Contact Center VS Call Center: How Are They Different and Why Should You Care?

Contact Center VS Call Center: How Are They Different and Why Should You Care?

Contact centers and call centers have been given a bad rap. Mention call center and what comes to mind? Often we think of those annoying telemarketing calls that we spend around 23.6 years of our adult life dodging. Or you imagine the endless transfers, crappy on-hold music, and unhelpful answers you receive every time you try to call your insurance company. 

But contact centers and call centers are so much more than that, and the vast majority don’t deserve the hate. They offer services necessary for the growth and flourishing of any company.

That helpful person who assisted you in returning those jeans that didn’t fit? That’s a call center representative. And the online chat option that answered your questions as you placed your order for that new mattress?  You’re working with a contact center right there. 

While contact center and call center are often used interchangeably, if you want to get technical about it (and we know you do, you smart human you), there are differences between the two. 

Want to know what those are?

Well, you’ve come to the right place.

So What is a Call Center?

A traditional call center is a company or department that handles inbound and outbound phone calls to and from clients and customers. Unsurprisingly, the title “call center” was given because this work is accomplished …on the phone. Making calls. 

Ta daaa! *jazz hands* 

Call center agents may be situated in-house and work as a department within an organization, but often a business will outsource their call center tasks to a third-party call center company.

Inbound calls involve calls coming in from customers seeking answers to questions or requiring assistance of some sort, like help with paying a bill. The priority of a good representative is to understand the customer’s need quickly and resolve their issue with care and speed. 

Outbound calls are calls made to clients, customers, or prospects from a call center representative/agent. A team is hired to represent a particular brand or company and work from phone scripts provided to them by the company. This gives them a roadmap to follow for placing calls centered around such tasks as selling a product, asking for funds, extending a special offer, or requesting participation in a survey. 

What is a Contact Center?

While a contact center also uses phones and place calls, they have a variety of communication tricks up their sleeves. 

Like a call center, a contact center also handles inbound and outbound interactions with customers—but not only via phone. There are a variety of communication methods implemented that we all use ourselves on a regular basis without even thinking about it. 

For example:

• When you’re tracking that fluffy unicorn you ordered for your daughter’s birthday, you might opt for status updates to be sent via text. 
• You can receive tech support directly from an in-app chat feature.
• If you’ve signed up for an event, you might get a push notification on your devices reminding you of your commitment.
• For the introverts among us who avoid the phone like a suspicious casserole at potluck, just send an email and you’re on your way to a nice, quick resolution to your question or issue that doesn’t require speaking directly to another human being. 

While some of these tasks may be automated, and it often feels like there’s no one on the other end of all these processes, chances are that behind the scenes there’s a specific agent or representative making the magic happen. Contact centers are an essential part of any thriving business.

And Why Should I Care?

If you’re an independent contract worker or a student at university, alright, honestly you probably don’t need to care (but since it’s great to fill your brain with random info, feel free to keep reading so the next time you go on a date you can sweep them off their feet with your vast knowledge of contact centers).

But if you are part of a large company or corporation, the importance of a high-quality customer experience isn’t lost on you. And building and maintaining great customer service requires the use of either a call center or contact center.

So how do you know which is best for your business? 

This is usually determined by the size of your company and your customer needs. 

• Are you a smaller company with customers who largely rely on phone calls?

A call center might be the best choice for you. Have a chat with your sales team and take a look at the metrics. What percentage of your customers contact you by phone? If this percentage is significantly high, there is not a pressing need for other communication services. It would be a waste of time, energy, and resources. 

Benefits of a call center include:

• Less expensive software
• Able to handle a large volume of calls
• Lower risk (only one focused platform)
• Thorough call analytics
• Offers flexible, remote work (dependant on software systems)

A call center is a great choice for a business with a smaller budget and customer base, and an especially smart move when first forming or growing your own sales, marketing, and customer service teams.

• Are you a larger company with vast and varied customer interactions?

Then a contact center is the way to go. With a variety of channels and ways to support your customer’s needs, you can provide the ideal experience and build brand loyalty. 

While you can build your own in-house department, this can be a costly and resource-sucking endeavor. The majority of corporations outsource their contact center needs to a third-party provider. This has the added benefit of bridging the gap that often forms between sales and marketing teams. Burdened by tasks such as prospecting and lead nurturing, time is taken away from actual revenue-generating work and closing sales. 

With a contact center partner on board, both sales and marketing can take a breath and focus on their real work, increasing job satisfaction and optimizing your overall business process.

A good contact center team can take over such tasks as:

• Prospecting
• Nurturing leads
• Setting appointments
• Scheduling demos
• Data and market researching 
• Comprehensive reporting
• Brand building
• Business strategy
• …and much more!

And to make this really easy for you, choosing the right call center can start right here, right now. At Squeeze, we offer contact center services to help your company become the best it can be—accelerating sales, growing revenue, and increasing profitability. And since we offer plans based solely on performance rather than locking you into a pricey contract, there is no risk for you. Our success is determined by how well YOU succeed, and that’s the ultimate win-win. 

If you’re ready to have a true partner join your team and help propel your company forward, contact us today and let’s talk!