CALL CENTER METRICS Best Practices in Performance Measurement to Pee esi eemeM Reta i CidadeConclusion 1. Service Level 2. Agent Schedule Adherence 3. Active and Waiting Calls 4. First Call Resolution 5. Call Abandonment 6. Average Handling Time 7. Customer Satisfaction 8. Contact Quality 9. Forecast Accuracy 10. Net Promoter Score 11. Staff Turnover/Retention 12, Blockage 12, Staff Shrinkage 14, Up-Sell/Cross-Sell Rate 15, Cost Per Call‘This paper sees to help call centers outline their basic needs, such as streamlining halt staffing structure, to.overesme forecasting workload, ‘This paper isa primer far standard technology steucture of cal centers and helps them provide consistent quality t clients and customers, Furthermore, this paper outlines guidelines in perfermance ‘measurement and management to maximize efficiency and quality of service Fora call center, The practices listed herein form the backbone of any calleenter. These, among athers, arelssuesthat ae addressed in this paper. & wore Sbwest.netSERVICE LEVEL What is Service Level? 1A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract oF a part of a service contract which defines the service. ln ather words, SLA san agreement that defines the tarms of service that exist between 3 service provider and their customer. An SUA is your call center's promise to provide a ‘certain standard service to your sllents and eustomersand te be more specie, stipulates that your esl eenteris committed to answering aset ‘percentage of calls within a certain numberof seconds. aap tt. elien® For instance, acontract between antnternct Service Provider (ISP) anda customer shall speciy, usualy in maasurable terms, what services the network service provider wil furnish Types of Service Level Agreement SUA can bo used in many areas; these ave several types of SLA thot may ‘be used, Some af them are a: fllows: 1, Customer SLA: Where there is an agreement between an individual customer and a company. 2. Service SUA: Service SLAs for every customer making use of the services being provided by a company, e.g. Response time for erat ‘MultLlevel UA: itis combination of levels with the purpose of ‘eldressing multiple sets of customers 4. Corporate SLA: This incudesall Service Levet Management (SLM) 5. Customer Level SUA: This includes all SLM issues that apply to a ‘particular group of customers 6 Steves Level SU Thie Ineludes 3I-SLM iizues that apply specific services. I keniee fevele re fluctuating, you nada to know obout Immvwsifatety in order to solue the probem, Serve levels may beSERVICE LEVEL Iftuenced by a range of isues, such os unexpectedly high colt Volume, unplannad! service urtoges, a high agent absentesism. Some SLA metrics may be specified as: 11. The percentage of the time that services willbe available for. 2. The total number af users that can be served simultaneously. Defined performance benchmarks which help compare actual ‘pediarmance vs the irenchmark periodically, 4, Advance natifestion of changes that may affect ucers, 5 Help desk response time for various classes of problems, 6 zt a Dial-in access availabilty. Usage statsties that willbe provided, 1n'simportant to monitor service levels inreal time, as it provides an active barometer of your cll center's current performance. ©-anWest nal Seovies error hWest neSCHEDULE ADHERENCE [ What is Agent Schedule Adherence? Tips to Ensure Solid Schedule Adherence ‘Adherence ta schedule is a measurernent of how much time during an ‘agent's shife he or she & logged in and handling, Ie Kan overall cal ‘conter measure and isaso one of the most telling measures of teamand Individual petlormance, ‘ Here are a few ticks to ensure solid adherence statistics that agents Won't find intrutive: Train each agent on impact on the aueve, and an customer ecossibilty and sbtsfation, 2. Establish concrete service level and response time objectives new to everyone Educate agents on the essential steps involved in resource planning to ensure that they understand how schedules are Schedule adherenceisan important factor for eallcentes performance: low adherencerates may result in faice tomeet SLAs and deliver poor ‘quality of service to customers. There is however a danger of focusing % 100 stringently on adherence to schedule since it inevitably results in ‘biting cries of micro-management from the agents. prepared. 