Using Analytics to Improve Your Contact Centre Batting Average

Take your customer service to the next level by using the right analytics to judge your performance.

Contact centre success is completely contingent upon your ability to provide excellent customer service. And while you may think you have a fairly good grasp on the satisfaction levels of your customers, when the number of customer complaints doesn’t necessarily reflect your rates of consumer happiness, how can you be sure?

Rather than relying on customer complaints, or the lack thereof, to keep you up-to-date on how happy your customers are with the service you provide, use actual data tracked by analytics. Analytics can improve the customer experience by providing valuable insight as to where your service is succeeding, and where you need to step up your game.

Here is a closer look at the metrics every contact centre should be paying attention to:

First Contact Resolution

First contact resolution (FCR) refers to your contact centre’s ability to resolve a customer’s issue or question at first contact. In fact, FCR is so important in customer service that it’s often cited as one of the most important focuses for contact centres. According to a 2012 American Express report, 26 percent of consumers have experienced multiple transfers between agents without any resolution of their problem or inquiry.

To avoid being a part of that statistic, track your rates of first contact resolution so that you can better analyze where you might be falling behind if FCR rates are low. There are many strategies for improving rates of first contact resolution, including developing scripts for commonly asked questions, mining customer data to improve agent’s knowledge of customer history, and improving self-service.

Hold Time

This is one metric that should be on every contact centre’s radar. High hold times are a sure fire way to upset customers and contribute to increased call abandon, a contact centre’s worst nightmare. Be sure to check average hold times frequently to avoid neglecting this hot-button issue. If your hold times are too high, consider outsourcing overflow to a contact centre solutions team, developing improved self-service or offering a call back option.

24-Hour Response Rate

Just as first contact resolution is integral in optimal customer service, 24-hour response plays a valuable role in ensuring customer loyalty. In fact, 24 hours should be the maximum time for a response to a customer inquiry, regardless of communication channel. Whether customers contact customer service by phone, through email, SMS, social media, or mobile app, agents should be ready and able to respond in a timely fashion. While some consumers may be prepared to wait up to a week for an agent response, this isn’t a bet your contact centre should be willing to take. Again, outsourcing overflow can help cut down on your average response time.

Overall Volume

Overall contact centre volume should be one of your top metrics tracked by analytics software. By keeping an eye on volume, contact centres can initiate a hiring process before becoming overwhelmed by high volumes and overflow. Anticipate the need for additional staff or temporary outsourced solutions to handle the fluctuating volumes of customer service without sacrificing quality.

Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) can be a valuable system for judging customer loyalty and satisfaction. Net Promoter Score operates on customer feedback centred on the question of whether your customers would recommend your product, service or brand to others. By scoring customer responses and providing you with an end summation of how successfully you are not only delivering a quality product or service, but also resolving customer inquiries and providing a positive customer experience, contact centres can judge how their customers really feel.

Contact centres can help increase NPS by maintaining consistent customer service on all channels, conducting customer feedback surveys to pinpoint areas for improvement, and encouraging loyal customers to share your brand on social media.

Additionally, paying attention to your analytics can help you remain up-to-date on your contact centre’s trends. Hold time, overall volume, response rate and first contact resolution are all important metrics for keeping contact centres afloat in an increasingly competitive market.

For more information on how to use Web analytics to improve your customer experience, download our free white paper.