Is FCR a contact center metric anymore?
Explore the evolution of First Call Resolution (FCR) to First Contact Resolution (FCR) and its significance in modern contact centers.
Call Center metrics
CALL CENTER METRICS: What are they and how do we measure them?
In the Call Center or Contact center world, there are a number of details that we monitor that help us to know how we’re doing. The industry term that we call these details is Metrics and as time and technology has progressed the number of metrics that we measure has progressed as well. While the early years of call center metrics tended to focus on efficiency, in more recent years, we have become much more concerned with quality. There are numerous metrics that can be measured, but I’d like to look at the top five. Quality Scores: These are probably the most important metric because they can provide a great overview for the call center as well as individual agents. We can look at the overall caller experience as well as the conversations the agents are having on their phones. Quality scores are typically measured between 5 and 10 calls per agent per month. First Call Resolution (FCR): This metric can also be known as “First Contact Resolution.” Basically FCR allows contact centers to see how many times a customer needs to call a company in order to get a problem resolved. While Quality scores measure from the Call Center perspective, FCR allows us to measure from the customer’s perspective. We can all relate to this, for each of us has, at one time or another, had a frustrating customer service issue that took a while to resolve. Believe me, call centers like to see high numbers on this metric; high numbers mean that issues are being resolved quickly and customers are not having to call over and over regarding the same issue. Sometimes this particular metric can be a bit murky in that often a customer may call within a seven day period about different issues. Here are some of the ways we measure FCR: Calls are monitored to determine if the agent can give a satisfactory answer the first time. Monitoring the number of callers that call back within a 7 day period. Monitoring the calling party number within a set period Monitoring the reason for call Using a post-call IVR survey Looking at the quality of answer and positiveness measured by a third party. Most importantly a call center must look at some of the benefits it can reap Significant reduction in the call volume Reduction in the operational cost Reduce Cost of complaint call Identification of customer problems Customer Satisfaction: The old favorite amongst call centers. Basically, this tells us if our customers are happy with the service they received from our agents. A simple way to improve this metric is to cultivate the culture in your call center and encourage the agents to always put the customer at the heart of your decision, be focused on problem solving and just not the process and you will see customer satisfaction growing. Capture the customer feedback, use them to identify opportunities within the call center and improve agents. This metric can be easily measured through an IVR survey, follow-up e-mail survey or mobile surveys. Service Level: While some in the call center industry may not see this as one of the top five, I certainly do. It was one of the very first metrics to be developed and it looks at the percentage of calls that are answered within a given time. For example: 80% of the calls are answered within 20 seconds or 95% of the calls are answered within 15 seconds. While this metric does measure efficiency, from the customer’s perspective, not having to sit on-hold for several minutes weighs heavily when it comes to offering their feedback. There can be many reasons that impacts the services levels such as longer call length, fluctuations in call volume, schedule adherence, inaccurate forecast and exception time. Average Handling Time: This metric is an efficiency metric looking at the total amount of time taken to handle a call. This includes talk-time, on-hold time and wrap-up. Some of the customers want low AHT and some don’t. Here are some of the questions you must ask yourself before you decide. What are the benefits of having low AHT? Do your customers want you to have low AHT? Are your agents ready to reduce AHT? As I mentioned above, there are many more metrics that can be measured, but these listed tend to be first and foremost among call centers and they have a way of helping call centers get “back to basics” so to speak when it comes to providing superior customer service. This blog has been written by Etech’s Matt Rocco, President and Managing Member. If you would like to learn more about Etech and our contact center technology and service solutions, please contact us at info@etechgs.com.
How Do Speech Analytics Improve Every Metric?
