If you're looking for performance metrics and KPIs for your call center, you've come to the right place. This article will share the ultimate list of call center performance metrics and KPIs.
From first-call resolution rates to customer satisfaction scores, we'll cover all the metrics you need to track to ensure your call center runs efficiently and effectively.
So, whether you're a call center manager or an insurance provider looking to improve your internal customer service, read on for the most critical call center performance metrics and KPIs.
Table of Contents
- What Does a Call Center Do?
- Defining Performance Metrics and KPIs for a Call Center
- The Difference Between the Performance Metrics and KPIs for Call Centers
- Important Performance Metrics and KPIs for a Call Center
- How To Improve These Numbers Call Center Performance Metrics & KPIs
- Five Call Center Performance & KPI Trends To Look Out for in 2023
- Call Center Performance Metrics – Key Takeaways
What Does a Call Center Do?
A call center is a centralized office where agents work to support customers or clients by telephone. Typical responsibilities of call center agents include handling customer inquiries, providing customer service, and selling products or services.
Many call centers also handle sales and support for businesses through the telephone. Here’s a brief look at different types of call centers:
- Small to large call centers tasked with incoming customer calls, managing customer inquiries, and logging requests.
- Technical support for specific products or services, processing orders, or providing billing information.
- Specialized call centers that focus on sales, marketing, or collecting payments.
- Virtual call centers or outsourced solutions where customer interactions are handled via email, chat, messaging apps, social media platforms, and other digital channels.
No matter what type of call center is used, all organizations should strive for high-quality customer interactions that inspire loyalty and generate positive brand sentiment.
This means focusing on metrics such as first-call resolution rates (FCR), average handle times (AHT), speed-to-answer (STA) times, customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), Net Promoter Score® (NPS®), Customer Effort Score (CES), deflection rate and quality assurance scores.
All these metrics provide valuable insight into how well your organization is meeting customer demands and expectations while delivering a positive experience.
Defining Performance Metrics and KPIs for a Call Center
Performance metrics and KPIs are important in call centers to make sure that customer service standards are being met.
Call center performance metrics provide call centers with a way to track, analyze and report on how successfully their teams are performing. These metrics represent call center goals that can be captured, such as average call handle time, call abandonment rates and customer satisfaction.
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator which is a metric used to measure the success of a call center's performance. KPIs often overlap with performance metrics, but they focus on more qualitative factors like operational efficiency and user experience.
Together, these key indicators give call centers the reporting needed to ensure maximum output and customer satisfaction.
The Difference Between the Performance Metrics and KPIs for Call Centers
Working at call centers can often seem like a minefield of metrics and KPIs - but what exactly is the difference between call center performance metrics and call center KPIs?
To put it simply, call center performance metrics are tracking mechanisms used to measure call center output, such as call duration or call waiting times.
Call center KPIs, meanwhile, provide broader insights such as customer satisfaction, agent efficiency, and employee turnover rate.
When these two elements come together, call centers have the full picture when it comes to truly understanding their performance.
Moreover, it’s interesting to note that customer satisfaction (CSAT) remains the most important KPI for almost 75% of customer service leaders. However, almost 50% are now also responsible for customer experience and ensuring customer success, which is an increase of more than 10% from last year.
Now that you understand the key difference between call center performance metrics and call center KPIs, you can start incorporating them into your strategies for optimal results.
Important Performance Metrics and KPIs for a Call Center
It's important to have metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) in place to track call center agent performance and call center reporting.
Examples of call center metrics that could be tracked include call time, call abandonment rate, customer satisfaction rating, call volume, first call resolution rate, and conversion rate.
Having metrics like these will help measure how efficiently the call center is running, how quickly issues can be solved effectively, and how high the quality of customer service can be maintained.
Ultimately, being able to monitor these metrics will help improve call center performance over time and ensure customers receive stellar service.
Now that you understand what performance metrics and KPIs are, it’s important to know which ones are most relevant for your call center. Below are five key performance metrics and KPIs that every call center should track:
- Average Call Length
- Abandoned Calls
- Quality Scores
- First Contact Resolution Rates
- Sales Conversion Rates
1. Average Call Length
Tracking the average call length allows you to see if agents are spending too much or too little time on each call. You can use this information to adjust training programs or set targets for how long each call should last.
2. Abandoned Calls
An abandoned call is when a caller hangs up before they have a chance to speak with an agent. This metric measures how many potential customers you’re losing due to poor customer service or long wait times.
To reduce abandoned calls, make sure your agents are adequately trained and equipped with the resources they need to handle customer inquiries efficiently.
3. Quality Scores
Quality scores measure how satisfied customers are with the service they received from your agents.
This score can be based on factors such as whether the caller was able to resolve their issue on their first try or if they felt listened to by the agent.
Improving quality scores often requires changes in the process rather than just changes in individual agent behavior so it’s important to analyze this metric regularly alongside others like abandonment rates and average handle time.
4. First Contact Resolution Rates
First contact resolution (FCR) rates tell you how many issues were resolved during the first interaction with an agent.
FCR is an important metric because it indicates how well your team is equipped to deal with customer problems without having to transfer them elsewhere.
