Best Call Centers and Answering Services for Businesses for 2021

Update: We've updated our best picks page to reflect new pricing for Go Answer. Scroll down to the GoAnswer card to learn more.

No matter what kind of business you run, managing the phone lines is a labor-intensive process that can become costly to manage in-house, especially for small businesses with limited resources. Call center services allow businesses to outsource their customer service in a professional and transparent way. To help you find the right call center service for your business, we analyzed more than 50 options, looking at everything from cost to features to help us decide which services we think are best.

There are a few different pricing models call centers can employ. These are the most common:

• Monthly subscription: A call center that charges a monthly subscription typically offers a package of minutes that cover all the inbound services the company offers.
  
  
• Per-minute rate: A call center that charges a per-minute rate will base your monthly bill on the time agents spend connected to your callers. These rates are typically below $1 per minute.
  
  
• Tiered pricing plans: Tiered pricing plans give clients access to more advanced call center features at the higher tiers. This is a less common billing method than monthly subscriptions and per-minute rates. 

Many call centers charge additional fees and maintain billing policies that could influence your final cost. For example, many call centers charge a one-time setup fee to activate your account. Others charge extra fees for certain holidays. Be sure to get a complete breakdown of additional fees a call center charges before signing up.

You should be aware of some common billing policies as well. One is known as "agent work time." This refers to the time an agent is filling out information related to your account when they are not actively connected with a caller. Some call centers bill for this time, which tends to inflate your bill.

Some call centers employ incremental billing, which means they round up the time of your calls. The industry's most common billing increment is six seconds, meaning a call that lasts one minute and one second would be rounded up to one minute and six seconds, appearing on your bill as 1.1 minutes. However, some call centers use excessive increments, rounding up as high as the nearest minute in some cases. It's important to understand incremental billing to avoid a significantly inflated bill. The best call center services bill second to second, only charging you for the time an agent was actually connected with a caller.

Costs can vary widely in the call center service industry. Nearshore and offshore call centers tend to be the least expensive, but there can sometimes be communication barriers between agents and customers. Many businesses opt to partner with domestic call centers, which are more expensive but tend to employ accent-neutral native English speakers. Costs also depend on the level of service your business requires and your anticipated call volume. [Read more about call center homeshoring.]

As the name suggests, call center services specialize in the management of your phone lines. At their most basic, they capture information from incoming callers, take down messages and respond to frequently asked questions. For these services, agents typically rely on a branded script your company provides. They can also perform more advanced services, such as order management and payment processing. Many call center services also offer outbound services, which can support your marketing campaigns and generate new leads.

However, call center services don't stop at the phone lines. Many are rebranding as contact centers, taking a holistic approach to customer service. In addition to incoming and outgoing phone calls, contact centers handle email, social media and live web chat. Leveraging these channels for a unified customer service department has never been easier.

If you need a partner to ensure your customers receive the care they've come to expect from your company, a call center service might be right for you. This guide includes key information on what to look for in a call center service and how to choose the one that best suits your brand. It also features reviews of  our best picks – companies that stand out from the crowd.

Call centers offer a wide range of services that can be separated into two main types: inbound and outbound call center services.

Inbound Call Center Services

Inbound call center services cover any incoming calls. These are some common inbound call center services you might encounter:

• Message taking
• Live answering
• Call forwarding
• Order management
• Customer support
• Complaint hotline
• Employee call-out hotline
• Tech support

Outbound Call Center Services

Outbound call center services are when agents call prospects, customers, suppliers or anyone else on behalf of your business. These are some common outbound services:

• Lead generation
• Cold calling
• Polls and surveys
• Marketing campaigns

Shared Agents vs. Dedicated Agents

Depending on how sophisticated your call center service is, you can choose shared agents or dedicated agents to work on your account. Shared agents are significantly less expensive than dedicated agents and can perform simple services with the help of guidelines or a script. These services include taking messages, answering frequently asked questions and forwarding calls. Shared agents typically cost 70 to 90 cents per minute.

Dedicated agents are paid an hourly rate to work for your business only. They cost upward of $20 per hour, but they can fulfill much more advanced services, such as tech support and outbound marketing campaigns.

To blend cost-effectiveness with the personalization of dedicated agents, some call centers offer semi-dedicated agents. These agents cost a bit less than dedicated agents (usually $15 to $20 per hour) while still managing more advanced duties than shared agents. The difference is that they usually work with one or two other clients of the contact center in addition to your business, whereas dedicated agents are assigned solely to your account.

Why does a business need a call center?

A business needs a call center whenever they are missing phone calls or if the work of answering calls is disrupting operations. Sometimes businesses only need overflow call support, for when the phone lines are especially busy. In other cases, businesses might want to outsource their entire customer service department. Call centers, often referred to as contact centers, can do this not only on the telephone but also via channels like email, social media, and live web chat.

When should I hire a call center?

You should hire a call center when your team is spending more time on the phone than conducting mission-critical tasks. You should also hire a call center if your customer service satisfaction rates are plummeting. Alternatively, you could hire an answering service from the very beginning, which is what many attorneys' offices and healthcare organizations do. Answering services offer smaller-scale services, such as a virtual receptionist, that are geared toward very small or industry-specific businesses.

What is the difference between domestic and offshore call centers?

Domestic call centers based in the U.S. are generally more expensive. However, they come with more resilient infrastructure, more effective software, and accent-neutral agents whom your customers are likely to understand clearly. Offshore (international) call centers usually cost less, but they tend to lack these desirable features.

There is also a hybrid option, referred to as "nearshore" call centers. These companies are not based in the U.S. but usually in the Caribbean, rather than India or the Philippines. These nearshore facilities often blend Western cultural understanding with the affordability of offshore services.