Are you looking for a way to improve your call center metrics? Incorporating speech analytics is actually a great way to improve many aspects of your call center. This tool can help you improve the overall customer experience through a better understanding of the following areas: Looking at Typical Response Times: How long does the average person wait on hold before getting through to a customer care employee? Minimizing this time can greatly increase customer satisfaction. Having a good understanding of the response time can help you figure out whether your resources are being used in the best way possible. Understanding Call Resolution: How many calls does it take for a customer’s problem to be resolved? If the answer is more than one, you can use the analytic software to figure out where your agents are going wrong by tracking certain keywords throughout the various phone calls. Getting more calls to be resolved without a transfer or follow-up can translate to higher employee satisfaction and lower operating costs as well. Focusing on Customer Sentiment: What attitude do your customers usually have while on the phone with your call center? You can monitor both positive and negative keywords used in average phone calls to understand whether people are happy, mad, confused or irate. You can use this knowledge to train your staff to avoid phrases that seem to make customers mad. Looking at the Management of Private Information: Do your employees properly handle private information? No matter what industry your company is in you likely have to deal with personal material. Mishandling customer addresses, billing data or history can lead to angry customers and even liability issues. This software can help you train and educate your agents, so they can perform better even in high-pressure situations. Learning About Broken Processes: Has it been a while since you have reviewed the processes of your business? The software that analyzes speech can make it easier for you to monitor, analyze and improve your existing procedures. While you may not want to fix something that works, many companies fall into a rut without realizing that their once successful methods are now outdated. A constant identification of failing practices can help you avoid this with your business. Keeping the Customer Satisfied: Do you know your average customer’s current thoughts on your company? Customer satisfaction surveys are a great way to get a person’s thoughts on his or her experience with your business after it is over. However, these surveys tend to lack context and may be too subjective to be completely helpful. Speech analytic software, on the other hand, gives you a recorded conversation you can review anytime you want. Once you have the speech analytics in place, you can monitor for keywords that you want representatives to either avoid or incorporate in their daily interactions with customers. This tool can improve all call center metrics because it gives you a window into who your customer is and what the typical experience with your business is like. In other words, you will be able to better understand the ways you can help your agents improve as customer liaisons for your company. Because this tool helps you monitor individual calls, you can even personalize the training to help individual representatives improve in their unique trouble areas. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.
How to Use Call Center Performance Metrics to Achieve Success
Call center managers are charged with a tough job, because supporting customers means constant revision to your process, so you move with their needs and deliver consistent quality. Understanding how your various KPI measurements work together to give you an idea about the balance of your services is an important first step to achieving success as a manager, and it is also the key to understanding when your call center is succeeding, so you avoid over-tweaking your process and overdoing change in the name of call center performance. Understanding the Four Metric Categories The four main areas of concern for call center managers are: Service Quality: Measuring service quality means looking at whether or not your call center meets customer needs efficiently, asking questions like: Do your employees have the knowledge and resources necessary to act decisively and solve problems? And how is customer feedback reflecting training efforts? Accessibility: These metrics allow you to track use of your self-service system, wait times, and call abandonment, and they tell you whether or not customers have a hard time actually reaching the point where service quality comes into question. Inaccessible systems tend to be rated more lowly on service quality, too, even when actual call center performance at problem solving is quite excellent, because accessibility issues affect the customer’s perception of the entire process afterward. Operational Efficiency: Metrics that cover call wrap-up time, forecasting accuracy, the average handling time for each call, and your employees’ adherence to their schedules are all designed to ensure that high quality, accessible work is also efficient enough to handle the call load your center receives. Cost: Last but not least, cost considerations ensure you operate within budget by measuring cost per call, agent attrition, and absenteeism to give you a full picture of your call center’s effectiveness. Balancing the Metrics Knowing what categories to measure and which KPIs are most important in each category is just the first step. To achieve the best possible call center performance, managers also need to understand how to balance the metrics, to achieve success in every area. Otherwise, cost effective and efficient call centers may still be hampered by training issues or accessibility problems that reduce their overall performance, and similarly, the best and most accessible service is unsustainable if costs are too high. The issue is more complex than that, though, because some areas affect others in direct ways. For example inefficient but high-quality service typically means long wait times and less calls processed. This creates a situation where accessibility goes down even as service goes up, and the long run, that can lead to service quality measurement declines as customers who have been kept waiting remain dissatisfied and stressed even after receiving the service they desired. The goal, then, has to be achieving success in all four areas without focusing too intently on one, unless that one happens to be lagging behind. Training efforts and organizational restructuring, as well as the investment in new resources, needs to be balanced to address the needs of all four categories at once, as well. That allows for better overall call center performance, and, more importantly, the kind of success that is sustainable into the future.
