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How many calls it requires to resolve a customer issue is a key metric for customer satisfaction and loyalty. The most recent Call Center Satisfaction Index found that sixty-five percent of customers say that their issue was resolved on the first call.

Is that good or bad? Put it this way: This means that 35 percent of customers had to call multiple times to get their question answered. If the customer has to call back, it hurts a company in two ways, the study’s authors found – the cost of fielding the subsequent calls and the revenue lost because the customer is less loyal and less likely to spend more with your company.

The study found that customers whose issues were resolved on the first call reported a customer satisfaction index score of 85 percent. If they were required to make a second call, that went down to 72 percent. Three or more calls? It dropped further to 60 percent.

And for the “My inquiry still has not been resolved” category, as you might expect, it’s somewhere around the temperature that water freezes. As do any chances for the company gaining customer loyalty.

The study found that The overall Customer Service Process score is up a full 4 points, from 74 in 2009 to 78 in 2010. Significant jumps in the convenience of the hours (+5 points) and in the time to reach a representative (+5 points) drives this increase.

Despite the improvement versus 2009, time to reach a representative can be improved even more. Consistency of information from agent to agent also receives lower marks.

Twenty-two percent of customers had to speak with more than one agent to resolve their issue, the study found, down from 24 percent in 2009. While call centers are doing a better job with those customers who are transferred, the score is 12 points lower than for customers who speak to only one CSR (News - Alert).