Modern call centers understand that they have to be able to differentiate between various stats and related data in order to discover metrics that could help them get better insights into those processes that contribute to the advancement of their business performance. This is where they face an ambiguous situation. On the one hand, they realize that such KPIs as average handle time or the amount of successfully handled calls per hour will increase productivity, but may negatively affect the quality of servicing. On the other hand, however, there is no sense to focus on quality only and underestimate efficiency and quantitative measurements, since it may have a negative effect both upon the financial expenditures of the company and customer experience. What is the best way out of this situation then? The most reasonable solution to this problem is to find and implement those call center metrics that will ideally fit your company. That is why this process may prove to be quite time-taking and even challenging.
Importance of first call resolution rate
Nowadays, the majority of call center managers consider the following KPIs the most critical in ensuring customer loyalty and satisfaction, employee productivity and good contact center performance: first call resolution, adherence to schedule, response time, contact quality, customer satisfaction, self-service accessibility etc.
How customer satisfaction benefits the company
Recent studies have proven, though, that there is no single metric that has a greater impact upon the overall level of customer satisfaction than first-call resolution (FCR). What do people initially expect when contacting call center agents? The majority of them have specific problems and they want them to be solved as quickly (and, what is even more important, qualitatively) as possible. Otherwise, they will not be satisfied with the quality of servicing and will have to get in touch with call center agents once again. Therefore, it becomes clear that the better first-call resolution is, the more enhanced the customer experience will be. Furthermore, it will help reduce the expenses of a call center as well.
There are several reasons that help realize why first-call resolution is not observed in your company. Thus, there are situations when agents do not have the required authority to be able to solve the request, even though they know the potential solution. As a result, they have to ask their customers to stay on-line for a certain period of time, which may increase the amount of abandoned calls as well as overall hold time. Some agents may lack sufficient knowledge or training, which will make it difficult for them to deal with incoming calls and this is another thing you should consider if you intend to enhance your business success.