Call Center Metrics

It is important for every company to employed and retain professional personnel.  Indeed, human resources play the most important role and become the most critical success factor in any business area.  Let’s not forget that it is people who make decisions and it is top managers who help businesses overcome crisis.  Ordinary employees generate income through attraction and retention of customers.  This especially concerns call centers and customer support services.  The peculiar feature of a call center and a help desk is that very often customers form their judgment about the company by the experience they have in conversation with the call center operator.  For example, you have purchased brand new laptop but you’ve got some problems and questions about it.  If you pick up the phone and dial a number of a call center.  Naturally, you expect to have your questions answered and problems solved.  But the conversation fails to live up to your expectations.  Your attitude two was the brand become somewhat negative, of although you like the laptop itself, its functions, features and price.  But from now on, you are unlikely to buy left of this brand ever again.

Call center tasks

This example vividly demonstrates how a call center operator performance may result in loss of customers.  For this reason, it is imperative to evaluate performance of a call center (both groups and individual) and introduce amendments if necessary.  In other words it is important to solve problems even before they occurred.  Also, measures and goals of a call center should be integrated into the system of mission, values and strategic goals of the company itself.

How poor call center performance leads to loss of customers

In order to accomplish all the above tasks, a reliable and effective performance evaluation tool is needed.  Balanced scorecard is such a tool that communicates operational and strategic management.  Having looked at the strategy map that balanced scorecard software can create, it is possible to see cause and effect ties between actions and attitudes of call center operators and implementation of the company strategic goals.  The above example shows that certain mistakes or lack of competence may result in loss of customer.  Keep in mind that lost customer will surely go to competitors which is a direct loss of competitive advantage.

Balanced scorecard makes it possible to set goals and measures in the four perspectives: financial, customer, internal business processes, learning and growth.  Each category of indicators characterizes certain side of the business, a call center or a customer support service in our case.

Implementation of balanced scorecard seems like an easy process.  Indeed, all you have to do is to choose the right indicators in the four categories: financial, customer, internal processes, of learning and growth.  It goes without saying that the company that wishes to implement balanced scorecard needs to have a comprehensive strategy.  The greatest advantage of balanced scorecard is its ability to put strategy into action.  However, with the wrong choice of key performance indicators balance scorecard will surely fail to bring any positive results.

How first resolution calls help company obtain financial results

In case of a call center a variety of aspects needs to be taking into account.  First and foremost, it is necessary to identified goals of a call center.  If this is a customer support service its key goal is to resolve customer Problems and answer their questions to keep customer satisfied.  If a call center sells the key goal would be increase of revenue from sales.  Only having established comprehensive strategic goals it is possible to move forward in implementation of BSC.

Let’s analyze the work of the customer support service.  As already set above its key goal is to keep customer satisfied by resolving their problems in answering their questions on products, services, technical issues etc.

What are success drivers in call center?

Often, managers all of call centers make a fatal mistake of introducing such an indicator as number of customers served during 1 hour.  Of course, this indicator is OK, since the more customers are served, the better.  But the goal of customer support service is resolve problems of customers.  A call center operator may handle 20 calls per hour but all those 20 customers would and conversation without their problems solved and questions answered.  In such a case the work of a call center would seem just great and calls handling capacity will increase.  But that will have nothing to do with the company strategic goals, like improving customer satisfaction.  Satisfied customer is more likely to buy again from the company and become a regular customer, i.e. regular source of income.

Thus, it is necessary to balance such indicator with another one – number of problems resolved per hour.  This indicator would certainly show progress of the company towards strategic goals of improving customer satisfaction.  Number of first resolution calls should be always increasing.  Any call center should have the separate group of expert to resolve problem calls with complex problems.

As known, balanced scorecard works in four perspectives: financial, customer, internal processes, learning and growth.  Each perspective covers particular issues related to functioning of company, its internal or external environment.  It is very difficult to say which perspective is the most important one.  In fact, they are all interrelated and goals and measures in these perspectives are identified one by one.  Usually, the company sets financial goals and identifies relevant measures.  Objectives and measures in the three other perspectives are subordinated to financial goals.

Call center functions

However, much depends on strategic goals of the company, its vision, values and mission.  It matters a lot which department a business unit uses balanced scorecard.  In case of a call center customer perspective plays the most important role.  Why is it so?

Well, a call center is a forefront of the company.  When a customer or a potential customer calls a company is first talking with a call center or tech support operator.  Very often his judgment about the company is formed based on his purchasing or communicating experience.  Relations with customers are all important.  To regular customers provide any business with regular income.  Making money is what any company aims at.

