What Are The Main Performance Indicators Of A Call Center To Measure Success?

Modern call centers handle a large amount of data, and the task of evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of agents and their processes may seem overwhelming at first. As more data is processed, the risk of losing important information increases, but this processing is crucial for measuring and improving quality management.

As a call center leader, you need to measure what agents are doing, how fast, and how satisfied they are with customers.

The only way to do this is through measurement of call center agent productivity, with robust and reliable metrics. But what metrics have to be considered? That’s where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in.

What Is A KPI (Key Performance Indicator?

A Key Performance Indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates the effectiveness with which an organization is achieving its stated business objectives. Companies use KPIs at multiple levels to assess their success, both in overall company performance and in processes in individual departments or teams.

Defining KPIs can be very beneficial for agents as it provides detailed information on how each one works and how each call is handled. In turn, that establishes a framework for giving them specific feedback, which they can then use to improve and learn.

What Are The Main Performance Indicators Of A Call Center To Measure Success?

1) Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Customer satisfaction indicates how agents perform in solving user problems. This is a KPI that can be purchased from different sources. Call centers generally reach a customer satisfaction score by conducting a survey and obtaining quality assurance measurements. This is a KPI that must always be taken into account when analyzing the effectiveness and efficiency of an agent, regardless of the methodology used to achieve it.

2) Resolution On The First Call

First call resolution is a metric that is directly related to customer satisfaction by tracking the percentage of calls where the agent fully addresses the needs of the caller without having to transfer, escalate, or To Call back. Solving a problem at first contact is so important that many claim that it is the primary KPI of a contact center as it is directly related to the level of customer satisfaction with an organization.

3) Average Driving Time (ADT)

Refers to the time it takes for an agent to complete an interaction. Many call center agents are evaluated for how quickly they move through callers because: A) contact centers want to reduce call waiting times and B) faster ADT rates should indicate which agents they are more efficient.

4) Waiting Time

This is a call center KPI of the amount of time, normally measured in seconds that an agent keeps the caller on hold during a call. It can include time to search for something or speak to a supervisor to find an answer to the customer’s problem.

5) Abandon Rate

This is the number of calls that hang up before connecting to an agent. When analyzing the abandonment rate, keep in mind that there are a small percentage of people who call the wrong number and hang up once they hear the company name in the automated message. These fake dropout rates are typically calculated within the first 10 seconds and in most customer service centers this can represent between 1-2% of all total calls. This number may increase if a toll-free number is similar to one that receives a high volume of calls.

Abandon rates are linked to how quickly call center agents respond to calls. The faster a call is answered, the lower the abandon rate. This can result in lost sales opportunities and poor customer service.

6) Sales Effectiveness

This measures the call efficiency of each employee, that is, the total number of calls versus successful sales made by an agent. It’s important to keep track of which employees are behind and which ones are doing a great job. This will help to motivate the agents in order to achieve the established objectives.

7) Net Promoter Score®

One of the most important metrics regarding the measurement of efforts for customer service is the Net Promoter Score. The NPS reflects the willingness of customers to recommend a particular service or product. To measure that, it is essential to ask customers a simple question about the probability of recommending the product and rating it using a 10-point scale (from 0 to 10).

An example NPS question would be: On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend our service to a friend?

8) Churn

Turnover is one of the metrics that every company must measure to predict ups and downs and avoid negative effects. It also shows the status of the company and its ability to handle customers who cancel their regular subscriptions. It is also one of the first indicators of customer dissatisfaction.

9) Customer Effort Score (CES)

It is a combination of NPS and CSAT. It is used to measure how much effort customers have to make in a certain interaction with a company. The survey only asks one question: Has the company solved your problem? This question can be modified according to the organization and the situation.

Clients must choose one of the seven responses on the scale. Starting with “Strongly disagree” and ending with “Strongly agree”. To measure the score, the average of all the responses collected must be counted. When the number is low, it means that customers are putting too much effort into interacting with the company. Reducing customer effort makes life easier for users and improves their brand impression and overall experience.

10) SERVQUAL

It is a questionnaire with questions to measure the quality of the service. It is based on the classic customer evaluation model, which considers that every user who purchases a service generates expectations for it through different channels. Once received, there are a series of factors and dimensions that allow you to have a perception of the service received.

From the analysis of SERVQUAL’s results, a service quality index is obtained, and based on this, it is possible to determine how close or far customers are with respect to the satisfaction of the service received. It is an excellent tool for companies to assess customer perception.

The dimensions of the model are as follows: reliability, responsiveness, security, empathy and tangible elements.

In conclusion, a common goal of companies is to offer exceptional standards of customer service. Therefore, the KPIs of the call centers must be taken into account to improve the weak points that can be detected in their daily activity in order to offer an excellent customer experience.