KPI monitoring and tracking is integral to any contact centre’s performance. In an environment of high-volume tasks and multiple targets, tangible measurement of outcomes helps to track short-term goals and map long-term objectives.
It also helps to understand periodic variance in contact centre performance. For example, Talkdesk’s 2020 report found that between H1 2019 and H1 2020, the average contact centre service level decreased by nearly 1% due to the pandemic. Along with these bird’s eye view indices, you also need to keep an eye on individual call outcomes and how they are impacting agent performance and the overall CX in your service organisation.
Some of the essential metrics that indicate call outcomes are:
- Net first call resolution – First call resolution or FCR captures how many customer queries are resolved at the very first conversation. By calculating net FCR you eliminate those conversations that were impossible to resolve at first call and customers that are calling more than once with a different query
- Post-call NPS survey – Net promoter score or NPS asks a customer how likely they are to recommend your organisation based on their most recent conversations. It captures the agent’s efficacy in engaging with the customer and fulfilling their requests in a manner that drives sustained loyalty
- Call abandonment rate – While the first two metrics are indicative of per call performance, abandonment tells you how well the overall inbound team is performing. If you have a rise in abandonment rates (e.g., average abandonment rate increased by 4 percentage points between 2019 and 2020), it means that your overall call outcomes are dipping
- Cross-selling/upselling success – This is among the most telling indicators of call outcomes – was the agent able to convert an unbound query into a revenue opportunity? Cross-selling/upselling deal wins calculated as a percentage of the total number of potential opportunities is an important metric to measure
- Pay to promise – This metrics is particularly relevant for outbound contact centres, which often engage in debt collection and payment follow-ups. If the outbound agent’s purpose is to extract a due payment, this metric tells you how many commitments to pay they were able to get
- Call transfer rate – Closely linked with FCR, the transfer rate tells you how many conversations could not be closed at the first interaction and had to be moved up the ladder. A high transfer rate suggests that your first-level agents may require additional training, and initial call outcomes may be bringing down the overall customer experience
These metrics look at call outcomes from a customer-centric point of view, looking to deliver the best possible CX and derive the highest possible returns for the contact centre. However, it is also necessary to capture agent-facing metrics, including the impact of calls on the agent experience, performance, stress levels, and job satisfaction. You can conduct a short self-assessment survey after every call, gathering agent feedback on call outcomes and any potential room for improvement.
