Your call center was designed to be a pinnacle of efficiency, satisfying the highest number of customers in the least amount of time. To do this effectively, there are a number of key performance indicators your call center should be collecting to determine what needs improvement. But not all KPI’s are created equal, some are much more telling than they might appear at first glance, still others may seem important at the surface level but don’t offer much past face value. So which 3 KPIs are most essential to track to for success in your call center?
1) Abandonment
Possibly the most important KPI to track is abandonment rate, which tracks the percentage of calls that are being disconnected before being answered. Obviously, every call center is different, and volume, complexity of the calls, and the number of agents all need to be taken into consideration when determining how quickly an agent should answer a call. However, abandonment rate is still the most effective KPI you have to track overall satisfaction before an interaction even takes place.
Abandonment is also one of the most valuable KPIs for determining where your staff levels, acceptable call times, and hours of operation need to be. Your agents could all be answering hitting the time frame they’ve asked to complete calls in, but if you have 90 percent abandonment rate, then it’s probably time to hire more agents.
2) Workforce Levels
KPIs always have a human element to them, and considering how important your staff levels are to the smooth operation of your call center, the next most important KPIs are those dealing with staff optimization. The first, adherence, tracks how closely your agents are sticking to their schedules, and how much time on the phone they actually log while they’re on the clock. Deviations in adherence happen when your agents are late, when they take an extra 15 minutes on break or when it takes them additional time to rectify a call after its been disconnected. Making sure that your agents are adhering as closely to their schedule times and breaks ensures you’ll always have the available staff to handle call fluctuations.
The second, and the yin to adherences’ yang, is shrinkage, an equally important KPI for determining staff levels. Shrinkage is the amount of time that your agents are at their desk but don’t have a call to occupy their attention.
Considering that staffing is the largest expenditure in the call center, tracking that your agents are on the phone when they should be or working on other projects when there’s low call volume ensures the most bang for your buck.
3) Service Quality
The final KPI you should be tracking is more abstract than the others but is nonetheless important; it’s the overall quality of agent’s customer service. For this, you’ll need not only equipment that will allow you to listen in and record agent interactions, but a detailed list of the points you want your agent to hit on his or her call. Whether it’s nailing the greeting, using the customer’s full name, verifying information or keeping a polite tone throughout the call when you have a list of ideals you hold all calls will help guide training and give agents a goal to shoot for. Plus, because of a psychological principle called the Hawthorn Effect, the agents are proven to work more effectively when they believe they’re being monitored.
Monitoring KPI’s is something you probably already do in your call center, but if you’re focusing on items like call length and volume handled while ignoring theses three items, there’s a lot for you to expand on. Put these three in the mix and you’ll more effectively understand your staffing levels needs and have ammunition to back up your next agent training session.
Chris DiMarco is a Managing Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page. Follow him on Twitter (News - Alert) @cpdimarco.
Edited by Rich Steeves