Customer relations management

Customer satisfaction is something that improves loyalty of existing customers and win favor of potential ones.  A real customer, i.e. the one who buys from the company from time to time can become a regular custom.  But in order to achieve that company management should make sure they stay in touch with such a customer and keep him informed on new products, services, offers, special rates and prices etc.

If we’re talking about customer support service or tech support, customer satisfaction is a must in this case.  If the customer calls tech support he certainly questions or problems which she wants to resolve.  If the call center operator manages to solve this problem right away it means that the customer will not have to make the repeated call.  Number of such “one and done calls” is a great indicator of how efficient a call center works.

In addition, even if customers are not asking for some new offers call center operators are to inform customers on new products and services.  Number of sales per 100 calls is another great indicator to be measured.  Stats shows that the more often call center operators attempt to sell products the more purchases customers make.

Optimizing an evaluation of the call center performance may be daunting task.  We have already forgotten the times when customer support centers consisted of several technical specialists who try to answer all calls and solve all the problems, whenever possible.  The times have changed now as customers became very demanding and sometimes even picky.  When picking up the phone and dialing number of a customer support center one hopes not only to hear a pleasant voice and a polite language.  One hopes to have his problems solved and questions answered.

Call centers have become inseparable parts of all pay companies that sell goods or services.  Since customer support service has very few financial indicators (they do not earn money) it is quite difficult to evaluate performance of such a call center.  This is where Balanced Scorecard System comes into play.  Balanced scorecard was specifically designed to include financial and nonfinancial indicators in evaluation process.  Moreover, BSC helps in communicate in operational management with strategic goals.  Company strategic goals may be quite clear.  This is gaining profits.  But what about a call center or a help desk?  Let’s review cases of two types of call centers: sales call centers and customer support service.

Major call center KPIs

If a call center has one key goal of performance sales then generate in revenue and gaining a larger market share would be the key strategic goals of such a call center.  However, in order to achieve financial success one should pay attention to operational management and performance of a call center.  Customer satisfaction, sales attempts, cost per sale, revenue per sale and a number of other indicators would represent performance of a sales call center.  At that, financial indicators seem to be the most important here.  But this is not entirely true.  Customer satisfaction with the conversation would play a great role on decision-making by a customer.

Customer support service has one ultimate goal to resolve problems and answer questions as well as keep customers informed on general and technical issues related to products and services.  It would be fair to say that customer satisfaction is the key indicator here.  Also, one should pay attention to the number of one and done calls (also called first resolutions calls), abandoned calls rate, time on hold, average waiting time etc.  And efficient and professional operator needs to make sure that all concerns and questions of customers to answer so that the customer has no need to make the repeated call.

What makes an effective call center?

A call center plays an important rule in the work of any company that sells products or services.  It is but the work of a call center or a customer support service that real and potential customers for their judgment about the company.  What do you usually do when you have questions or concerns about purchased products or services?  Of course, you call customer support service with the hope to get your questions answered and problems solved.  Call centers may have different goals and purposes in different companies.  Some businesses use call centers to sell products and services while others employ the phone operators to provide customers with ongoing support and guidance.  If you called customer support service and your questions were not answered you would probably think that it was not worth to deal with such a company.  The thus, you are a lost customer for such a business.  Of the innards of economy it is very unwise to lose customers because of poor quality services.

A call center, as in any aspect and elemental business structure, needs to be measured and evaluated.  Business up performance measurement is used to help company reach strategic goals.  In this sense, balanced scorecard is a number one tool that communicates operational management with the company strategic vision.  Of the balanced scorecard evaluates key performance indicators, also known as KPI.  Call center has own set of KPIs that represents its performance.

Call center metrics has own specific character as the process of calling involves two parties: the caller and the operator.  The caller has to be satisfied with his call while the operator needs to do everything to resolve problems as soon as possible.

Major call center kpi

So, what are major KPIs for call center?

1. Revenue per successful call.  If the call center has commercial goals it needs to sell as much as possible.  By increasing this KPI top management of the company increases revenue.
2. Cost per call. Logically, the less money a company spends to answer one call, the more efficiently it works. However, here one should be reasonable, and excessive economy and saving may result in poor quality service.
3. Conversion rate. This is % of call that ended up with successful sales.
4. Average call handling time. The less time an operator needs to answer one call, the better for the company and callers.
5. First resolutions calls rate. This is % of calls during which the problems were solved at once (customer do not have to call again).