4 Dereopappropriate pares forthe ass your agents perform oothejab. Pes 5. rovde eat timelnformation to sgentsandback upwitniat. a 6 Tackandmanag Shee Aaorence a the sper ve 7. Track Sthedule Adherence for the entire group for planing Purposes. This, in turn, will ep assess how wel effective the process that enables Schedule Adherence's, A call center needs to hove on idea about how mony calls the overage agent is hazing and how long thoxecalis last soast0 4 a 4IFE help sweat enyschedting odustments thet may hev tebe madeACTIVE & WAITING CALLS ‘What are Active and ing Calls? | ‘The ‘Active and Walting Cals! measures current volume af active calls comparudto the numberof callers waltingto be patched theoughto.an Currently Active & Waiting agent. ‘This isa real-time status metric that Should te dhared withallehe agents to offer them insight on their performance. Agents should be ‘Waiting: 19 ‘encouraged to resolve cals on a timely basis im arlertoget tothe next ° caller in queve and net keep the callors on walt. However, his should never comer ticexpense af delivering qvalty cwstomer service. Reorember, the more the Wert Time the harder the Active: 46 callers cciler becomes to handle. a ©-32Vet Global Services error hWest neFIRST CALL RESOLUTION What is First Call Resolution? ‘he percentage of transactions that are completed within a single _quory/eontact scaled the frst callresolution {CR rate and is aerucil measure of quality, ‘The chet tay dence canst uy reste ato meet service level ageernents and deverahlgh ual servce. sues that are resolved on the first contact display the efficiency of a call center an atrac greater customer satsfaction ‘There are, na doubt, issues that cannot be resaived without multiple ‘alls or contacts, Far example, 2 difficult technical Issue may involve ‘multiple contacts with several agentsin order to cesolve the issue. The retolution rate wil ikely be tower in eae of emails sings it genaraly ‘aks multiple messages between the customer and the agent to resolve an issue. Benefits of First Call Resolution Usted below are afew benefits of FER: Reduces Operating Costs: A tow FCR cate results ra high umber of repeat callers, This escalates the walt time, disconnections and call-backs. Reducing the cost burden of Callbacks is one of the major benefits of FER. ‘Customer Retention: A high FCR makes a customer feet comfortable with the support and isa very good way to avoid losing your eustomers to competitors, Higher Employee Satistection: The strain on agents who must comand with frequent callbacks from often frustrated -custamers is significant an invariably leads to low morale; poor customer service and high agent tumover. era ShWest neFIRST CALL RESOLUTION ‘Recent studies have shown thatthe FOR rate hasthe highest correlation \with eustomer satisfaction. Nothing Impacts customers’ perceptions about a company ors support mere than simply getting their question ‘answered or prablem resolved on the first try. ‘The red flag assoctated with FCR ig the number of issues that are ‘currently uneesolved. Ensure consistent tracking ofeach cantact method ‘that your call center uses, as well as how cHective each method is. 1's not easy to figure out FCA: it takes seme collating of information Sromyour contact management system, butit'sworth the extracffort. Remember, the higher yaur FCR rate, the hopper your customers ared a © a1Wiest Global Secvices vera ShWest neCALL ABANDONMENT What is Call Abandonment? Gall Abandonment measures the numberof eslls that are diseonnected before they can be connected to one of your agents. This losely related to Service Level and Customer Satisfaction, Customers are not expected to be patient, They wall hang up and possibly suateh ‘thei brand loyalties. ‘Abandonment rate (s not typically 2 measure associated with email ‘communications, since the ematicioes nat abandon the “queue” oncett hasbeen sent, but itdoes apply ta web chat interaetians and inbound cal Please nate, thot abandon rate nat entirely under the coll center's control, White abandons ore affected by the average wait time ia ‘queue (which con be conteolled by the coll center), there ore o rnultucle of ather factors that Influence this number, such as id 1 collar tSlerancas: Wie af “cally ‘af daria iternatives, ond sa onAVERAGE HANDLING TIME What is Average Handling Time? | Factors that can distort AHT dling Time (AMT isa u how long a new item of wos ta any contact center that te behandted, and nat just 3 common measure of contact handling, male up of talk time plus after-call work (ACW). ANT isa A asure that is important in determining the ather types