Is there an industry average for cost per outbound call? I am considering employing agents in India to call my customers in the U.S.. Inbound call costs would be on an hourly basis, but what about outbound calls? How should those costs be calculated?
Requires Free Membership to View
When you register, you'll begin receiving targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers on the latest customer relationship management (CRM)and call center technology issues today. Our goal is to keep you informed on the hottest issues facing this fast-changing industry.
Hannah Smalltree, Editorial Director
There are no industry averages for call center metrics, much to many people's dismay! Cost per call is a function of many things – wage rates and call handling times being the most important, but also considering overhead costs, technology, telecom/network costs, and more. If you're looking at outsourcing, there are a number of ways to calculate and pay for resources – hourly for "owned" full-time employees (FTEs) dedicated to your calling needs, by call, and by minute are some of the models we've seen. Depending on the nature of the calls, you may also pay on performance – percent of collections or sales, for example.
This was first published in January 2007