Historically, efficiency of a call center depended on management’s ability to identify flaws and opportunity areas in their processes to improve the efficiency of call center.
In new year, it is expected that artificial intelligence will take on more of these responsibilities, for example, handling routine tasks, routing inquiries to the suitable place and suggesting areas for improvement. But we need to identify which metrics need to be measured by us. Regardless of a computer’s power, the numbers it crunches still has to be decided & controlled by a human somewhere.
Top 4 metrics that should be tracked in 2020 are mentioned as below:
Metric #1: Customer Satisfaction:- Customer satisfaction scores or CSAT scores indicate how well agents are performing their core task, which is solving customer’s problems.
CSAT can be gauged in several ways, but are typically the result of simple customer surveys aimed at measuring customer sentiment. These should be sent out at the end of every customer interaction and ask for a simple rating of that interaction. Regardless of how CSAT score is measured, it should always be at the top of list when looking at the effectiveness of call center.
“A customer talking about their experience with you is worth ten times that which you write or say about yourself…”
Metric #2: Agent Satisfaction
It’s a human tendency that employees will feel influenced about how they treat the customers they interact with. Shep Hyken wrote, “A brand is defined by the customer’s experience. The experience is delivered by the employees.”
It’s apparent that the organizations which provide best customer experience are also leading the way in their employee engagement ratings. Measuring agent satisfaction and not just agent turnover is as important a metric as customer satisfaction.
It needs to be measured on real time basis and not when agent has left the organisation. Call centers should proactively work to stop employees moving out and ended up becoming another turnover statistic. In the last few years, we’ve seen more and more service delivery leaders pay attention to agent satisfaction levels as a tactic to improve customer satisfaction level.
Needless to say both customer and agent satisfaction are related with each other.
Metric #3: First Call Resolution Rate
First call resolution rate (FCR) is integral part of call center culture. The best way of winning consumer loyalty is by resolving their problem as quickly as possible.
“According to SQM Group, only 3% of customers who have a problem solved during the first service interaction are likely to churn. Compare that to the 38% of customers who are likely to churn if the issue isn’t resolved after the first call.” – Clint Fontanilla
First call resolution basically tracks the % of inquiries that are completely resolved without having to transfer, escalate, or return the call. It should be measured across all channels of service, to determine which is the most effective method of resolving issues in a single interaction.
It also helps in focusing on areas that require improvement, for example, if customers are frequently asking complex questions about a product or service, there are probable steps that can be taken to reduce the number of inquiries.
The industry standard for FCR is 70-75%. How does your measure up?
Metric #4: Service Level
Service level or SL is another classic KPI that doesn’t get due credit. It will become increasingly important as call centers move from transition phase to experience hubs. It’s a very crucial metric, particularly for inbound processes. It’s typically measured as the % of inquiries answered within a pre-specified amount of time.
It tells how accessible you are to your customers, as well as how many employees are needed at any given time. It determines call center’s ability to handle call volume fluctuations and is directly tied to customer satisfaction level. After all, we know everyone hates being kept waiting on phone.
New KPIs and analytic tactics for the contact center will emerge with use of artificial intelligence. Success will always hinge on same thing “Customer Satisfaction”.
Together, these four metrics should give you, basic data that is needed to improve your call center’s performance & sustenance in 2020 and beyond.
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