Call center metrics are quantitative assessments used to evaluate the effectiveness of call center operations. Metrics help call center managers and supervisors monitor and measure the performance of their teams, identify areas for improvement, and ensure they are meeting customer expectations.
What is a call center vs. a contact center?
Call centers are primarily devoted to communicating with customers via phone, while contact centers handle interactions with customers on multiple channels – phone, email, chat, social media, SMS text, websites, and more.
What are the most important call center metrics?
While there are hundreds of metrics that call centers rely on, several are among the most important.
- Average handle time (AHT) is the average amount of time a call center agent spends on a call. AHT provides crucial insight into the capacity of the call center.
- First call resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer calls that are resolved on the initial contact with the call center. Achieving higher FCR is important in improving customer satisfaction and increasing call center efficiency.
- Abandoned call rate is the percentage of callers who hang up before they speak with an agent. Tracking this metric can determine whether there are enough agents available at specific times of the day.
- Average speed of answer (ASA) is the average time a customer is on hold before speaking to an agent. Monitoring ASA can help align staffing levels with call volume.
- Transfer rate is the percentage of calls that are referred to another representative or supervisor for resolution. Tracking the transfer rate can help improve how calls are routed and determine which agents are best suited to answer different types of calls.
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score is the percentage of customers who report being satisfied with their call center experience.
- Net promoter score (NPS) measures the likelihood that a customer will recommend the company or the call center to others.
Why are call center metrics important?
By tracking key metrics, call center managers can analyze the performance of agents, optimize staffing levels, understand the customer’s call center experience, and identify areas for improvement.
- Measuring performance. Metrics offer a quantitative way to understand overall call center performance as well as the performance of each agent and process. By benchmarking and tracking metrics over time, managers can continuously improve performance.
- Targeting improvements. Metrics can help managers set and monitor goals for improvement, such as reducing call wait times, improving first call resolution rates, or enhancing customer satisfaction scores.
- Training and evaluating agents. By helping to measure agent performance, call center metrics enable managers to determine where additional training and coaching can help improve agent performance. Providing optimal training and coaching is a critical factor in reducing agent churn.
- Improving customer satisfaction. Call center metrics reveal insights into the customer call center experience and provide a roadmap for actions that can increase customer satisfaction with the call center experience and the company.
How can companies improve call center metrics?
- Training and coaching. Training agents and providing ongoing coaching is one of the most powerful ways to enhance call center metrics. Training and coaching typically focus on helping agents to handle different types of interactions most effectively, increasing knowledge of products and services, and enhancing customer service skills.
- Optimizing call routing. Call centers can reduce wait times and increase first call resolution rates by routing calls to the agent or department that can most effectively meet the customer’s needs.
- Enhancing agent engagement. Improving agent engagement through training, recognition, and rewards can help create a positive work environment and increase job satisfaction, directly affecting an agent’s ability to deliver superior service.
- Relying on automation and self-service. Automated chatbots can handle routine questions without involving call center agents. Self-service options enable some callers to quickly resolve their own issues, increasing customer satisfaction.
What are the challenges of call center metrics?
Collecting comprehensive data is the biggest challenge of call center metrics. Tracking and assessing hundreds of KPIs that monitor each agent and interaction is virtually impossible without the help of automated software. Certain KPIs – such as compliance and quality assurance metrics – require call centers to review recordings of conversations, a time-consuming process when handled manually. To overcome these challenges, many call centers have adopted conversation intelligence solutions that can automatically monitor every interaction with customers across all channels.
