Today, users are a lot more conscious about the brands they spend on. They expect great customer experiences whenever they speak to you. Whether it’s when they’re buying or coming back to you with post-sales hiccups, they expect stellar service each time. Did you know that more than 89% of users are more likely to buy from you if you offer a great customer service experience? While previously, customer support was simply an add-on with goods/services, it’s really what can make or break a deal for you in 2022. Inbound and outbound customer support ensure efficient resolutions for call centres, but which one works for you?
In this blog, we will break down inbound vs outbound customer service so your support engine stays ticket-free.
What is Inbound Customer Service?
As the name suggests, inbound customer service is the type of support system that focuses on resolving all incoming customer tickets. It occurs when a user connects with the business first. Whether the query is through call or chat, inbound customer service aims to answer any doubts and inquiries that come from customers.
For example, for existing customers, inbound customer service helps in troubleshooting any complaints and confusion. Whereas, for unaware potential clients, it helps in clarifying doubts or answering questions about products and services.
According to an industry benchmark report, the average call-abandonment rate for incoming support calls stood at 6.44% in 2021. Such drop-offs usually owe to occasional delays in attention. To ensure fewer tickets get abandoned, it’s imperative for your inbound service system to stay intact and on time.
What is Outbound Customer Service?
On the other hand, outbound customer service happens when a representative reaches out to customers first.
Most outbound calls are sales-oriented. This means that support agents connect to try to pitch a new product, seasonal offers and discounts, or attempt to upsell and cross-sell a customer. Outbound customer service works great to get your word out in the market. It helps in generating noise about your company and your offerings through a proactive communication approach. Many businesses also use outbound support strategy to conduct customer surveys or to collect feedback post-sales.
Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Customer Service
Your customer support strategy is highly subjective to the type of business you run and the kind of interactions you’re involved in. While some support teams benefit more from a strong inbound support design, others might need to have a more outbound focus.
Dive deeper into the factors that make inbound vs outbound customer service below.
1. Objective
It is vital for agents to ensure customer satisfaction at every interaction, but the method of delivery differs in both of them.
Inbound customer service is mostly user-oriented. It is the users calling in with their suggestions, questions and complaints for addressing. The need for customers to receive support is exceptionally high, which directly correlates their experience with the service representatives offer. The customer satisfaction score is also steadfastly influenced by these interactions. And so, it’s important for agents to close the loop on a positive note.
For outbound support service, the need for communication arises at the end of the business. Their objective is to reach out to customers to sell, educate, upsell/cross-sell, give reminders, or collect payments. The user’s intention stays unverified, which is why it’s important to tread outbound interactions with caution.
For example, if a customer buys a new product and immediately runs into issues with it, their need for an answer is high. They would take the pains of calling up a support agent and request for a solution at the earliest. Whereas, say, if a payment is due for an outstanding credit amount, it becomes more important for the business to follow up than for the user to react.
2. Technology applied
Since the purpose of inbound and outbound customer service differs, so does the technology used to achieve it. These technologies depend on the type of customer support software you use. This is another top difference between inbound and outbound customer service.
In the case of inbound customer service, a business would use the following:
Traditional or automatic IVR: A menu-generated IVR works great for a linear journey addressing specific use cases. However, businesses can also deploy an automatic voice system driven by AI to diversify their IVR set up.
Call tracking and monitoring: This feature helps businesses read into consumer behavior. What types of issues do users most face? What kind of services/products need fixtures to avoid future problems? It can also highlight what’s working right. If there is a marketing campaign in motion, this feature can also help you attribute resultant calls/tickets. A monitoring feature helps you take stock of the user’s perception of your product.
Call distribution and transfers: These features can help a business identify queries and distribute them to best-qualified and available agents for further timely processing.
Now, for outbound customer service, you might need the following:
Auto-dialer: Since outbound agents need to connect with multiple users in a day, an auto-dialer simply eases the process. It automatically calls a user from a list and transfers the call to an agent or a pre-recorded voice that can relay the message.
Knowledge-base integration: If an agent is proactively reaching out to a customer, it’s important that they have the necessary information in hand. For example, a CRM integration feature will ensure the agent knows all about the user before he approaches to pitch a product or upsell. This ensures their approach is relevant and in sync with the user’s expectations.
3. Representative’s knowledge and training
Both support strategies need to put customers at the forefront. However, the difference in the agent’s training depends on the user’s intention in both cases.