How a call center contributes to success of the company

Evaluation of business performance is all important, especially in the post crisis economy.  Markets are becoming increasingly competitive, and tough competition has its advantages and drawbacks.  To drawbacks we refer constant desire of competitors to gain an increased market share and wipe out other companies.  That’s why it is so important to automate business management and be able to respond to changes in internal or external environment.

Almost all companies that sell products or services have contact centers, also called help desks or customer support service/call centers.  What would you do if you have some questions about purchased product or a service?  Of course you will look for a toll free number published on the company web site.  And this is by conversation with a context center operator that you will make your judgment about the company, quality of its services and its business reputation.

Use BSC system to improve perofrmance of a call center

Evaluation of call center performance will give you answers to many questions, as well as help you set and reach strategic goals related to development and enhancement of a customer support service.

For this reason use of balanced scorecard system is highly recommended.  This tool created in early1990s is now the most popular automation tool for business management.  In case of a call center balanced scorecard system will evaluate special KPIs relevant to specific character of a call center work.  They keep the eye is a key performance indicator which shows a certain aspect in the work of a company or its department.

The traditional approach tends to view financial KPI as the most important.  Well, this is partially true and logical as the goal of any business is making profits and gaining competitive advantage in the market.  But at the same time balanced scorecard system also fought uses on operational aspects which are called nonfinancial.

Do not financial KPIs we refer such indicators as customer satisfaction, number of one and done calls (first resolutions calls), time on hold, abandoned calls rate, blockage, employee satisfaction, organization climate, training effectiveness and efficiency. Financial KPI include cost per call and revenue per successful call (if the company sells something via phone).

With balanced scorecard system you will be able to set long-term goals and improve performance of a call center.  A well performing call center creates at perfect business image for a company which in its turn is attraction for new customers.  More customers means competitive advantage which is the ultimate goal of any business.

Evaluate most important call center kpi

Have you ever asked yourself what makes a good customer support service? Is it just a pleasant voice of an operator? Or is it instant solution of your problems and prompt answer to your question? Well, perhaps both. When we call customer support services we expect to listen to polite speech, but what is more important we want to receive answers and fix problems.

What is a good customer support service from managerial point of view? Of course, this is an efficient call center requiring moderate investments and providing customer with high class services. If you are running a sales business, you might also want your call center generate sales, i.e. sell products/service via phone.

Imagine that you are a call center manager. You have certain amount of money to maintain call center and average number of caller every day. You job is to make sure you are using funds efficiently. However, you need to keep balance, and keep both employees/operators and customers satisfied.

Measure customer service performance to find weak points

Use Balanced Scorecard system to evaluate customer service performance

This is where Balanced Scorecard system can help. This is special software that measures key performance indicators (KPI). What are KPIs? These are values that measure certain aspects of business performance. For example, in case of a customer support service the central KPI would be cost per call. You spend a certain amount of money to answer one call (wages to personnel, telecom expenses etc). Logically, the less you spend the more efficiently your call center works. However, be moderate and do not save too much on compensation to operators and telecom solutions.

Customer satisfaction would be the second most important KPI. There is nothing worse than an angry caller. If this person is a current customer of your company you are risking to lose him/her. Ask your personnel to be polite and observe communication etiquette. Besides, call center operators must be 100% competent in the issue related to products or services you sell.

There are also such KPI measured by Balanced Scorecard system as time on hold, one and done calls rate, abandoned calls rate, blockage and a number of others. They all represent certain aspects of a call center performance.

With Balanced Scorecard system you will be able to improve performance and separate KPIs. For instance, you may have lost cost per call, but high rate of abandoned calls and low rate of first resolution calls.

Call center metrics will help you optimize work of a customer support service.

What do you usually do when you have problems with a product or a service you have recently purchased? Sure, you want to talk to representatives of a producer/provider of a service. You cannot meet managers or company CEO in person, so, you need to call a customer support center. As a rule, big companies maintain own call centers to answer customer’s calls and provide them with support and guidance.

Much depends on how you talk to a call center representative. If you made a call but your problem was not resolved you will have a bad feeling about such a company. It may happen that you leave this company and go to competitors. If you are a potential customer you will forget about it just after you hang up.

So, as you can see a call center is an important element in the business structure. Many companies use call centers to accept orders and sell products/services. But most often call centers provide customers with support.

Use Balanced Scorecard system to evaluate call center performance

Evaluate call center performance to find strengths and weaknesses

It is imperative that you regularly evaluate call center performance. Why do you need it? Well, your call center may seem to work normally, while in reality you suffer losses or losing customers because of imperfection in the work of a customer support service. There are many factors and aspects that influence work of a call center. It is very difficult to evaluate them without proper software solutions.

