Customer-centric strategies leagues ahead

The report, which surveyed 403 contact centres across 42 countries, confirms that permission and loyalty marketing principles deliver results when applied to outbound contact centre campaigns. Cross and up-sell calls to existing customers, and appointment setting from a qualified lead, are 225 and 212 times more effective than calling to a prospect list.

Cara Diemont, editor of the report, comments: “This is encouraging from a sales conversion perspective. Also, calling existing customers and prospects that have asked to be contacted is a customer-centric strategy that’s aligned with privacy legislation.”

In line with the implementation of privacy regulation, the report shows an overall slow-down in outbound dialling. Average outbound call volumes last year returned to 2001 levels at just over 1.2 million calls per annum – a drop of over half a million calls (from a peak of more than 1.7 million on average in 2003). This decline is pronounced in regions where Do-Not-Call lists are in place, demonstrating that privacy legislation is having a significant impact on outbound activities.

Do-Not-Call legislation was first introduced in the UK and North America in 2003. With governments in Europe and Asia-Pacific planning to introduce similar laws, many companies have been concerned that this will result in the demise of telemarketing.

Not something to fear

“The findings show that this development is not necessarily something companies should fear, as it is far more effective to call existing customers and it’s clear that permission-based outbound calling is highly effective on the whole,” explains Diemont.

However, the outbound function remains a manual process in most contact centres, with a typical outbound call requiring a pre-call setup of 31 seconds on average. “Outbound traffic management is a specialised practice, and one that inbound-focussed businesses fail to do as efficiently. Depending on the purpose of the contact, only 10 - 15% of respondents to this year’s survey employ formal campaign management methods for their outbound traffic.”

“To realise the positive returns from outbound initiatives, which the report indicates are possible, it’s essential that contact centres put in place consistent processes and use relevant campaign tools to ensure outbound calling is both efficient and effective,” concludes Diemont.