worked, Ibik aioth har akes to handieane ‘ora Web chat transaction, An emailmay med anid put aside for varying amounts of time before completion. Likewise, 2 web eh sion may appear te take lager than it actually does. Therefore the simplistic start and end time figures sive an inflated picture [a] 1. Cutting off callers. you that they cut off long calle isto stop taking th ge Hold Timetin the calculation, as nat ong so rgerls spending more tir party on hod cteer to reduce the total AMT. (ous problem) 7. tong periods of hod timeCUSTOMER SATISFACTION What is Customer Satisfaction? Cantorirsatactoni ono the most eel mere lr any eentat center Norouesan asset of wureacenterserarmance om Yurcustomers perspective CUSTOMER While tere isno standare method for calculating customer satisfaction, there are certain commen practices and grochsies thot enable leading centers to not only effectively and efficient Keep tabs on just haw ‘much customers dstice them, but also to make key Imarovements ‘before customers take their business elsewhere, This data is usually collected through customer surveys thatask general questions, relating ‘o.call quality, call resolution, and how satisfied the customer was with the sevice received (regardlecr af eutcome). Totloy’s edvanced 1VR survey apps con be programmed to recognice when acustamer gives an abnormally Tow overall rating aad to send om alert to the center monager or quality oxsurance teem,CONTACT QUALITY ‘What is Contact Quality? (Contact Quaity is 3 very common and: criteal customer-centric performance metric in all contact centers, regartiess of industry, unctlonand size. Contact quality is typically assessed by first monitoring, and recarding of agent interactions with customers, These interactions ‘ae rated by quality sssurance: specialists using a comprehensive ‘evaluation form that features key cetera that contributes tea quality Interaction fram the customer's perspective, ‘Common quality criteria: Use of appropiate greetings and ather ctl scripts Courtesy and professionalism Capturing key eustorner data Providing customers with correct and relevant information First-contact resolution Accurbey n data entry aid eal coding Grammar and spelling in text communication (email and chat) © a1Wrest Global Services While menitoriog and recording is by for the most commen method used for assessing cantoce quality, sme ‘quoting measurements may be generated from reports eenen id by customer lnformetion systems error hWest neFORECAST ACCURACY What is Forecast Accuracy? actual contact load. tts a performance met variance botwe the number ef inbound customer contacts forecasted for a particular time period and the number of said contacts actually received by the center during that time period Underestimating the forecast leads to understating. n tur, leading to jan wait tmiesin queues, frustrated.eustomers. burned-out agents and high tollfree coats, However, overestimating the forecast resuls in waste of resources, overstating and increased idle time, Forocasted call load is available fram the center's worktoree it system; actual call load i track by the worktore management system, email response management system and Web sorvers where data is available [24 Feconehig ceive SLAG se reer te 5 sie ferccosted versus axtua! coniacts across a doy, week or month other ie should be wewed an lhatration of accuracy Jor cach reporting aterval, typically ball-howrsNET PROMOTER SCORE | What is Net Promoter Score? ‘The Net Promoter Score s haved on the premise that every company's customers can be divided into three categories: Promoters, Pastives, ‘and Oetractors. ‘By asking a simple question like "Wow likely is ie that you would ‘recommend [your comparyl to a friend or colleague?”, one can track these groups and get a clear esiure of your company’s pestorrnance {for a customer's standpoint. Customers respond ona 0-10-10 rating scale. To calculate your company's WPS, Subsract the percentoge of “hie Ses Doapoitaeead fen customers who ore Detracters from the percentage of customers whe are Prometers, 1. Promaters (score 9-10} are loyal enthusiasts wha vil zontinue ‘buying and refer others 2, Pastives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unemthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive atforings. 