Question 2: On the following scale, how would you rate your experiences with offshore call centres?

Answers			Votes	Percent
1.		Very Good	1	0%
2.		Good	17	8%
3.		Average	53	25%
4.		Poor	73	35%
5.		Very Poor	66	31%

 

The costs of operating a UK based call centre are far higher than offshore facilities and consumers have become increasingly price resistant.  In the banking sector, First Direct has recently announced that it is due to introduce bank charges for many customers who have become accustomed to free banking.  But would British customers prefer to deal with a company who offered a 10% discount if they could only use their offshore call centre or pay full price to use an onshore call centre.  Nearly 3 times as many respondents said they would continue to use the UK based centre.

Question 3: If a company offered you a 10% discount if you could only be serviced from an offshore call centre, which would you choose?

Answers Votes Percent 1.   Use an offshore call centre with the 10% discount 55 26% 2.   Continue to use the UK based call centre 155 74%

 

Another major pet peeve of consumers is using an automated service.  With the lower operating costs in offshore call centres, many of the lower end calls which would otherwise have been handled by automated services have been handled by live agents offshore. The results were very close with 38% of people preferring to use an automated service with 39% of people preferring to use the offshore call centre. 

Question 4: Would you prefer to be serviced by an offshore call centre or an automated service?

Answers			Votes	Percent
1.		Prefer Automated Service	80	38%
2.		Prefer Offshore Call Centre	81	39%
3.		No Preference	49	23%

 

With limited staff availability and high labour costs, many British call centres have been unable to deliver on their service levels. We wanted to establish whether people would be prepared to wait longer to speak to a British based call centre agent.  Over 3 times as many people say they would be prepared to wait rather than speak to an offshore agent.

Question 5: Would you prefer to wait an additional 3 minutes to have your call answered by a UK call centre or be answered by an offshore call centre immediately?

Answers			Votes	Percent
1.		Wait 3 minutes for a UK call centre	150	71%
2.		Answered immediately by an offshore call centre	47	22%
3.		No preference	13	6%

 

We wanted to establish why people objected to offshore call centres.  Is it simply that they feel they are better serviced by a British agent or are they more concerned about their personal details being dealt with in another country.  In the1980's when many manufacturing jobs were moved overseas, the "Buy British" campaign was designed to encourage a patriotic ideology of preserving British jobs.  We wanted to establish whether this was an issue within call centres.

The main concern for the majority of people was that they felt they received a lower quality service from offshore call centres.  The issue of data security was the main priority for almost a quarter of respondent with 1 in 6 people stressing the loss of jobs as the key factor.  Very few people said that nothing concerned them or that they were concerned about UK based centres.

Question 6: If anything, what concerns you the most about offshore call centres?

Answers			Votes	Percent
1.		Nothing concerns me	7	3%
2.		Data security	46	22%
3.		Loss of jobs in the UK	33	16%
4.		Lower quality service in offshore call centres	121	58%
5.		I am more concerned about UK call centres	3	1%

 

Over recent years, the number of telemarketing calls being received has escalated mainly due to the low cost of offshore centres and many Indian start-ups being prepared to work on "pay per performance" model.  However,  more people were concerned with inbound centres.  This may be due in part to the fact that the people most averse to telemarketing calls have been on the ever growing list of TPS subscribers and no longer receive such calls

Question 7: Which type of offshore call centres concern you?

Answers Votes Percent 1.   Offshore call centres conducting cold telemarketing calls 52 25% 2.   Offshore call centres providing customer service 71 34% 3.   I object to both customer service and telemarketing calls equally 82 39% 4.   I have no concerns with offshore call centres 5 2%

 

In 2002, HSBC Chief Executive Sir Keith Whitson said that the bank's Indian call centre staff performed better than their British counterparts.  We wanted to establish whether UK consumers felt that this was the motivation for companies to offshore their call centres.  The answer was "No".

Question 8: What is the main reason you believe that companies outsource call centres overseas?

Answers			Votes	Percent
1.		To increase profits	184	88%
2.		To make their product/service cheaper for their customers	25	12%
3.		Because they can't find enough staff in the UK	0	0%
4.		To improve the level of customer service for their customers	0	0%
5.		No idea	1	0%

 

Conclusion

Overall, the results confirmed previous surveys stating that British consumers are generally not happy with offshore call centres.  However, they still prefer any live agent to an automated service (by a small margin) and some would prefer to deal with an offshore agent if the benefits of offshoring were passed on to them in terms of improved answer times or reduced costs.

Methodology