Cost of Investing in an Inbound Call Centre

UnderstandingtheCostsofInvestinginanInboundCallCentre 1920w

Statistics show that 60% of customers prefer to call a business rather than use other communication channels. This implies that if you’re not taking advantage of live answering services, you’re losing out to the competition.

What is an inbound call centre?

An inbound call centre provides customer support and management, especially when a business’ internal team can no longer handle customer inquiries and concerns. They are dedicated agents trained to provide service aligned with business standards and stand as an extended client-facing team.

If you’re a growing business, you need an inbound call centre. You’ll soon realize that answering phones and resolving customer concerns will quickly be out of your team’s depth.

Factors Affecting Call Centre Costs

Operating a contact center involves setting up the following:

Trained agents
Rented office
Essential equipment and software
Utility fees
Employee training
Recruiters

Call centres spend 80% of their budget paying for the agents’ salaries. The more qualifications an agent has, such as bilingual or experience in an industry, the higher compensation they can command.

They also cover business costs like office rent, utility fees, and essential equipment. Using cloud-based software is critical to serving clients efficiently, and paying recruiters is necessary to constantly have a stream of qualified agents. Employee training is a constant activity to keep agents abreast of the client’s needs.

All these factors add to the cost of running an inbound call centre. While you can always set up your call centre department, the setup costs and required ongoing improvements may be restrictive. For small to mid-size businesses, outsourcing is a practical option.

Outsourcing an inbound call centre allows you to enjoy the benefits without the added setup costs or risks. Plus, call centres have affordable options where you only pay for the services you need or that were rendered.

The Costs of Inbound Call Centres

Providing an exact cost for an inbound call centre is difficult because final prices are influenced by various conditions like the length of calls, the location of the agents, their skill level, and the type of work involved. Offshore services have lower prices, but domestic services have higher skill levels for industry-specific work.

Here are the commonly used fee structures you’ll encounter in inbound call centres:

Dedicated: You’re given a group of dedicated agents assigned solely to your business. They are trained to apply your best practices and charge by the hour. Domestic services typically charge $20-$35 per hour.
Monthly: This is like getting dedicated agents, but instead of paying by the hour, you pay for their services monthly.
Shared: If you believe your call volumes are low, you can opt to share a group of agents with other clients. They will still be trained with your best practices, but you’d only pay on a per-minute basis. Domestic services typically charge $2 to $3 per minute.

Investing in an inbound call centre can be a significant investment for your business, but there are many ways to control costs. By using an outsourced inbound call centre and selecting the appropriate fee structure, you can save on upfront costs and ongoing expenses. Ultimately, investing in an inbound call centre can help businesses save money and improve their customer service operations.

On Call Centre helps you make informed choices about getting an inbound call centre. Get in touch today for a free consultation regarding your needs, and we’ll help you find a winning solution.

At On Call Centre , we deliver exceptional customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year—sometimes 366. On Call Centre has been providing tailored, fluently French/English bilingual answering services and call centre services to small business owners (professionals, trades) and customer support departments (government, high tech, property management, healthcare, emergency clients) serving Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto —and all over Canada —for almost 50 years.