During inbound interactions, customers are in charge of the conversation. They expect empathy, understanding, and fairness in resolutions. And so, it’s important to ensure that your inbound agents reflect these attitudes. They need to be polite, calm, and able to function with presumably volatile customers.
Whereas, during outbound conversations, it’s important to understand that you’re infiltrating an unaware user’s time. They don’t expect these calls, and so agents need to be prepared to face uncertainty. Since most of these calls are sales-bound, agents must keep a positive, unwavering, go-to approach. They must be trained in specifics of emotional intelligence, cold-calling, negotiation, and conversions.
Correlation of Inbound and Outbound Customer Service in Call center
While inbound and outbound customer service may sound like two independent functions, they are intertwined with the differences listed above.
A holistic call center can harbor both efficient inbound and outbound teams that initiate and carry forward interactions led by either of the teams. For example, let’s take a case of a simple cold call.
Team A works on outbound calls. They sifted through a list and called a potential user with the intention of pitching their new social media marketing product. The user has recently set up a business and is looking to build an online presence as well. While the cold call doesn’t convert, it ends on an ambiguous note, with the user saying she will get back if she wants to go ahead.
For the outbound team, this lead was warm, and they filtered it as such on their CRM.
A few days later, the user calls back the center, which is intelligently routed to Team B’s inbound agent. She starts to inquire about the product and wants answers to a few questions before she can decide. Now, the inbound agent can go through the call history and ensure his responses clear all of her doubts. And this is how the conversation and conversion come to a close with the inbound and outbound collaborative approaches.
Customer experiences are carefully planned and tightly knit, with both the teams in a call center working in synergy and efficient hand-offs. This smooth transfer of information is only made possible with an all-in-one call center solution that aids both teams.
Role of AI in Inbound and Outbound Customer Support
Manually working out conversations can be mentally tiring and reflect poorly on your support KPIs. Slower response times and longer handling times can all trickle down the CX you deliver.
But fret not! Conversational AI is here to make customer interactions, inbound and outbound alike, seamless.
1. Conversational IVR or conversational voice AI
We spoke about automatic IVR earlier, but now we will explain it further. A conversational AI-based IVR is a tool driven by natural language processing (NLP) to decipher user input to bring out the meaning. Conversational IVR can pull the user intent and provide relevant voice responses. Such smart IVR is not bound by a set menu of instructions with pre-defined responses. It is capable of understanding open-ended natural speech.
2. Intelligent agent routing
AI-led intelligent routing assesses the best agent to transfer the call to whenever a user calls in. It understands the user’s problem through preliminary data gathering and then routes the ticket to the next available agent for dedicated support. Now, the agent is well equipped with the following:
- User’s problem statement
- Call history with AI
- Purchase behavior
This helps the agent issue the most relevant, appropriate resolution in time, with minimal oscillation.
3. Timely outbound calls
Let’s lead this with an example. Imagine you are a telecom company with subscription-based network plans. Every AI-driven call center can scan through upcoming expiration dates and proactively ring a customer before the date to send reminders for renewal. The same AI can also read through the user spending behavior to offer customized plans to upsell to a user.
4. Consumer insights and action items
Customer support calls are a goldmine of information. When leveraged the right way, this data can help you come up with a solid action plan for customer support. AI helps you back your support strategy based on past user data, trends, and behavioral fluctuations. Skim through your low-performing offerings and most common roadblocks to ensure a sound and dept customer support system.
Suggested read: What is the difference between Customer care and Customer service?
Inbound vs Outbound Customer Service – Which is right for your business?
Inbound and outbound customer service both drive a business’ ability to cater to customers. Whether it’s calibrating post-sales gaps or ensuring a concrete sales pitch, inbound and outbound calls are equally important.
Your effort should be channelized to your current business goal. If acquiring new clients and establishing a base in the market is your priority, then solidifying your outbound campaigns should take the lead. Whereas, if building better brand recall and positive WOM is needed, quality inbound support must be the way to go.
Either way, conversational AI here works in waterproofing your support strategy. When your support team is equipped with the right tools and integrations, they ensure top-notch, first-rate customer experiences. This will not only help you widen your current user pool but also boost retention.
Chat360 is the world’s leading conversational AI solution. Our multilingual 24×7 support engine drastically reduces wait times with the quickest AI-driven resolutions and seamless agent redirections.
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