Any company must be continually designing and implementing new strategies to ensure that all of its departments are functioning properly. These actions require an equally constant evaluation to make sure that the results obtained during the process are really the same as expected or if, on the contrary, changes should be introduced. In this context, we must be able to count on a series of measurements that show us if everything is working as expected. This is where we talk about key performance indicators or KPI ‘s. As the name suggests, they are a series of variables that allow you to measure different basic aspects of your business such as employee productivity or customer satisfaction.
One of the elements that a company must pay more attention to is customer service. Your customers are the reason for your business, and so you need to be concerned about providing them with quality services and adapting to their needs. Therefore, continually reviewing those metrics that allow you to track the performance of your employees and the company as a whole is essential to making good decisions.
In a call center, this information can come from different sources, since there are a large number of indicators that depend on the needs of the business. However, it is true that some are more relevant than others and can be used regardless of the characteristics of the business. That’s why today we provide you with a list of the 4 KPIs of a call center that you should pay more attention to.
1. Customer waiting time
This is one of the performance indicators in a call center that can influence your service the most. When they contact your company, whether it’s through a phone call or an instant messaging application, customers expect a quick response. And that’s when you ask yourself: “what is the ideal wait time I should take as a reference?”.
As you can imagine, the perfect amount of time a customer should wait to be serviced is 0. However, this is not always possible, and sometimes agents have to handle a large amount of interactions at once and get overwhelmed. This poor customer service center KPI can be solved in different ways, and the most common are:
- Implement Artificial Intelligence systems: Using a virtual agent in your call center software, whether it’s a chatbot to handle your messages or a callbot to receive calls, you’ll see the customer’s wait time reduced significantly. At the same time that employees are handling other interactions, the virtual agent will be able to get the initial information about the user’s request and even resolve the simplest queries. This way, the consumer will be taken care of quickly (reducing the risk that they will abandon their intention to contact you). In addition, the agent will be freed up to focus on providing a more personalized service.
- Set a maximum time in queue: In the case of calls, you can define the time the person stays on hold as you want. If this waiting time is exceeded, you can set up an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) that informs the person that they cannot be taken but can leave a message in the voice mailbox. You can even have this same system call the customer automatically once an agent is available.
2. Dropout rate
This call center performance indicator tells you how many conversations were not answered. This is a telephony KPI that can be combined with the previous one. In the case of calls, you need to take into account how long the customer waited before abandoning their intention to contact you. If the wait was long, it is a sign that there is something wrong with the call center and that you need to find a way to increase the efficiency of your service.
On the other hand, when it comes to messages, this rate is a bit more complicated to determine, as there is no set time to respond to them (although it is recommended to do so within 24 hours). However, you can take as a reference the number of messages that have been answered by the agents and read by the users.
Having a strong link with the previous KPI, the solutions to improve this telephony performance indicator are the same as those mentioned above.
3. Customer satisfaction
Perhaps the most important KPI in a call center is the degree to which customers’ needs are met after being served. The best way to get this information is to survey consumers after interactions to evaluate the service they received. Employees are the visible part of the company, so you need to make sure that the team provides personalized service to a certain standard. Through this indicator, you will be able to obtain data directly and reliably in order to evaluate the performance of your agents and make decisions related to the points of improvement of the customer experience. This way, the measures taken will be the most adjusted to the customers’ expectations.
One of the best ways to improve this KPI is through the integration of the company’s CRM with your call center software. Thus, when you receive your calls or messages, the form that contains all the information on the customer will open automatically and you can anticipate his needs. The agent will be able to know at any time what the user needs, if he/she is used to contacting you, the status of the requests, etc…
4. Resolution at first contact
When a customer comes to you, it is either because he wants to buy or contract one of your products or services or because he has a problem, it is important to solve his request without the need to transfer, send and resend the discussion. Thus, this indicator in customer service is directly related to satisfaction and customer experience. With this KPI, it is possible to measure the number of conversations that have been handled by each agent without the user having to be contacted again for the same reason.
Regardless of the reason for the call, providing the customer with what they need during the initial contact is a positive point. One of the most common ways to do this in a call center is to assign each agent a skillset. Thus, when the message or call is received in the contact center, the system will filter it according to its origin, giving it a different treatment and assigning it to the most qualified people. For example, if your company operates internationally and you receive calls from France, the system will recognize and the customer will be taken care of by the person who speaks the best French.
Now that you know the main KPIs in a call center, it is essential that you have the right tools to get all the information. With the call center software we provide at Fonvirtual, you will be able to rely on a panel of supervisors from which you will have access to all the detailed reports to evaluate each of these performance indicators. In addition, you will have access to a large number of features as we mentioned above (integration with CRM, automation of tasks with artificial intelligence, etc…) to take the customer experience to another level.
If you would like more information on anything you can do with us, please contact us. We will help you choose the best option to get the most out of your call center.