If you find that a lot of customers need multiple interactions before their problem is solved, then work on improving your training program so agents are better equipped to address common issues right away.
5. Sales Conversion Rates
Sales conversion rates measure how successful your agents are at converting leads into paying customers.
This rate can be calculated by dividing the total number of sales by the total number of leads generated over a given period.
Keep in mind that not all leads will result in a sale, but tracking this metric will give you a good idea about which lead sources are more likely to generate paying customers.)
By keeping an eye on these five key performance metrics/KPIs, you can identify areas where your team needs improvement and take steps towards increasing productivity and efficiency in your call center.)
How To Improve These Numbers Call Center Performance Metrics & KPIs
Now that you understand the importance of performance metrics and KPIs, it’s important to know how to improve them. Below are five tips for improving your call center performance:
- Use Technology to Your Advantage
- Train Agents Effectively
- Evaluate Agent Performance Regularly
- Set Goals and Targets
- Streamline Processes
1. Use Technology to Your Advantage
Utilize technology to help agents manage their time more effectively.
For example, use call recording software to review calls and identify areas where agents could be spending less time on the phone or using chatbots to handle customer inquiries that don’t require a human agent.
2. Train Agents Effectively
Make sure your agents are adequately trained so they can resolve customer issues during the first interaction. This will help reduce the number of abandoned calls and increase customer satisfaction rates.
3. Evaluate Agent Performance Regularly
Use data collected from performance metrics and KPIs to evaluate agent performance regularly and identify improvement areas.
4. Set Goals and Targets
Setting goals and targets for key performance indicators helps keep your team accountable and motivated to achieve results.
5. Streamline Processes
Streamlining processes makes it easier for agents to do their jobs, which leads to improved efficiency in the call center.
Five Call Center Performance & KPI Trends To Look Out for in 2023
In the coming years, call center performance and KPIs will continue to be increasingly important for businesses. As technology advances, customer service expectations and demands are becoming more complex and nuanced.
Therefore, monitoring call center KPIs is essential to ensure that customer service agents are delivering the highest level of satisfaction possible.
Let’s take a closer look at five of the top immerging call center performance rates and KPI trends for 2023:
- AI-Powered Chatbots
- An Increased Emphasis on First Contact Resolution (FCR) Rates
- Analytics Tools for Predictive Modelling
- Virtual Reality Training Simulations
- Automation Of Call Center Processes
AI-Powered Chatbots
AI-powered Chatbots have been available for some time now, but advancements in artificial intelligence technology have enabled them to become even more adept at understanding customer inquiries, providing accurate answers, and even suggesting relevant products or services.
This allows customer service agents to focus on more complex queries while Bots handle the simpler ones.
A 2022 study from NewVantage found that 91% of big corporations are looking to increase their investments in big data analytics and AI. Noting that analytics could dramatically improve call centres' customer care.
This could be because almost 80% of consumers from a recent Replicant survey said they would rather speak to a machine to avoid long hold times.
Additionally, 57% of those consumers would instead opt to speak with a conversational machine, even if the wait time to speak to a human was only five minutes.
An Increased Emphasis on First Contact Resolution (FCR) Rates
FCR rates measure how many issues were resolved during the first interaction with an agent and can help companies better understand their customers’ needs and expectations.
Companies should strive for a high FCR rate as it indicates that customers’ problems were handled quickly, efficiently, and with minimal hassle.
Analytics Tools for Predictive Modelling
The use of analytics tools for predictive modeling is also expected to rise in 2023.
Predictive modeling allows companies to anticipate customer inquiries by analyzing past interactions between customers and agents as well as data from other sources such as surveys or social media accounts.
This helps businesses better understand their customers’ motivations and needs so they can tailor their services accordingly.
Virtual Reality Training Simulations
As customers become increasingly tech-savvy, companies must also ensure that their agent training programs keep pace with these changing preferences.
Investing in modern training techniques such as virtual reality simulations or interactive learning modules can help agents stay up-to-date on the latest technologies related to customer service so they can provide the best possible experience for their clients.
Automation Of Call Center Processes
Finally, the automation of call center processes is expected to be another significant trend in 2023.
Automation allows companies to streamline mundane tasks such as data entry or billing so that customer service agents can focus on more complex tasks such as providing solutions for customer problems or upselling products or services.
Automated systems also make it easier for agents to access relevant information quickly which helps reduce wait times and increase overall efficiency levels within a call center environment.
These five trends are set to shape call center performance & KPIs over the next few years, ensuring that customer service remains a top priority for businesses across all industries.
By leveraging AI-powered chatbots, focusing on FCR rates, using predictive modeling tools, investing in modern agent training methods, and automating processes, companies can ensure they remain competitive by providing exceptional levels of customer service into 2023 and beyond!
Call Center Performance Metrics – Key Takeaways
These are just a few examples of how businesses have been able to leverage technology and automation to increase their performance metrics/KPIs in a meaningful way.
While every case will differ depending on each business's goals and objectives, there are certainly some common themes running between them all – namely, utilizing technology appropriately, streamlining processes wherever possible, evaluating agent performance regularly, and setting clear goals & targets for key performance indicators (KPIs).
By learning from these examples and applying similar strategies at your own company, you too can see marked improvements in your performance metrics/KPIs over time.
