Tracking key performance indicators in a call center is vital if you want to accurately measure and optimize the performance of your team members. There are a few different KPIs you could consider, but these are some of our top recommendations:
1. Average handle time
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The average handle time measures the average time it takes an agent to resolve a customer call to a business phone number. This includes both time spent talking, as well as any after-call work required. Average handle time is a pretty vital KPI in all contact centers, and includes the following aspects:
– Talk Time: actual time spent on the phone with the customer.
– Hold Time: average time the customer spends on hold.
– After-Call Work: This is the time agents take to complete any necessary tasks related to the call after it has ended. These can include data entry or following up on customer requests.
Why average handle time matters:
– Measures efficiency: this KPI helps centers assess the efficiency with which agents handle calls. A lower AHT usually means that agents are resolving issues fairly quickly, whereas a higher AHT could mean that the opposite is true.
– Resource management: AHT can help you when it comes to deciding whether you need to hire more people to meet the needs and requirements of all customers, without huge wait times.
– Customer experience: While a lower AHT is often a desirable outcome, it’s also important to ensure the quality of service is maintained. Customers often prefer longer calls to ensure that their issues are resolved properly, rather than being moved along before a resolution can occur.
– Data activation: Knowing your average handle time helps you to make informed, data-driven choices (More info: What is data activation?).
Best practices:
– Training: By offering training to improve agent performance, you can help them to continue to develop their product knowledge and communication skills, which will allow them to resolve issues faster.
– Scripting: By offering scripts and guidelines to your agents, they can stay focused during calls and be better able to cover all of the necessary points.
– Monitoring and feedback: You can regularly check over call recordings and give feedback to your agents in order to help them improve their call handling time without losing on service quality.
2.First call resolution
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This KPI is an indication of the percentage of calls that get resolved on the first call, without a need for a follow-up call or interaction. It’s an important indicator of both efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Why first call resolution matters:
– Customer satisfaction: High first-call resolution rates are usually associated with higher customer satisfaction rates. When a customer issue is resolved on the first phone call, they are more likely to feel satisfied with the service you provide and valued as a customer.
– Operational efficiency: first call resolutions can mean lowered operational costs. The ability to resolve issues on the first call removes or minimizes any need for repeat interactions. This in turn can save a lot of time and resources for both your agents and the customer.
– Productivity: Being able to resolve issues completely on the first call is a boost to self-esteem and morale for the agent, and ultimately, job satisfaction. It feels very reassuring to feel competent in your role.
How to improve this KPI:
– Comprehensive training: by making sure agents have the service and product knowledge they need, as well as a knowledge of common issues and the use of speech analytics tools, they can be empowered to resolve inquiries quickly and confidently.
– Information: You can offer agents easy access to information and resources that they could need, such as any relevant knowledge bases or FAQs. This can help them to find solutions to customer queries quickly.
– Empowering agents: Allowing your agents to make decisions without referring to the supervisor or manager can also improve this KPI.
– Call routing: You can implement an intelligent call routing system that can direct your customers to the best agent in terms of their needs,so that the likelihood of resolution on the first call increases.
3. Service level
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This key performance indicator measures the percentage of callers who are answered within any given time frame – e.g. how long someone has to wait on hold. It is a useful metric for assessing how responsive and efficient a call or contact center is.
Service level goals are variable and can depend on the company, but a common target is to answer 80% of calls within 20 seconds. However, this is not a hard and fast rule, and targets can be adjusted based on a business’s specific needs and customer expectations.
Why service level KPI matters:
– Customer satisfaction: a higher service level will generally correlate with greater customer satisfaction, since people don’t want to wait a long time to have their calls answered.
– Operational efficiency: By watching your service levels, you can identify any potential staffing needs and figure out when peak call times occur. This can allow you, the manager, to develop an optimal workforce allocation system and decrease the waiting times for customers.
– Performance: You can use this KPI to see how your team’s performance compares to the industry standards or competitors, which can help your company in identifying any areas that need attention.
How to improve service level:
– Staffing: You can look at what your call volume patterns look like to make sure you have appropriate staffing during those peak times. You can use forecasting software to predict call volumes.
