What are call center key performance indicators?
Every industry’s performance is measured using KPIs or Key Performance Indicators. KPIs may vary across different industries depending on the nature of the business-specific operations, and the financial and strategic goals of industries.
Like in the Retail industry, major KPIs are Sales Revenue, Transaction Value, Gross Profit margin, etc.
Similarly for the Banking Sector major ROA (Return of Assets), Operational efficiency ratio, etc.
Likewise Call Center industry which is a customer-driven industry has some Key performance indicators that indicate the performance of a Call Center,
In today’s blog, we will discuss “call center key performance indicators”. Before diving deep into the Call Center KPIs, let’s first define what KPI means.
What are Key Performance Indicators?
Key performance Indicators are important measurements that help industries/ organizations measure the progress of business and how well they are doing in reaching their metrics targets.
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In short, KPIs can be defined as :
” Critical metrics used to evaluate the performance and success of an organization or industry in achieving its strategic and operational goals.”
Call Center Key Performance Indicators?
As mentioned above KPIs are critical metrics used to gauge performance. A call center’s performance is measured using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as average handle time, first call resolution, customer satisfaction, and call abandonment rate.
Although there are no certain KPIs in a call center, it primarily depends on the process and outsourcing handled by the call center. Nevertheless, in this blog, I have outlier 5 significant KPIs that are used in Inbound as well as outbound processes.
1. AHT ( Average Handle Time) :
AHT is one of the major KPIs used both in Inbound and Outbound Call Centers. AHT metrics are the measure of how much time a call center rep has taken to handle the call or chat from start to end. AHT includes Talk time, hold time and wrap time.
Generally, in the inbound process, the target for Average Handle Time (AHT) is lower, while in the outbound process, the target for AHT is higher.
AHT as a KPI significantly impacts other metrics such as CSAT, Resolution Rate, etc. Shorter AHT can lead to quicker resolutions and reduced wait times, enhancing customer experience. However, if the AHT is excessively low then that raises questions as it can lead to poor quality or intentional call disconnection by call center reps.
Read more about Average Handling Time in the Call Center
2. CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) :
Customer Satisfaction is one of the primary KPIs in the Call Center. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) is often used in all customer-focused industries like FMCG, Hospitality, retail, etc.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) directly affects a call center’s performance and success. High CSAT scores indicate a customer is happy with the services, leading to increased loyalty and retention. Low CSAT scores could be due to abysmal product experience, poor call center experience, etc.
NPS is another important metric that’s sometimes interchangeably used with CSAT, but both metrics are different.
Read the detailed article Difference between CSAT and NPS.
3. FCR (First Call Resolution) :
First Call Resolution is another important KPI in Call Centers. FCR metric is basically to measure whether the customer; ‘s issue was resolved on the first call or not. Generally, most call centers focus on 7d FCR, which means if the customer calls back in 7 days for the same issue it will be counted as failed FCR.
First Call Resolution (FCR) significantly impacts call center performance by resolving issues on the first call, improving customer satisfaction, reducing repeat calls, and overall efficiency
Read the full article: How to improve FCR
4. Quality Score :
The quality Score of a call center also indicates the Call Center’s performance. Though, Quality Scores can be categorized under KRAs but when we talk about KPIs QC scores play a major role in defining call center performance.
Call /Chat Quality in the Call Center is a measure of how well call center reps handle customer interactions to ensure call quality, issue resolution, and intact customer service.
Quality scores impact call center performance by highlighting the areas of improvement in a call /chat, emphasizing training needs, and ensuring consistent, high-quality service across all customer interactions.
5. Occupancy :
Occupancy KPI is directly related to agent efficiency and productivity. Occupancy rate is a measure of ” how much and call center rep was occupied during the shift, or a specific slot.
Often call center occupancy rate is puzzled with the utilization rate, however, both KPIs are different. We will talk about the difference in both metrics in our next blog but to understand the impact of Occupacny on Call Center performance
There should be a good balance in the occupancy rate in a call center. A high occupancy rate means agents are busy mostly, but can lead to burnout and fatigue on the other hand a low occupancy rate means agents are not productive and underutilized.
The idle Occupancy rate for a call center varies from 75% – 85%, depending on the call center-specific process.
Read more about: What is the Occupancy rate in the Call Center?
In addition to above discussed 5 major call center key performance indicators some other important KPIs are below :
- Abandoned Rate
- Call Answer Rate
- Service Level
- Net promotor Score
- Transfer rate
Let’s answer some FAQs on What are call center key performance indicators?
FAQs:
Q1 . What are the 5 key performance indicators for customer service?
A1 . 5 primary KPIs for customer service
- CSAT
- NPS
- AHT
- FCR
- Resolution Rate
Q2 .What is the KPI dashboard for the call center?
A2 . The KPI dashboard is a one-view report which summarizes the call center performance via different Key Performance Indicators
Q3 . What are the KPI and KRA in BPO?
A3. KPIs in BPO are key performance metrics that show the call center performance however KRAs or Key responsibility areas are set of goals to accomplish a specific job
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I hope this article on ” Call center key performance indicators ?” has cleared all your doubts related to Call Center KPIs.
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