Offshore call centres risk driving customers away

Difficulties in understanding call centre workers cited as the biggest frustration

UK customers are frustrated by companies that offshore call-centres, with accent and language barriers cited as the chief concerns.

These are the findings of a new report from telecoms analyst firm Ovum called Consumer Preferences in Customer Service: United Kingdom.

Ian Jacobs, Ovum analyst and author of the report, said: "It has been more than ten years since the offshoring of contact centres began to take off, and problems still persist, as seen from the results of this survey.

"The high levels of frustration caused by accents and language barriers can lead to customer churn. While there are economic advantages to offshoring customer care, the reality is that, in today's world of customer loyalty and retention, these savings can be negated if customers are driven away."

Jacobs added that firms should ensure their offshore partners meet minimum language standards.

"Businesses need to become more proactive in the hiring and training of staff in their offshore contact centres. They should ensure improved English proficiency levels and accents of their agent labour pools," he said.

"More importantly, businesses may want to consider using a mixture of near-shore locations and domestic home agents where cultural affinity and accents are more closely aligned with customers in the UK."