Call Center Metrics

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.