Call Center Metrics

Evaluation of a call center performance may have several goals. First and foremost, this is, of course, evaluation of business performance with the aim of improving quality of rendered services. On the other hand, performance evaluation is necessary for strategic management purposes. It is not quite reasonable for call center managers to set up new plans if they are totally unaware of current performance. Sure, past financial information is quite important in strategic planning as it reflects efficiency of adopted decisions. Use of Balanced Scorecard in a call center makes it possible to make forecasts as to future performance. A call center BSC employs quite a simple principle – evaluation of previously chosen key performance indicators with the aim of using obtained info (evaluation results) in strategic planning, response actions and changes in the organization.

Attributes of an effective call center

Examples of effective call center KPI

One of the most important stages of BSC implementation is without any doubts development of applicable call center metrics, i.e. key performance indicators chosen by call center managers and those employees and specialists responsible for Balanced Scorecard implementation in a particular call center. Sure thing, it is necessary then to adopt the right evaluation methods and analyze information obtained as a result of KPI evaluation.

4 call center BSC perspectives

One of the most important and common KPIs in a call center BSC is cost per call/contact. The thing is that most call centers do not earn money (except for sales call centers that sell products and services). Thus, to handle one call, company spends a certain amount of money (salary to call center operators, office maintenance costs, telecommunication costs etc). Naturally, these expenses have to be compensated by increased sales and revenue growth. This is why call centers need to improve performance in order to improve customer satisfaction.

When existing and potential customers are making calls they have different questions and problems, as well as face different situations, for example abandoned and blocked calls. Through measurement of relevant indicators it becomes possible to measure efficiency of both call center operators and functionality of used equipment, as well as approaches to handling calls, answering questions and solving customers’ problems.

For instance, such KPI as abandoned call rate is directly linked to several call factors. A customer hangs up under several conditions: he/he is either tired of waiting for response (time on hold), his/her problem is not solved, or the offered solution seems unacceptable.

Having all relevant figures in a dashboard, call center managers will have very important info at their disposal.

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.

It is impossible to imagine a modern company that offers products of services without competent and efficient customer support service. Moreover, as online sales are becoming increasingly popular, call center has gained tremendous popularity. Sales by phone have become a norm of today’s life. It is so convenient! However, an inefficient call center or customer support service may take the company down, thus hampering its progress on the way to implement strategic goals and gain considerable competitive advantage. In this article we will talk about call center BSC, implementation tips and most popular KPIs.

Tasks and goals of call centers

Implementation process of a call center BSC starts with development of realistic and comprehensive strategy. It is vitally important to get the entire personnel involved in strategy discussion. Of course, there are no ideal situations, and not all employees are very loyal and dedicated. However, top management should do everything possible to motivate personnel and get employees involved in strategy discussion. The point is that ordinary call center operators know very much about problems of their department, as well as most common problems of customers. Thus, if a call center is designing a strategy, opinions of ordinary managers and call center operators who are at frontline, are very valuable.

Then comes choice of key performance indicators. It is difficult to say what stage is the most important. However, it would be fair to say that selection of KPIs is one of the most important stages of BSC implementation. This especially concerns call center BSC since this business unit is customer oriented. It also does not produce anything which sometimes causes serious losses. Key performance indicators represent critical success factors in various aspects of running business.

Why is optimization of call center performance effective?

Popular call center KPIs include cost per call, first resolution calls rate, time on hold, number of calls handled by one operator, abandoned calls rate and many others. It is impossible to develop a universal set of key performance indicators that will work equally well for every call center. Every business unit is individual. Every call center or a helpdesk has unique structure and problems. Still, it is rather reasonable to use sets of key performance indicators specifically created for a call center. Some KPIs are fairly universal such as cost per call or customer satisfaction. Correct measurement of such KPI will offer call center managers valuable information on progress of their business unit in terms of strategic goals implementation.

