January 1999

Redefining Call Center Metrics - The Quality Connection

BY SHARNA KAHN, KPMG CONSULTING

Now that call centers are viewed as potential profit centers, how does a company develop a set of metrics to determine how well it is meeting customers' quality expectations? Historically, the focus on metrics has been on the productivity and efficiency of the agent's call handling efficiency, rather than on the quality of service provided. The new thinking is that the quality of the call is equally as important as quantity, if not more so. Qualitative metrics reach out across the entire call center organization - impacting personnel, business processes and technology. Qualitative metrics can also dictate how departments in the enterprise will respond to and support the call center's mission for quality service which, through improved customer retention, ultimately plays a crucial role in the overall health of the enterprise.

Why Quality Matters
A company in the health care industry was suffering from poor customer satisfaction ratings, although the average speed of answer (ASA) and average handle time (AHT) across the call center was acceptable. What was curious was that at peak call times, the quantitative metrics improved. They asked KPMG for assistance in understanding why customers, polled through surveys, were not satisfied.

A thorough call center assessment pointed to several problems. First, the agents were in small queues that served only one product group out of about 25. Second, the agents were measured against, and compensated for, the number of calls they "closed" (on average) within each hour they were available on the ACD. Third, the agents relied on a slow, inadequate system for the retrieval of information related to the product group they supported.

As a result, the customers encountered agents with limited product knowledge, which prevented the closure of complex calls. The agents even transferred simple calls to "close" them if information was not quickly available on the system, and they regularly did not take ownership of a particularly messy call (especially if it required another department's intervention for approval or resolution) because it would impact their AHT. They also came up with their own solution for the customer when the system was slow to respond or didn't provide the information needed. It was obvious, among other problems, the current metrics were not driving the right actions for a quality customer experience.

Customers, Do You Know Them?
Your company can avoid this scenario by taking the time to understand your customers and identifying the satisfying interactions they have with your organization. The data become the basis for establishing metrics that drive the satisfying (quality) interactions.

The call center industry is abuzz with such jargon as "customer relationship," "customer life-cycle planning" and "customer value chain." These methodologies basically require extensive knowledge of the customer, such as their preferences and habits in doing business with you (such as how they want to access your organization, i.e., phone or Internet) as well as their current profitability and future value to your organization. Many new agent desktop tools, along with a knowledge base and data warehousing, are setting the standard for how call centers will interact with, collect data on and subsequently develop a customer relationship. Yet many centers, some of which use these new tools, still pulse to the beat of the ACD statistics - the quantitative numbers.

Customers have come to expect more for service and service satisfaction, regardless of the industry in which your organization competes. Your customers' experience with other companies that deliver exceptional customer service has trained them to expect much more from you than ASA, AHT and OCR (one call resolution).

The following measurements are but a few to consider for raising the bar on your customers' quality experience.

Measurements To Consider:

Questions To Ask:

1. How quickly can the customer reach the right person?
2. How many holds or transfers did it take to get there? (Hopefully only one at most.)
3. How knowledgeable was the agent about the customer request?
4. How long did it take the agent to access the information needed to satisfy the customer's request?
5. How knowledgeable was the agent of the customer's preferences and interests?
6. How many times did the customer call back to resolve the same issue?
7. What percentage of total requests require escalation to be resolved? Is there a dollar figure or policy that limits the ability of the agent to resolve the problem?
8. What is the level of professionalism with your agents' telephone etiquette?
9. Was the customer satisfied with the resolution?

Value to customer if expectations are met:

1. Customer's time is respected, feels ease of doing business with company,
2. Customer did not get the 'run around,' ease of doing business,
3. Customer feels valued if the request is understood and resolved,
4. Customer's time is respected, ease of doing business,
5. Customer feels valued, can be successfully cross-sold on items of relevance,
6. Customer's time is respected, Feels that vendor stands behind their commitments,
7. Customer feels valued as agent can approve most requests,
8. Customer feels valued, in control of the outcome and respected,
9. Customer feels valued, treated fairly, got more than they deserved.

If customer expectations are not met it points to a need for/problem with:

1. Intelligent call routing (ICR, skills-based routing (SBR),
2. ICR, SBR, staffing model,
3. Call history, database tools, agent training,
4. Agent training, system response issues,
5. Call history, database tools,
6. Fulfillment, inconsistent agent responses (training),
7. Process, policies, old culture,
8. Training, skill profile,
9. Training, policies.

Conclusion
It is well-known that the cost of acquiring new customers is much greater than customer retention -losing high life-time value customers greatly increases cost to the company.

When determining metrics to measure the quality of service your organization provides, as well as the nature of the customer's experience, consider the following questions:

• Is ASA reflecting the customer's experience in a quick connection to the right agent?
• Do your customers see your organization as easy to do business with? I'm not suggesting that the customer always get what they want, particularly if the request is unreasonable. The point does address such issues as: how many phone numbers is your customer burdened with remembering to reach someone who can help; do they need to memorize several account numbers to gain access to their information; and do they have to retell their story every time they call?
• Is your agent not only a single point of contact, but an effective point of contact as well?
• Do your customers specifically ask for one of your agents? Do you know why?
• Have you polled your customers immediately after the completion of a service call to get their response to what they just experienced? What have they said? Is there a trend or pattern?
• Does the customer's perception and the agent's (i.e., management's or the company's) perception of service quality agree? If not, then why not and specifically where?

In answering these questions, you can begin to determine what measurements would be most meaningful to your organization to drive quality. And from these measurements, a set of metrics can be developed against which the organization can strive; if these goals are met, the company can rest assured they're approaching the optimal quality for the customers' experience.

Sharna F. Kahn is a senior project manager and business analyst at KPMG Consulting. Ms. Kahn applies her insight to a wide range of customer management challenges, which include improving her clients' call center operational efficiency and effectiveness, as well as creating and implementing strategies for customer service departments.