Balanced Scorecard is an effective tool to evaluate call center performance. This software measures certain indicators, commonly known as key performance indicators (KPIs). Call center metrics has own set of KPI which influence call center performance directly or indirectly.

Balanced Scorecard will make it possible to a manager discover weak points in the work of a call center. Thus, you will be able to find problems at different stages: answering calls, finding solutions, making an effective use of IT technologies, saving costs etc.

What are the most important KPIs to be evaluated? Without any doubts, this is cost per call. You need to spend some money to answer one call (wages, expenses for equipment, rent, power expenses). If your calls are too expensive you will suffer losses and run your company into bankruptcy. Think of efficient telecom solutions, and organize your work in an efficient way.

When talking to customers, your call center operators need to answer all questions and solve any problems that customers might have with the product/service. Customer satisfaction is something a call center manager needs to take care of.

If you visit web site of any company selling products or services, you will most certainly find Support menu there with contact details of the company call center. All reputable companies have own call centers to handle calls from existing and potential customers. The importance of a call center can be hardly overestimated. Imagine that you want to purchase a hosting plan from a web hosting provider and you are calling their tech support or a call center. What decision would you make if you do not like conversation with a call center operator? Perhaps, you will look for other companies. What if you have already purchased a hosting plan for 1 month and during this month you had a negative experience in talking with call center operators? Most certainly you will search for another web hosting provider.

Having a call center does not automatically mean that it will work efficiently. A call center should be managed in a smart way. That is why it is important to evaluate call center or helpdesk performance in order to be aware of problems, weak points as well as strengths. It is impossible to make any plans as to further development of a call center without being aware of current problems.

For performance evaluation purposes use of Balanced Scorecard system is highly recommended for top managers. Sometimes, knowing net profits or total expenses for a call a center is not enough to evaluate its performance. In order to get a full picture it is necessary to measure a series of key performance indicators. These values represent different aspects of a helpdesk performance.

Measure helpdesk performance with Balanced Scorecard system

Use BSC system to measure helpdesk performance

It may happen that you spend too much to maintain helpdesk or you make inefficient investment in the customer support service. Balanced Scorecard system makes it possible to evaluate KPIs (key performance indicators) and compare results to previous indexes. Thus, you will be able to see a trend (positive or negative).

Call center metrics differs from KPIs for other business activities. As the main goal of a helpdesk is providing customers with support and guidance, customer satisfaction is a NUMBER ONE KPI. A customer should like conversation with a call center operator. All his questions must be answered and all problems resolved, if possible.

With a Balanced Scorecard system you will be able to reduce cost per call or increase revenue per successful call, as well as improve time on hold, one and done calls rates, abandoned calls rate etc.

At a first glance a call center has a very simple structure. Customers are calling and call center operators are answering calls. So simple! But in reality a call center is a complex organization with a number of factors that influence performance of the entire company. “What depends on call center performance?” you might ask. Well, the answer is quite clear. With an inefficient call center you will probably earn less money or even suffer losses.

Have you ever called a call center? Perhaps you have. Have you ever had a negative experience in dealing with call center operators? If you haven’t then you are lucky. There can be nothing worse than hearing “We understand your problems and let’s try to find solutions” while no solutions are available. After 5 minutes of a futile conversation, angry caller eventually hangs up with the decision never to deal with this company every again. Loss of existing or potential customers is loss of money.

So, in order to make sure your call center works in an effective and efficient way you need to regularly evaluate its performance. Balanced Scorecard is the best tool to perform business evaluation. This is specifically designed software that measures certain key performance indicators, i.e. values that fully represent company’s performance. Key performance indicators are different in different business types. It is also very important to pick the right indicators having true representative value.

Use call center scorecard to measure business performance

Call center scorecard is the best tool to eveluate call center performance

Call center managers need to pay attention to several KPIs (key performance indicators), depending on goals and tasks of call center operators. Let’s review performance evaluation of a sales call center and a customer support service.

Sales call center. There are two major goals – selling products/services and keeping customer satisfied. Call center operators should focus on revenue per successful call and customer satisfaction. The more money a call center earns the better business performance it has. Of course, such KPIs as time on hold and abandoned calls rate, are very important as well.

If we are talking about customer support services, operators of such a call center need to provide callers with support and assistance. In other words, they answer questions and look for solutions to existing problems. Tech support operators pay a special attention to one and done calls rate, blockage, time on hold, communication etiquette (especially with angry callers) and customer satisfaction.

Use of Balanced Scorecard system is recommended to call center managers and strategic planners who want to expand and further develop call centers.