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  • 25 JUL 2007

    British Firms Use “Domestic Call Centers” in Marketing as Key Differentiator, Catch Crap For It

    A post by Chris Beauchamp as Call Centers, Hot Transfers, Lead Generation, Marketing

    Americans aren’t the only ones fed up with offshore call centers. In “Luring Customers with Local Call Centers,” Newsweek reports that British firms are finding that the cost savings of offshoring are offset by losses in client retention and satisfaction, and companies are moving support operations back home. These firms are making the (wise) assumption that the substantially higher cost of operating domestic call centers will more than pay for itself with better customer satisfaction and retention. The same is true in the U.S., where we’ve also seen many technology and financial services firms pull back from using foreign call centers.

    These companies, which are now taking on higher operating costs to help with customer support (and ultimately retention), are beginning to incorporate “domestic call center operations” as a key message in marketing and advertising. And why wouldn’t they do that? After all, this is a move that is good for consumers, right?

    But even this commonsensical approach is not without its critics, who “decry these advertising campaigns as xenophobic, saying they play on nationalism and prejudices about call centers in the developing world.” Am I prejudiced because I’m frustrated that many foreign call center agents don’t speak English very well? Or that there is constant latency in the conversation due to VOIP technology? Or that there are very legitimate privacy and fraud concerns that are often associated with foreign call centers?

    (Thanks to DoublePositive’s Brad F. for bringing the article to my attention.)

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    British Firms Use “Domestic Call Centers” in Marketing as Key Differentiator, Catch Crap For It by Chris Beauchamp

1

    John W. 1658 days ago

    I’m a Brit living in the USA, and I have been on the receiving end of many call-centre calls originated outside the UK. I’ve also experienced the same thing over here. Biggest problem for me (and my American wife) is that while the caller may speak English, it’s very often highly accented and difficult to understand. Plus they usually speak from a script, even when they’re giving technical support, and the result is confusion, exasperation, and high blood pressure. As an example, try the Hewlett Packard technical support people – who may be in India, Southern America, or the Philippines. I did – several times – which is why I’ve now got a Canon multi-function printer, and will never EVER buy another Hewlett Packard product. Canon have all their call centres in the US, by the way. I talked to one of their tech staff, who said that Canon had thought it over, and decided not to place call centres outside the US, even if the running costs were higher,and it’s proved to be a very good corporate decision.

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