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Consider Quality over Quantity in Measuring Contact Center KPIs
While no two contact centers are the same – they will vary wildly by region, size and the industry they serve – there are certain elements that most contact centers have in common. Most contact centers have a list of goals and a way to measure and manage to ensure they are meeting those goals. Most often, the success of a contact center is measured by key performance indicators (KPIs), or metrics that monitor the day-to-day operations of the contact center.
Traditionally, one of the most important KPIs of the contact center has been average handle time (AHT), or the average time that each call takes, from the moment the agent picks it up until he or she finishes the call and completes any necessary after-call work (finishing completing a trouble ticket or order, for example). Other KPIs that focus on time include calls per hour or completion rates. Other contact centers focus on revenue per call, measuring success in how much money each agent or agent team pulls in. (For a full list of common contact center key performance indicators, check out this recent blog post by Monet Software CEO Church Ciarlo.)
The problem with time-based and revenue-based key performance indicators, however, is that they may not be reflecting the quality of customer service being offered. A good average handle time doesn’t mean much, for example, if customers are being rushed off the phone before their issues are complete. This often necessitates that the customer call back again because he or she still has more questions. In this case, the short AHT of the call has doubled the cost of the transaction – or tripled if the customer needs a third call. While revenue-based measurements might seem to measure the quality of the transactions, it’s possible that these numbers reflect new customers making first-time purchases, and not repeat customers, which could hide considerable problems with the quality of customer service being offered.
Going into the twenty-first century, as companies realize that quality needs to be the first goal in order to retain existing customers and boost the quality of relationships, many companies have moved to first-call resolution as the Holy Grail of KPIs. FCR is, according to Ciarlo, the number of “one and done” calls that resolve a customer’s issue. In other words, it’s a measure of how many customer calls are fully and satisfactorily resolved with a single contact, indicating that the customer has left the transaction with the issue fully resolved, feeling satisfied with the quality of support he or she was offered. This customer does not call back or initiate further contact on the issue through other channels.
While it may cost more up front to pursue first-call resolution over average handle time and similar time- and revenue-based metrics, in the long wrong, it’s the true measure of success in the contact center.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi