We’ve all been the unfortunate recipients of a bad customer experience. The distaste resulting from a poor customer service can last for years, and can severely alter the buying habits of consumers. Call center managers are all too aware of these instances, and strive day in and day out to mold their agents into outstanding customer service providers.
The benefits of a highly satisfied customer are considerable. Recent consumer research and plenty of case studies have shown that poor customer service drives away business, while good customer service spurs greater spending and return visits. What, then, can call center managers look to assess performance and make positive change?
The first call resolution rate, or FCR, is the percentage of all calls resolved upon first contact. The greater number of times a customer has to call a call center before their situation is resolved, the lower the FCR. Ideally, this number should be 100 percent. Of course, this likely isn’t the case in most call centers, and improvement in this percentage can indicate better agent performance. The closer this number is to 100 percent, the more time agents have to address other customers waiting in line, and the greater the likelihood a satisfied customer will agree to an up-sell or make an additional purchase.
3rd party remote call monitoring software, like that offered by BPA, is a particularly effective tool for raising this percentage. Data gathered from remote call monitoring can directly lead to actionable insights regarding customer behavior and agent performance, which will help increase your call center’s first call resolution rate. Accurate scoring and feedback allows call center managers and their agents to identify problem areas and make the necessary improvements to create a better customer experience.
BPA’s experience and research for over twenty years have enabled BPA to become specialists in analyzing metrics like FCR and more. With 3rd part remote call monitoring, what previously seemed like subjective, vacuous feedback becomes objective and actionable, and this feedback is easily communicated by supervisors to their agents. Thus, agents have greater confidence in the feedback and know exactly how to improve.
More informed and better prepared agents lead to happier customers, which, as we have discussed, leads to better business.
Edited by Ashley Caputo