Have you heard the quote “What gets measured gets done.”? We like this quote here at Select Call as it highlights the importance of tracking and reporting in an effort to constantly improve.
In our experience, measuring specific key performance indicators (KPIs) helps to keep a business focused on the true goals, and avoid learning some important lessons the hard way. Understanding your customer service outcomes could be just the thing you need to thrive in business. Of course, not all metrics are created equal. If it’s your customer service offering that you’d like to understand better (and we recommend that you do) there are some KPI’s you should definitely be focusing on.
Measurement of the following metrics will give you the insight you need to make important decisions:
- Call Volume – if call volumes are on the rise, does this mean that your available information (online, brochures, etc.) is out of date or confusing? Or does it mean that more and more people are looking to hire you? Of course, this is different for each business. Either way, understanding what an increase in calls means is an important piece of the product or service puzzle.
- Peak Call Volume Times – understanding peak call times (daily, seasonally, etc.) will help you plan for additional staffing or support.
- Handle Time – Is your average handle time what you expected? If you notice handle times trending upward perhaps you need to provide more training or support materials. If it’s trending downwards, understand why and either look for ways to continue on the trend, or to again, train staff if the calls are handled a little TOO quickly.
- First Response Time – understanding this metric means understanding how long your customer waits for their very first response. How many rings if they called in? How many hours if they emailed? What is reasonable, and what will send your customers elsewhere?
- Reply Time – similar to first response time, but captures the time between subsequent replies. If the issue could not be resolved on the first contact, how long is your customer waiting for responses and updates?
- Call Resolutions – Are all of your calls resolved, and keeping your heard earned customer in business with you, or have they canceled services and are looking to your competitors? Understanding your resolution rate will help you understand customer retention, among other things.
- First Contact Resolution – resolving an issue on the first contact. This would be ideal, for both your business and your customer.
- Customer Satisfaction – remember to survey your customers every time they call. Their personal feedback is the best thing you can get to help you improve further.
Start with these 8 Customer Service Metrics, and grow from there. The more you understand, the more you will want to understand as you’ll see that there are many benefits to measurement and analytics. Happy data collecting! 😉