Call center evaluation is a must for every company or business unit that sells products or services. Call centers can be of different types: customer support service and sales call center that handles customer calls and places orders. Sometimes, call center operators call customers to offer products while in most cases customers are calling to make inquiries on the products/services or buy selected products. Quality of customer support and etiquette of call center operators is very important for ordinary customers. Very often customers form their judgment on a particular company based on how they have talked to a call center operator. A customer may not like a particular brand just because a call center operator was unable to solve his/her problem or answer questions. This happens very often since modern products and services are quite complex and thus people always have certain questions.

Major call center KPIs

As a very important business unit, a call center requires proper evaluation. These days many companies adopt and implement strategy in order to gain or maintain competitive advantage. Successful implementation of a strategy implies involvement of all business units and departments. Only when the entire personnel is involved it is possible to succeed in strategic planning. This also concerns Balanced Scorecard which is known as the most effective and popular performance evaluation and strategic management tool that puts strategy into action. BSC is just perfect for a call center as this business unit is always customer oriented.

Call center evaluation

Implementation of a call center BSC differs from implementation procedure in other business units. Top managers have to take into account peculiarities of a call center, related expenses, goals and measure. It is vitally important that call center goals and measures comply with requirements of general company strategy, values and mission. In this sense, choice of key performance indicators is perhaps the most important stage. Let’s review a couple of them.

One of the most popular indicators is cost per call. Here, top managers need to understand why they make or receive calls. The company spend certain amount of money for one call, thus it expects to receive some revenue. The key goals of sales call center is to sell products/services, and thus cost per call should be correlated with revenue per successful call. If this is a customer support service, then call expenses should be related to customer satisfaction, one and done calls rate and some other important KPIs.

When did you last talk to a call center operator? Perhaps, it was when you ordered a product in the online store or called customer support service of your web hosting provider or ISP. We should admit that we care so much about quality of customer support service. There is nothing worse than just hearing a pleasant voice telling you “Yes, we understand your problem” but the problem is not eventually resolved. We all have heard popular records of call center conversations with mad customers. This sounds funny of course, but the problem is much deeper. Who drives most customers crazy? Why can generate sales? Who contributes to customer loyalty? You might think these are CEOs, chief executives and other representatives of top management. Well, this is partially true. However, we do not care about CEO of the company that sold you a brand new laptop you are experiencing problems with. You do not care about top managers of your web hosting company, if your site has been down for a while. When you are talking with customer support manager or a call center operator, these people represent the company.

The process of call center BSC implementation

Why did we start the articles with description of these real life situations? This is to demonstrate the importance of call centers and customer support services, and thus real necessity to evaluate performance of these business units who can greatly contribute to implementation of strategic goals. Most progressive companies are now using Balanced Scorecard system to evaluate call center performance and drive company to success and implementation of strategic goals.

Why Balanced Scorecard? This system has proved its efficiency and power in most famous world companies. It employs a very simple principle – evaluation of key performance indicators and further use of obtained information in decision making. The key goal of BSC implementation in the company is to put strategy into action, as well as optimize company performance.

How efficient call center contributes to implementation of financial goals

In terms of call center BSC, it is very important to find the right indicators in all 4 categories of Balanced Scorecard. For example, through measurement of average telecommunication costs per call it is possible to find out ways to decrease them if necessary or think of new revenue making methods to make call profitable. It is also recommended to measure customer satisfaction since it is one of the most important indicators for customer support service. Other significant indicators include revenue per call, first resolution calls rate etc.

Call centers are specific business units in the companies. At the same time, some companies prefer to outsource and use services of external call centers. Both options are equally good as long as call center operators are competent enough to answer customers’ questions. For example, a call center specializing in ISP or Web Hosting will not be helpful for producer of laptops. Sure, before launch of a new call center project, operators undergo special training. However, the best way to optimize call center performance is to use Balanced Scorecard system. This article will explain why.

Some of major call center kpis

First and foremost, in order to implement Balanced Scorecard it is necessary to adopt a strategy. What strategy can be adopted for a call center? It depends on what kind call center it is. There are two basic types: sales call centers (those that receive orders by phone or call customer to offer new products) and support services used for post sale support. In the first case increase of accepted orders should make a nice goal, while a customer support service should concentrate on customer satisfaction. For example, such indicator as first resolution calls rate (one and done calls) vividly demonstrate whether or not customer support service is doing a great job. Thus, the decision to implement BSC in a call center is a nice opportunity to think about strategy, review or adopt it, if necessary.