How much does a call center charge per call?

Call center costs range from $0.70 to $1 per minute. Call centers generally charge a per-minute rate for shared agents, or a per-hour rate for dedicated agents.  So, the cost of each call depends on the length of the call and the rate agreed upon between the client and call center.

What are the two types of call centers?

Call centers may provide inbound services or outbound services. Inbound services include managing incoming calls, like order taking, appointment setting, customer service and tech support. Outbound services are generally used for lead generation, market research and sales. This can include services like conducting polls, cold calling leads and following up with previous customers. Some call centers provide both inbound and outbound services.

What do call centers do?

Call centers employ agents who answer calls on behalf of clients. Call centers generally offer multiple service levels, such as the more cost-effective shared agents that handle many clients to the more expensive dedicated agent that is well versed on just a single client. 

Call centers also provide useful tools like interactive voice response (IVR) menus. In addition, some call centers engage in outbound services, like polling and surveying customers, following up with warm leads, or even cold calling people to try and drum up new sales.

What do answering services do?

Answering services offer virtual receptionist services that enable businesses to receive caller information, forward messages, schedule appointments, and other key activities that an in-house receptionist typically performs. Answering services appear to the caller as an extension of the client’s business, giving callers a professional experience and ensuring that the right information reaches the client.

What types of businesses benefit from answering services?

Answering services are useful for professional offices such as lawyers or accountants. Additionally, in the healthcare industry, medical answering services are frequently used because they comply with the strict security standards set by laws like HIPAA and the HITECH Act. However, you don't need to be in one of these industries to use an answering service.

What types of businesses benefit from call centers?

Any business that receives a high volume of phone calls or finds that its staff is spending too much time managing the phone lines can benefit from hiring a call center. Additionally, businesses that want to scale up their customer service, marketing, or sales efforts can outsource certain campaigns to a call center. The best call centers can integrate with a client’s CRM software to help track leads and conversations.

Market research from analysts at Grandview Research anticipates a 21.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the global contact center industry, which was valued at $20.5 billion in 2020. At that growth rate, Grandview Research estimates that the global contact center market will exceed $90.6 billion by 2028. This growth rate underscores how quickly businesses are adopting contact center solutions worldwide, including on channels like phone, email, text message, and live web chat.

Growth in live web chat services

Many customers simply don't like to place a customer service call, preferring text-based services. It's no surprise, then, that live web chat services are expected to grow by 87% over the next 12 to 18 months. Live chat has long been a nice option to add to your website, giving your customers another way to contact customer service agents. However, it is becoming a must-have, especially for potential customers interacting with your brand for the first time. 

More than 41% of all customers prefer live web chat, while 50% of mobile users look for the feature when visiting a website. Offering this channel is a way to stay competitive and boost customer satisfaction, especially when fielding initial questions from a potential buyer. Many call centers have integrated live chat into their services and can set up the channel, embed it on your website, and provide an agent to manage incoming customer requests.

Tip: Make sure your customer service team is ready for the future with these live web chat best practices.

Integration of AI and machine learning

Artificial intelligence continues to be a key driver of growth in the call center service industry, especially when it comes to interactive voice response. IVR is the automated phone tree that callers often encounter when contacting a customer service department. IVR with AI and machine learning enables better recognition of caller accents and intonation, and supports more efficient call direction to the appropriate agent and department.

AI isn't just becoming a mainstay for IVR; it is essential to mine data for insights into customer needs and satisfaction. Call center services are increasingly offering access to data-driven reports that support better decision-making around marketing, customer service delivery and even inventory management. Quality assurance in the modern business world relies on data, and machine learning is essential to make the troves of data that businesses capture every day useful.

Increased need for cybersecurity

A ransomware attack targeting Covisian, a major Spanish call center (along with its Latin American subsidiary GSS), froze IT systems and disrupted the organization's ability to serve its clients. This led to customer service disruptions across multiple countries. Affected by the cyberattack were various businesses, including Vodafone Spain, Madrid's water supply company, and media organizations, including multiple television stations. 

The cyberattack is a reminder that not only is cybersecurity critical for individual businesses, but for their partners and suppliers as well. In 2021, the cost of a data breach is on the rise, increasing 10% to $4.24 million on average per incident, according to the annual IBM Cost of Data Breach Report. Unique challenges posed by organizations with significant remote workers compounded this increase. The cost of data breaches for businesses with more than 50% remote workers reached nearly $5 million on average per breach. It took IT teams nearly a month longer to respond to breaches at companies where most employees worked remotely. Developing a cybersecurity strategy and incident response plan should be critical priorities for every business.

Did you know? On average, a single cyberattack costs a small business $200,000\.

We take the process of recommending vendors seriously, so we invested substantial time in researching various call center services and their features. We gave each company equal consideration.

Locating the Best Services

We started the process by coming up with a comprehensive list of vendors that offer call center services. To do this, we searched the web and consulted other lists and reviews of the most popular vendors. We ended up with a list of more than 50 call center and answering services to examine further.

Choosing the Best Services

From there, we visited the websites of each vendor to compare pricing and features. We looked at all the details, including inbound services, outbound services, invoice requirements, call minimums and additional features. We used this information to narrow down our field of candidates to about a dozen finalists.

Researching Each Service

Next, we contacted all the services we were considering, posing as a customer. We wanted to go beyond the marketing rhetoric and get a feel for how the companies handle actual customer interactions. We asked each customer service rep the same set of questions about features, options, and pricing, noting our reactions to the experience. Company representatives who were friendly and forthcoming got higher marks, while those who were less than helpful or too pushy scored lower.

Analyzing Each Service

For our best picks, the final decision came down to which companies offer the best balance of affordability, useful features and effective call center agents.