Call Center Metrics

These days it is not enough just to enter the market with a new product. To attract new customers and retain existing ones (competition is very intense and thus customers have a wide choice of producers and manufacturers) it is necessary to establish a direct contact with them. Sure, CEOs and chief managers cannot talk to all customers in person. This is what call centers have been created for. Call center operators directly contact company existing and potential customers, solve their problems and answer questions. It is possible to say that the best experts in customer relations are not top managers but ordinary call center operators. For this reason, evaluation of a call center is a key task if a company pursues strategic goals.

Call center KPIs

As every business unit or department in a company, a call center has its structure and goals. It is imperative that call center goals do not conflict with company strategy. Besides, if the entire company works at implementation of company strategy, a call center should not lag behind. One of the most widely used performance evaluation and strategic management tools is without doubt Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Implementation of a call center BSC has lost of benefits which we will review in this post.

The process of call center communication

First of all, a company spends money to maintain a call center. BSC has its financial category that includes financial indicators such as cost per call, call center expenses vs total expenses, revenue per call, losses due to abandoned calls etc. In other words, implementation of a call center BSC is a perfect way to optimize call center expenses and save costs whenever possible.

Secondly, call center BSC helps optimize relations with customers. Thus, it will be possible to find out the most common problems with company products and services. Some call centers are focused mostly on number of calls they can handle and use this criterion to evaluate performance and efficiency. Although such KPI is rather important and enables to save costs there is another indicator that directly measures professionalism of call center operators – number of problems solved. This KPI also influences such measure as customer satisfaction which is extremely important in a call center BSC. High level of customer satisfaction as a rule results in improved sales growth and an increased number of new customers and high rate of customer retention. Besides, implementation of a call center BSC will help align call center and company strategies.

Several decades ago, the global call center industry was considered one of the greatest technological wonders. That is because businesses used corporate and manufacturing operations. With the development of new technology and improved communication tools, these operations became one of the most important businesses of modern times.

How does a call center interact with customers?

It is a challenging task to manage and operate this business, but the task becomes much easier if you are familiar with key performance indicators used in this industry. In this case, a good idea would be to get acquainted with call center metrics. You should realize that this is a completely different industry and consequently call center metrics greatly differs from other businesses metrics. Call center metrics include many areas and factors.

Key call center KPIs

Quality of calls belongs to the most important factors of this industry. That is why the main task of call companies will be hiring the most qualified and language proficient personnel. By hiring smart personnel that is highly knowledgeable about the services and products marketed or sold, you will ensure high quality of outgoing and incoming calls.

Cost per call. Call centers owners should look at actual costs of calls made through their operations. Usually outbound calls are more expensive, as long-distance telephone rates are applied. A great number of modern companies outsource manpower from English proficient countries as labor costs are much lower.

If you want to achieve good results in this industry, get sure that your employees are satisfied with the operating procedures, pay slips and working environment. If the mentioned factors are not satisfactory, the performance of your employees will definitely worsen and as a result will have a negative impact on the overall customer satisfaction.

Revenue is a crucial component of call center metrics, as it governs all other business components. Your business’ progress and failures depend on the revenues. If it is strong, try sustain it; if it is weak, you will need to assess your all operations of your call center.

To assess a cal canter business, you first of all, have to look at the operations’ schedule. Generally, call centers are outsourced, that is why schedules of operations greatly differ from usual work hours. As an example, Indian call center employees will have to work on graveyard shifts especially if calls are made from and to Canada or the United States.

Here are some more key performance indicators:

- Rate of speed of answer

- Response duration

- Blocked and abandoned calls

- Average call value

- Average handling time per call

- Occupancy and productivity

If set properly, metrics for such business can guarantee quick success.

Many business owners ask one and the same question: “Why use Balanced Scorecard?” Indeed, why? There are many similar performance evaluation and management control systems that have been used for ages. Well, this is partially true. At the same time it would be wrong to call Balanced Scorecard just another system of managerial control. BSC has another purpose which is more global and work in the long term. Balanced Scorecard is an effective strategic management tool. It means that with BSC you will not only be well informed in everything that happens to a company both in the external and internal environment but also whether or not the company is on the right track to implement strategic goals. Of course, in order to be successfully using BSC a company requires realistic and comprehensive strategy. Top managers of call centers should seriously consider possibility of implementing Balanced Scorecard to optimize and improve call center performance, as well as bring a call center strategy (if any) in compliance with company strategic goals, mission and values. So, what are benefits of BSC implementation in call centers, helpdesks and customer support services?

Benefits of call center BSC

Benefit 1 – Expenses optimization. One of the major KPIs in a call center BSC is cost per call. Various companies use different ways to calculate it, but generally it includes telecommunication costs, office maintenance costs, call center operator salary and other expenses. By monitoring changes in cost per call, tom management of a call center can make relevant decisions and cut expenses whenever necessary. This especially concerns those call centers that only provide customers with support but do not sell anything. Sales call centers can make a ratio of cost per call and revenue per successful call.

How call center performance contributes to implementation of company goals

Benefit 2 – Improvement of employee performance. BSC should initiate changes in a call center. Employees must be properly motivated to improve own performance and work with BSC. For example, by controlling first resolution calls it is possible to monitor total performance of a call center. A first resolution call is sometimes called one and done call. It means that a customer needs just one call to have his question answered and problems solved.

Benefit 3 – Improvement of organization climate. BSC unites employees in their desire to benefit the company. Besides, satisfied employees as a rule have satisfied customers. High customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal of a customer support service, while in sales call centers customer loyalty improves sales rates.