This is because they know that metrics provide a powerful way to set goals and track progress in meeting those goals. By eliminating the need for subjective intuition and sub-optimal guesswork, metrics support more robust decision-making. They also provide clarity into performance, create feedback channels, and improve accountability.
Moreover, industry standards for these metrics enable contact centers to objectively review how they stack up against the competition. Plus, they can have a positive impact on the contact center’s customer service capabilities as well as its profitability cisco callmanager.
So what are some of the key metrics every contact center must measure?
And what are the industry standards for these metrics?
#1: Service Level and Response Times
Traditionally, most contact centers aimed to follow the 80/20 Rule: answer 80% of calls in 20 seconds. But according to a 2019 Call Centre Helper Survey, many are now attempting to answer 90% of calls in 15 seconds.
A recent HubSpot study found that 90% of consumers rate an “immediate” response from customer service as important or very important. This particular expectation must provide the impetus for contact centers to improve their response times.
So what are the benchmarks for “ideal” response times? According to Call Centre Helper, these vary by channel:
Email – 100% answered within four hours, 80% within 15 minutes
Live Chat – 80% answered within 20 seconds
Social Media – Difficult to define, but responding to 100% of queries within 60 minutes is a good benchmark
SMS/Messaging Apps – 80% of messages responded to within 40 seconds
How to improve response times and surpass industry standards for different channels
Use a customer case management tool to automate common responses to emails. A social engagement tool can identify relevant, actionable social media posts, and move them into the case queue for easy follow-up and resolution. A self-service chatbot is a great way to speed up response times across live chat or SMS. In-context guidance and an integrated knowledgebase within the agent desktop enable them to find quick answers, which again shortens response times across these channels. Providing customers with a self-service portal reduces call volumes so customers that really require a human touch can reach an agent with little or no wait time.
To speed up response times across all channels, integrate agent desktops with your organization’s CRM. When agents have a single interface to access customer data and communicate with customers, they can speed up case resolution.
#2: Average Handling Time (AHT)
Average handle time (AHT) is the total duration of one customer transaction. It includes talk time, hold time and any follow-up tasks involved in the transaction.
A good AHT industry benchmark (average) provided by Call Centre Helper’s “Erlang Calculator”: 6 minutes, 3 seconds.
AHT can be a useful metric to evaluate agent efficiency. However, it can also be misleading because a shorter AHT (i.e. faster resolution) does not necessarily mean effective resolution. That’s why it’s important to not consider AHT in isolation but to also look at other metrics like FCR and CSAT.
How to improve AHT and surpass the industry standard
To make interactions shorter, find ways to shorten hold times, and to shave time from tasks involving information search, data entry, or case follow-ups. To do this, record and review calls to find gaps and pinpoint possible causes (e.g. inadequate training).
Create cheat sheets for popular call types or FAQs to provide agents with ready answers or useful guidance. An effective call center agent script can also help agents deliver fast and efficient service – streamlining the call-handling process and reducing AHT.
With a unified agent desktop, agents can quickly access relevant customer information and get a 360° view of the customer lifecycle so they can deliver prompt and effective service, and dramatically reduce AHT.
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