Implementation of Balanced scorecard will harmonize work of a call center, as an internal or external business unit. Strategies and goals adopted for a call center must comply with the company strategy otherwise there is no point in functioning of a call center. For example, if a call center management makes a decision to improve cost per call, this should be related to company strategy. In other words, one should clearly see how this decision contributes to implementation of strategic goals. In order to see such cause and effect ties a comprehensive strategy map must be designed. Ideally, it should answer the question: “How do we implement strategic goals that we have set?”

The 4 perspectives of Balanced Scorecard

BSC use is associated with numerous benefits, but at the same time there are common mistakes and pitfalls. One of the most common mistakes is use of BSC only by several people in a call center. In such a way, BSC becomes a top secret document that is of no use to ordinary operators who actually do the job.

Have you ever face a situation when you want to spend money by purchasing a product online, call a phone number and have an unpleasant conversation with a call center operator? Well, the operator was polite and showed utmost respect, but he or she failed to answer your questions. It often happens that before making an online purchase we want to learn as much as possible about the chosen product or service. Eventually, you hang up and look for another producer or service provider. Moreover, you form a negative judgment about a particular company.

Call center optimization increases company revenue

The above hypothetic example vividly demonstrates how quality of call center service can scare potential customers off. Many business owners do not understand why they need improve quality of call centers and why they have to invest in call centers.

Competition in all markets is very high. Thus, if you do not like something about one company you may always contact another one. Produces fight for customers these days. For this reason, strategic planning in call center industry is very important. You do not only have to be polite but should be also able to provide potential or existing customers with complete answers to their questions.

Some of most popular call center KPIs

Use of BSC is highly recommended for all companies that decided to develop long term strategies. The thing is that goals and measures for every department should comply with general strategy of a company. In other words, every decision should lead to implementation of strategic goals.

One of such long term goals is improvement of customer satisfaction. There can be various indicators signaling about problems or achievements in this area. For example, you may ask customers to rate their conversation with a call center operator, or use multiple KPIs for this purpose – number of problems solved, positive customer feedback etc.

Implementation of Balanced Scorecard in a call center should certainly start with identification of major problems and goal setting. Only having made all preparations and having formed a BSC working group, it is advisable to proceed to choice of key performance indicators.

Call center KPIs can vary from company to company. It depends on goals of a call center. For instance, if this is a sales call center, then such an indicator as sales attempts per customer would play a key role, while customer support services mainly focus on solving customers’ problems.

Efficiency of a company call center greatly affects generated revenue, in not immediate then for sure in the long term. Indeed, post purchase service is extremely important if a company wants to retain customers and create a positive image in order to attract new ones. If you purchase a laptop and have some problems with it you can dial a call center number where qualified specialists will help you (sure we are not talking about some defects but rather about general questions related to the purchased product). If you received qualified support you will surely turn loyal to the producer and in future you are more likely to purchase the same brand product. This is how companies create a perfect business image and enlarge customer base.

What is an efficient call center?

That is why optimization of call center work and strategic planning in this area is very important, especially if the company is undergoing changes. Such changes may be cause by implementation of Balanced Scorecard system which proved to be one of the best strategic management tools ever.

At a first glance, call center functions are not numerous. Indeed, what do call center operators usually do? They answer customers’ calls. Such calls as a rule concern products that have been already purchased, i.e. the company has already made profits. That is why there are companies who do not invest in call center and consider them just a waste of money.

Major call center KPIs

However, implementation of Balanced Scorecard in a call center will make it possible to reach certain strategic goals. Evaluation of a call center performance will make it possible to locate weak points in the work of a call center. Besides, implementation of Balanced Scorecard in a call center will enable ordinary employees better understand company strategy and their own role in implementation of strategic goals. If every call center operator is aware of how his performance affects company progress, he or she will have additional motivation to work better.

