Customer satisfaction 'should be paramount' for call centres

Date: 06/10/2011

Businesses using non-geographic numbers to encourage customers to get in touch should not sacrifice caller satisfaction in favour of reducing costs.

This is the view of Jim Costello, chief executive of business process outsourcing firm in Ireland SouthWestern, who told the Irish Times that some companies want to run their call centre operations "as cheaply as possible".

However, this can lead to callers being unhappy with the service they receive and he advised firms to prioritise treating customers well.

"They will stay with you for longer and they will improve your business over time," he was quoted as saying, adding it is "hugely important" to create trust with the person who calls with a complaint or query.

According to the news source, around 90 million calls are made to Irish call centres annually and recent research by the Contact Centre Management Association revealed 52 per cent of such sites in the country experienced a rise in revenue during 2010.