Measuring call center performance is one of the most significant tasks for its owners, which should be done regularly. Though there are several ways of doing that today, metrics still remain the most effective of them. If you are right about to evaluate the way your organization functions, then you should know that all metrics are subdivided into qualitative and quantitative. The most typical qualitative KPIs involve schedule adherence, conversion rate, average call handle time, after call work as well as transfer and on-hold rates. Each agent should be also evaluated with regard to pre-defined qualitative measures such as communication skills, telephone etiquette, service and product knowledge, ability to handle calls on time, adherence to the required processes and procedures. Qualitative metrics are generally applied to keep track of personnel interaction with customers.
Measuring call center
There are different sources that can help you gather that very information you need to work out qualitative call center metrics critical for your call center. In most cases, these data come from monitoring and observation. Call monitoring, for example, is mainly done through remote tracking of inbound and outbound calls, side-by-side and recorded monitoring. Side-by-side observation includes direct monitoring of an agent’s work and his/her manner of handling calls. The most efficient way to cope with this task without disrupting other employees is to use the so-called “double-jack” telephone system, which allows both an observer and an employee to connect to one and the same phone set by means of using individual headsets.
Call center role
Another way to gather info for building call center metrics is to apply silent monitoring, the essence of which implies the ability of an observer to trace any current call through listening to the ongoing conversation. This makes it possible to keep track of call calibration as well, which is a highly significant process of performing the evaluation of calls. This ensures fairness of the scoring process and, as a result, proper, objective and timely implementation of qualitative call center metrics you will consider meaningful for your business in particular. Any session of call calibration requires three items to be performed adequately and successfully. These are the quality-monitoring form, corresponding quality-standards docs and a number of sample calls. Individuals participating in this process should be specially trained to cope with the task properly in order to provide trustworthy information required for building and implementing qualitative metrics that will be further used to assess the overall performance of a call center.