– Training: Investing in your agents through training and development can help improve their efficiency, enabling them to handle calls faster without neglecting quality.
– Technology: Making use of technology such as automated call distribution, call center management systems and interactive voice response systems can help you to manage calls and reduce wait times.
4. Customer satisfaction score
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This is a metric you can obtain from customer feedback surveys. It will indicate to you how satisfied customers are with the service they are receiving from your agents. The customer satisfaction score is a key performance indicator in various different companies, helping to gauge satisfaction with products, services, and interactions. It is usually in the form of a percentage.
This KPI is usually measured through simple and clear survey questions, like: “How satisfied were you with your experience with our agent today?” Customers can then usually reply on a scale, ranging from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), for example, or some other format.
One way to calculate this KPI is to take the number of satisfied customers (those who rated 4 or 5) and dividing this number by the total number of respondents. You then multiply this by 100 to get a percentage. So 15 satisfied customers, divided by 25 total respondents, multiplied by 100 would look like: (15/25) x 100 = 60%.
Why this KPI matters
– Customer insights: it provides useful insights into customer expectations and experiences, helping you find your strengths and areas for improvement.
– Loyalty: Higher scores are often linked to greater customer loyalty and lower scores can help you analyze and understand customer retention issues.
– Benchmarking: It can be used to compare performances over time, as well as compare with competitors.
How to improve this KPI:
– Get feedback: Regularly conducting these customer surveys will help you to understand customer experiences and expectations over time. Make sure they’re easy to complete and accessible.
– Act on feedback: after you analyze results, make sure to take action on customer feedback and implement best practices. When you address concerns and make the necessary improvements, you can start to see higher satisfaction levels.
– Training: Center managers should train their staff in customer service to improve soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, and empathy. These can have a positive impact on customer interactions.
5. Call abandonment rate
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Call abandonment rate is another key performance indicator in call centers, and one that is used to measure how many incoming calls are abandoned by the caller before an agent picks up. This metric is a useful one for understanding customer behavior, and assessing the general efficiency levels of the call center.
The call abandonment rate can be calculated with the following formula:
Call Abandonment Rate = Number of Abandoned Calls / Total Inbound Calls x 100
So, if a call center receives 300 calls in a given period of time and 20 of those calls are abandoned, the Call Abandonment Rate would be 6.67%.
Why this KPI matters:
– Customer experience: A high abandonment rate can mean customers are experiencing long waiting times, which could lead to customer frustration and dissatisfaction with the company.
– Operational efficiency: Monitoring this KPI can help you in identifying issues related to staff numbers and skills, call volumes and transfer rate issues.
– Resource allocation: If you can understand when and why calls are abandoned, then you can figure out how to better allocate resources and make staffing decisions that reduce wait times and customer effort.
How to reduce call abandonment rate:
– Optimize staffing: Analyze call volume patterns to ensure adequate staffing during peak hours, which can help improve response times and reduce call abandonment. You should also consider the benefits of virtual call centers, which have multiple teams across different locations and time zones.
– Offer call-back options: By offering your customers the option to have a callback instead of waiting on hold, you can enhance their experience and reduce abandonment rates. No sitting around waiting for you to answer and putting their day on hold.
– Interactive voice response: Using a good interactive voice response system to give customers some self-service options allows them to resolve some issues without waiting for an agent to answer.
Final thoughts
There are several different KPIs you can use to track your call center performance, and the ones we have listed here are our top picks. KPIs can help you to monitor what’s going on, why certain trends are forming, and find appropriate solutions to address any issues.
Frequently asked questions
How often should KPIs be reviewed in a call center?
Your chosen KPIs should be reviewed regularly to ensure that the call center is operating at peak efficiency and you can give plenty of feedback. The frequency of review can vary based on the organization’s specific metrics and goals, but it typically ranges from daily to monthly assessments.
What challenges might center managers face when tracking KPIs?
Managers might face challenges such as choosing the wrong metrics to track. The key to overcoming these challenges is to communicate with their team, so they can contextualize these KPIs with more qualitative feedback.
Originally published Aug 21, 2024, updated Aug 27, 2024