BSC implementation is a call center should definitely start with formation of a working group that will be in charge of strategy development and choice of key performance indicators. At that, it is very important that the group consists both of call center managers and external advisors with practical experience of BSC implementation.

As to call center KPIs, there are ready to use sets of call center key performance indicators. Of course, the choice depends on company strategy, current problems, long and short term goals etc.

Have you ever wondered why you stay loyal to certain brands? Good product quality? Maybe! But there are lots of similar products with even better quality and features. Attractive design? Well, markets are full of attractive products. So, why do you choose a particular brand? Well, maybe it is because every time you have some problems with the product you have purchased you can contact customer support service and receive qualified help? This is a very important factor in formation of a company positive image. Indeed, call center operators often represent the company. A caller forms his judgment based on whether or not his questions were answered by a call center operator.

What are call center tasks?

Indeed, quality of call center services affects customer loyalty. As known, customer loyalty is directly related to sales growth. So, when a company sets certain strategic goals it should take into account optimization of a call center performance.

Some of call center KPIs

Balanced Scorecard is known as one of the most effective strategic management tools. BSC is very often used to evaluate and optimize call center work. It needs mentioning that a call center is quite a specific business unit. When implementing BSC in a call center, one should remember that this business unit directly contacts customers, so call center operator know much about customer problems.

For this reason, it is extremely important to include call center top managers to working group personnel which will be responsible for BSC preparation and implementation measures. Call center managers and operators know everything about problems in work of a call center. Besides, they can come up with certain suggestions and initiatives as to improvements in performance.

Choice of key performance indicator is perhaps second most important task after strategy development. First, it is necessary to determine what goals a call center should achieve and how they are integrated into company strategy. Secondly, BSC working group should select key performance indicators which will demonstrate call center progress or regress on the way to strategy implementation.

As to key performance indicators for a call center, there is no universal set. Every KPIs is individual and thus it is chosen in accordance with a call center strategy. Very much depends on strategic goals and organization structure. If for one call center number of calls handled is very important, the other one should focus on average cost per call or customer satisfaction rate.

Balanced Scorecard is quite a tricky tool. Indeed, it can become a saver for any company. Equally, it can do so much harm, that company top management will never say anything good about Balanced Scorecard. It is really astonishing, but BSC never guarantees success, no matter what some BSC fans would say. If organization is not ready to transform and change, Balanced Scorecard will never help.

BSC is a helpful perofrmance evaluation tool for call centers

In case of a call canter (application of BSC in a call center, to be exact), Balanced Scorecard has numerous advantages. With a perfectly functioning call center it is really easy to attract new customers, as well as keep existing customers satisfied. If company’s call center is efficiently working, it is really possible to boost sales and generate increased revenue.

So, let’s review key advantages of BSC use in a call center.

1. Tracking key performance indicators to optimize call center performance. A special BSC team would develop a series of key performance indicators which will represent company critical success factors which will make it possible to measure call center progress on the way to implement strategic goals.

2. Working out call center strategy. If company call center is just handling calls it doesn’t mean that it works the way it should work. Every call center must have strategic goals. Moreover, these goals have to comply with the company strategy. One of such goals may be increase of customer satisfaction, sales growth, decrease of average call duration etc.

3. Correct mistakes and changing strategy. Balanced Scorecard makes it possible to introduce amendments to the strategy and operational management if necessary. If evaluation of key performance indicators showed certain problems, company top management develops a series of counter actions. This is a very common practice among companies using balanced scorecard. Both external and internal environment is changing rapidly, so company must react to these changes. Balanced Scorecard gives company management at very clear and transparent picture all goals and measures, as well as cause and effect ties between them, so that top managers can introduce relevant changes.

4. Focus on most important things. Very often call centers place an excessive focus on number of calls handled or average call duration. These indicators of very important indeed, but there are things that matters most of all, like customer satisfaction, and returning customer rate.

Some important call center KPIs

When applying Balanced Scorecard in a call center it is really important to make all necessary preparations and get the entire call center personnel involved in this process.