Las Vegas–According to a study by the Purdue Center for Customer Driven Quality, catalog call centers outperform those of other industries such as banks and insurance firms. The study was release at the 13th Annual Call Center Las Vegas Conference and Exposition here.
The study found that catalogers answer calls within 30 seconds on average. By contrast, callers to banks and insurance companies wait nearly a third longer, about 40 seconds, for their call to be answered. And while catalog call centers have abandonment rates as low as 2%, the average abandonment rate for other industries is more than 5%.
One reason for the difference in quality levels: Catalogers literally put their money where their mouths are. For example, all of the catalogers surveyed had invested in automatic call distribution equipment. The study noted that the average catalog call center has an annual budget of nearly $9 million, whereas call center units in other industries spend about $8 million a year.