Most of the time business owners use contact centers and call centers interchangeably, but they are not similar. There are some key differences between them, as contact center is not like traditional call centers where a room full of agent’s wear headsets and interact with customers on call. Without the proper knowledge, it becomes tricky to choose between a contact center and a call center service for business needs like which one is better for your customers.
In this blog, we have explained the key differences between the contact center and the call center and analyzed which one is more right for your business.
Contact Center provides multiple channels to customers for interaction such as phone, apps text, email, social media, and the web. For instance, if a US-based company communicates with its Australian customers, they need more communication channels and automation to mitigate the time zone lapse.
Call Center is a centralized customer service platform where agents receive calls or make calls to customers for marketing campaigns, sales, and surveys. It is just limited to voice-only operations to deal with complaints and inquiries on the phone in case of inbound call center services.
Differences Between Contact Center and Call Center
The number of communication channels is higher in the case of contact center services such as chatbots, live chat, social media messengers, emails, and phones. While call centers solely rely on VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) communication and phone only.
Contact center analytics is more detailed that covers multiple channel details of all clients. It offers better insights into customer preferences and needs so that customers could better focus on improving customer satisfaction. The multiple channels in the contact center integrate with customer relationship management software that easily analyzes and tracks customer data. It’s completely missing in the case of call center services.
Contact center services are more cost-effective as compared to call centers. Most of the operations in the contact center are automated through AI-driven tools such as chatbots which respond timely to all the repetitive tasks while the agent is free to deal with critical issues. It also decreases the average cost per served customer.
Contact center performs the more sophisticated tasks of making your business flourish in the competitive environment by integrating multiple communication channels. It provides a consistent and engaging customer experience across all channels to make sure that your brand gets the attention of potential customers.
The contact center is more prone to scalability because of the automation of repetitive processes. The agents will be free for handling more customers.
Contact centers are the more advanced version of dealing with customers as compared to call centers where it’s only limited to calls. However, small businesses don’t require multiple communication channels at the initial stages so call center services will be sufficient for them to deal with the customers. It also depends on the nature of your business, if you are dealing with retirees who are not familiar with other communication channels, it’s better to hire call center services only.
For large businesses or small exponentially growing businesses, contact center services are best to deal with a high volume of inbound and outbound customer interactions. They provide high-quality customer services and support to your customer via using advanced technology and tools. When you are working in the most competitive niche, hiring contact center services will give you an edge over your competitors.
Contact center services provide more in-depth and valuable insights about your customer by using multiple channels of communication. You can use the data to determine the needs and preferences of your customer so you could make your product and services more relevant. On the other hand, call center services are just limited to voice calls that are more suitable for small businesses in the preliminary stages of their growth.