers?

A: Businesses that commonly outsource customer service to a call center include retail businesses, banks, property management businesses and more. Some businesses might prefer using an answering service, which tends to be more narrowly focused on a specific type of answering, such as for an attorney's office or a medical practice.

The best candidates to work with a call center are businesses that have trouble managing their day-to-day communications with customers or those that have unexpected spikes in call volume. Additionally, some businesses partner with call centers for after-hours support so their customers have a professional representative to reach around the clock. For some businesses, call centers serve as a tool to drum up new leads and business, helping them to grow when they've reached a plateau.

Q: What is a call type?

A: A call type refers to how calls are categorized. More specifically, it defines the routing scripts for calls. The call service can create and adjust call types to accommodate the kind of service the caller wants. There are both inbound services and outbound. Examples of specific types of call types include lead generation, market research, crisis management, message taking and customer service.

Q: Where are most call centers located?

A: According to a 2018 Statista report, Texas has the highest call center employment in the country, with Florida being a close second. The United Kingdom has the most call centers, followed by the U.S., the Philippines and India, based on a report from the Site Selection Group.

Whether you work with a domestic or offshore call center is a key decision. Offshore call centers tend to be significantly less expensive than domestic call centers. However, they might not have as many services or as high security standards. Additionally, offshore call centers might employ agents with thick accents, which can reduce customer satisfaction.

Q: What are the disadvantages of outsourcing a call center?

A: When outsourcing your call center services, you may run into a few hiccups that affect your company's service and reputation. For example, if you outsource to a different country, your customers and employees may struggle to communicate through language barriers or different accents, which can affect the quality of service clients receive.

As a business owner, you won't have as much control over the call center's employees as your in-house ones. You're entrusting a big part of your customer service to another company's team, and it could be hard to manage and guide them if they fall short of your standards. There are also inherent security risks in outsourcing, because you are placing your business and client data in the hands of a third party you don't interact with daily.

We asked some of our small business owner readers which call center they use for their businesses. Brad Cook, partner development for Alfred International Inc., said his company uses mindStart, based in Austin, Texas, and are very happy with their experience and their team.

"This is our first call center relationship, and although we did review several options before signing on with mindStart [in February 2019], their considerable experience, North American-based location and team members, as well as … existing clients in the technology sector were all critical attributes for us," Cook told business.com. 

Matt Schmidt, CEO of Diabetes Life Solutions, said he uses VoiceNation and is pleased with the service they receive. He likes that in addition to their staff being properly trained to speak to clients, they get a text message notification and an email with a recording of the phone call.

"Being a virtual agency, they have helped us immensely handling these incoming phone calls instead of us assigning an employee to pick up the calls on top of their additional duties," Schmidt said.

For Alistair Bambridge, founder, Bambridge Accountants, Ruby Receptionists has been a good choice. He said their staff is very polite when answering calls and the messages they provide are detailed. "[The] Cost is good as well, and they split out cold calls, so you don't keep getting charged for those," Bambridge said.