Which call center KPIs are necessary to help you understand how your business is performing and how satisfied your customers are? The following is a list of 12 important call center metrics to consider.
Call Center Standard KPIs: Important Metrics to Track
Call center KPIs or key performance indicators are metrics to help you measure how well your business is doing and what areas need improvement. KPIs are business-specific. Therefore, it is important to select them wisely by considering the strategic interests of your business. There are four basic areas to consider:
- Affordability and sustainability of the call center
- Maximizing your customers’ experience
- Improved business outcomes
- Efficient use of your human resources
The following is a list of call center KPIs to consider for your contact center. Identify the right KPIs for your business and strive towards a better success rate.
1. Average Time in the Queue
This call center KPI represents the total time callers wait to speak to an agent divided by the total number of calls. Reducing wait times should be every business’ top priority. Customer frustration increases with increasing queue time. Additionally, this gives the impression that your business has poor customer service. And unhappy customers won’t hesitate to find a business that can cater to them faster.
2. Service Level or Response Time
Service level is the percentage of calls answered within a specified period. More specifically, it is the number of calls attended to within a specified number of seconds. Call center managers often set a service level goal such as 90/30 (i.e., 90% of the calls are answered within 30 seconds). Some consider service level one of the most important call center KPIs since it is closely related to customer service.
3. Percentage of Calls Blocked
As the name suggests, this is the percentage of incoming calls that are blocked. Or in other words, calls not connected to an agent. Either the agents were busy or the call center software could not handle the call volume. Blocked calls lead to customer dissatisfaction and possible loss of future business.
4. Average Speed of Answer
This metric measures the amount of time taken to answer a call during a certain time frame. This includes the sum of time in the queue and time spent waiting for the agent to answer their call. It does not, however, consider the time the caller spends interacting with the business’ IVR. This metric helps measure the efficiency and accessibility of the call center team.
5. Average Handle Time
This is one of the most commonly measured call center KPIs. The average handle time is calculated by adding the agents’ talk and hold time to their post-call work time and then dividing this sum by the number of calls handled by the agent. Managers trying to reduce the average handle time must be careful in their approach as customer satisfaction could be affected. There are several steps to improve the average handle time:
- Thorough training and coaching of agents
- Continuous monitoring of agents’ performance
- Recording of calls
- Streamlining agent workflow and processes
- Optimizing call routing
- Using a detailed and useful knowledge base
- Utilizing an internal communication system
- Ensuring customer information is current
6. First Call Resolution
First call resolution occurs when a customer’s query is satisfied during their initial call, and follow-up is not necessary. Research suggests that this metric has a greater positive impact on customer satisfaction than any other KPI.
7. Average Abandonment Rate
The call abandonment rate is a measure of the number of times customers hang-up or abandon calls before reaching an agent. Long wait times, confusing IVR systems, jarring hold music, etc., can lead to a high call abandonment rate. Customers gravitate to companies that are easy to reach in a timely fashion.
8. Average After Call Work Time
After a call is completed, agents complete tasks such as sending out confirmation emails, updating databases and CRMs, and contacting call center teammates. This time spent after a call is referred to as average after call work time. Oftentimes, this can take up a lot of an agent’s time and managers are constantly trying to find ways to reduce this time. Easy-to-use and efficient CRMs where all these activities can be completed through one platform can help reduce the time spent on completing these activities.
9. Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction rates or a CSAT score is one of the most important call center KPIs. These scores are important to measure as they can give you insight into how customers are interacting with or enjoying your service. Good customer satisfaction rates mean that your employees are doing a good job, leaving customers happy and satisfied. Companies can measure customer satisfaction or CSAT scores through customer surveys (email, phone, in-app).
10. Occupancy Rate
Occupancy rate measures the total time agents are on calls or completing other work-related tasks divided by the total work time. In other words, this metric measures how long an agent is occupied with work. Optimizing occupancy rates is one of the top goals of any call center manager. However, this can lead to heavy workloads and overburdened employees.
11. Agent Absenteeism
Agent absenteeism is, as the name suggests, the percent of days an agent is absent from work over the total number of contracted days. This KPI can provide insights when budgeting or planning ways to optimize agent work. Human resource personnel routinely track the days lost from work for all call center employees. Effective call center operations minimize absenteeism.
12. Agent Turnover Rate
This is another important call center KPI to pay attention to. The agent turnover rate is the percentage of agents that quit their employment. This can be due to a range of factors: monotonous work, no rewards or incentives, excessive workload, and so on. Keeping employees and agents happy can lead to better CSAT scores and improve sales or profits.
Which of These Call Center KPIs Does Your Business Need?
Global call center metrics can help you determine how satisfied your customers and employees are as well as how efficient your business is. Now based on your business and its requirements, identify which of these call center KPIs do you need to track. Once you make a list of necessary KPIs to measure, start tracking through helpful software, and watch your business improve!
