Swinton insurance snubs offshoring

Insurer Swinton has joined the anti-offshoring bandwagon, claiming consumer choice was a key factor in the decision not to offshore its customer service centre.

The company has backed up its claims with research it commissioned among 2,299 consumers last month which found two-thirds saying they would not buy insurance from a firm if they knew it used offshore call centres.

The survey is likely to add to the backlash hysteria, claiming UK confidence in offshore call centres has hit rock bottom. Two-thirds of customers expect their problem to be resolved more slowly by an overseas call centre, 97 per cent would prefer to speak to a UK-based call centre and 72 per cent expect the service provided by offshore call centres to be worse than those in the UK.

On the back of the research, Swinton claims that the location of customer service centres will impact consumers' purchasing decisions. The insurance company denied that the results are all based on perception, with 81 per cent of respondents claiming to have dealt with offshore call centres.

However, a more telling statistic, which highlights the poor quality of call centre working conditions and job prospects in the UK, is that 51 per cent believe the service provided by a call centre either home or abroad is worse now than it was five to 10 years ago.

Chris Collings, insurer development director at Swinton, told silicon.com the company had explored the offshoring route with its 200-strong customer support centre but decided not to risk a customer backlash.

"We didn't expect the scale of response," he said. "Even though it could be more financially beneficial to us it wasn't what customers want."

Earlier this year the Nationwide and Northern Rock building societies snubbed offshoring and cost savings in favour of investing in UK call centres tied to the local communities they are based in.

This is part of a 'British and proud of it' marketing position to cash in on the backlash that UK call centre analyst firm ContactBabel has highlighted. Collings said more firms are likely to tap into that sentiment. "It's what customers want to hear. They do want to hear which companies are staying local," he said.

For more in-depth news and analysis on the offshoring phenomenon visit our special report here.