3, Detractors (0180-6) ce unhappy customers who may damage Your brand through iegative word-of-mouth, © a1Wiest Global Secvices error hWest neSTAFF TURNOVER / RETENTION What is Staff Turnover/Retention? ‘The best way to measure the satistaction of your workfarce istelook at the porcentige of staff thet leaves. There ean be some telling Information in these numbers and it is crucial to track and anatyze the turnover rates in many ways. (One shoud fook.at the rate associated with diferent caltypes, ast may ‘be more stressful or las satiatying to handle certain types of cls. You should also look at tmover by team to see if there are any supervisory Influences in keeping people or driving them away ‘And you'l defintely want ta look atthe level of performance of the ‘people leaving. t'sprimariy the worst performersleaving, turnover is rot suth a bed thing, but (i's your better performers leaving the ‘center, t may be time ta re-examine your compensation, recognition programs, ahd career path opportunities to see what itis that's Preventing the retention ofthese staff. Aemember, Employee Satisfaction is paramount fn retalning stat os eshowing opportunities for grosthBLOCKAGE Blockage isa measure of accessibility that indicates what percentage of customers will nt be able to get in touch with the contsct center at 2 ‘iven time due ta insufficient network facies Foilute to include a blockage goa may allow a contact cemter to meet [is“speed of answer” goal by simply blocking the excess cals: but thisisa myopic view ofthe coat, While yauright feelthot it ooks ike that the ‘contact center is deing a great job in terms of managing the queve, blockage can have a negative effect on customer accessibility and amtistaction, Thaaigh this typlealy monitored by the I or teleeorn department ‘ond not by the comtoct center, it should stil be o' measure that is reviewed regularly ta make sive collers are not being turned owey ot the front daar.Staff shrinkage is the percentage of time thar emplayees are not _vallable to handle eae tis elasified 44 nan.produetive time, 3nd is ‘made up of meeting and taining time, breaks, paid time off, off-phone ‘work, and general unexplained time where agents are not available to ‘handle customer interactions, ‘Salt shibokaas is ar irnesrtant- umber to Wah, nee plik an important ole in how many people wil naed tobe schecluled for eaeh halfnour sto At is important to wack shrinkage by individual criteria. While some sthrinkages are unavoidable, such as pald time off and training time, fother criteria of non-produetive time should tw tracked seth the ‘objective of fimiting the loss of available hours over time.UP-SELL / CROSS-SELL RATE What is Up-Sell/ Cross-Sell Rate? The up-sell rate ar cross-sell rates simply the success rate generating revenue above the original intention of the eal It is becoming an Increasingly comme practice, not just for pure revenue-generating call centers but for customer service centers as well ‘Also called Revenue per Cal (PC by some contact centers, Up-Sell or Cross-Sel refers tor contact center such as technical support which ‘order to boast the company’s orclent’s) revenue, affersthe customers ‘other products and features once the calls dona. Rentember, Up-Seling or Cross Selling sometimes may alle make customer angry. Agents need to make sure thot they only pitch onee the tsue is resolved up to thie customer's satisfaction,COST PER CALL What is Cost Per Call? ‘A major factor determining profits Is the cost af running the lofganitation, A common mesture of operational alfcleney Is cost Incurred for each minute of handing the call workload, commonly ‘refered to-as Cast per Call, This cast per calla be simply a labor cost ‘per eal, or itean be fully loaded rate that includes payroll in adaition to telecommunications, facilites. and other services costs. 4 setting cost per cal. tis crtical to define the components being used, and tause them consistently im evaluating bow wellthe-centeris ‘moking use of financiar resources over tise. © a1Wrest Global Services vera ShWest neCONCLU ION ‘The metree'that any call center embraces have an undeniably ‘momentaus.impact an the customer experience. OF course, not every ‘meteiccan he completely customer-centricas there are operations costs and business needs that must be factored in a wall, Facusing stielyon straight productivity metrics and managing acontacteenterprimariyas a cost center simply not a feasible approach anymnare. Emyphasicng on these metrics wil ensurethat your company mattis ‘high standord of customer satisfaction and loyalty, ond thus enable your ‘conter te bean efficient, high-performing, crtieal business entity. 31 WEST