We dwell in an information-intensive environment, which makes it difficult at times to break through the clutter of data and get to what is essential. The most profitable contact centres have sifted through the extraneous facts and numbers – which we won't call information because it doesn't always really inform – to get to the crux of what should be measured to indicate success and continuously enhance the customer experience.

It's a balancing act. Basing a whole strategy on the number of calls dealt per hour or average call time will inevitably degrade contact quality, but performance metrics that aren't balanced numerical and efficiency measurements can harm the customer experience – and the cost of the call centre.

To provide unparalleled customer service, you must first understand your call centre performance metrics, correlate them to the average outcomes of your competitors, and work on improving these metrics. Here's why call centre measurements and standards are so essential for your organisation.

The call center is a crucial, yet operationally challenging, component of your company. Call centre agents must be both efficient and empathic for it to work correctly and serve its objective.

But how can you ensure that you're tracking the proper call centre metrics?

Keep an eye on industry trends and discover what metrics different call centres are pursuing. It is when benchmarking comes in handy. When comparing call center agent performance data:

• Establish whether your call centre metrics are in line with best practices and industry averages.
• What your agents' anticipated performance is in comparison to competitors?
• How to enhance call centre metrics in the long run?
  
  

Having the answers to all these questions allows you to make the required modifications to optimise your call centre metrics and differentiate yourself from the competition.

That is why call centre managers pay more attention to benchmarking, acquiring relevant information, and evaluating them to globally used call centre metrics - and also why you should as well.

Remember that every organisation is different, therefore the greatest benchmarks are indeed those that can help your call centre get closer to the objectives you've set for it.

To give you some ideas, the following popular metrics for improving call centre performance are listed below:

• Service level
• Average abandonment rate
• Average speed to answer
• First-call resolution rate
• Average call duration

So, let’s get started.

Service Level
The percentage of inbound calls that responded below a set goal level is referred to as the service level.
Service Level refers to a company's accessibility in the perspective of its consumers, as well as its capacity to estimate the number of incoming calls and adjust the number of agents accordingly.

That's an important call centre metric to monitor because it is directly related to customer service quality. It displays how soon your callers are linked to your representatives and how quickly their concerns are resolved.

To get to this metric's average data, managers must first declare a specific target for your call centre. This target reflects the highest limit of callers in the lineup before their call is answered during a specified period. For instance, the goal is to respond to 90% of incoming calls within 3 minutes.

Average Abandonment Rate
When determining the Average Abandonment Rate, you consider the number of callers who hang up before being routed to an agent. For instance, if your call centre gets on 1000 calls per day and 40 of them are dropped, then, at that point abandonment rate is 4%.

The Abandonment Rate is proportional to the rate at which call center agents respond to calls. In general, the faster calls are responded to, the lower the Abandonment Ratio. A high abandonment rate may result in lost company opportunities and bad customer service.

Average Speed to Answer
The average speed at which an agent responds to incoming calls is indicated in this. When calculating it, take into account the time taken from when the phone rang to when the agent answers, but not the time required for callers to browse the IVR menu or wait in line.

This metric is useful for evaluating a call centre's efficiency and accessibility to callers, and it contributes to the overall happiness of your present and prospective clients.

First Call Resolution
First Call Resolution is the proportion of all calls in which the caller's query was resolved on the first attempt, without the need for the call to be transferred to another agent or returned.

First Call Resolution indicates both the productivity of your call center personnel and client satisfaction. According to studies, 48 percent of customers prefer calling a company to address an issue, and there are a couple of good reasons for this.

When there is an urgent problem that has to be fixed, many consumers prefer to call and request assistance right away. Make sure that your call center personnel do everything possible to aid you.

Average Call Duration
This is the entire amount of time each agent spends on the phone with the caller, right from the moment they respond until the conversation is terminated. This time is calculated in mins and does not cover pre-call or post-call preparation.

So, the shorter your average response time, the better for your call center - assuming that the majority of calls are resolved. This saves time for both callers and employees while still providing clients with the answers they require.

Metrics pave the way to success
The metrics your center uses have a significant impact on the customer experience that cannot be overlooked. Of course, not every statistic can be customer-centric; there are also operational costs and business requirements to consider; nonetheless, focusing solely on productivity metrics and managing a contact center primarily as a cost center is simply no longer viable.

Emphasising and balancing the KPIs here will ensure that your firm maintains high levels of customer satisfaction and engagement while also allowing your center to be an efficient, high-performing, important business entity just as it is done in a call center in Kenya.

Also read: Want to get into ‘Call Center’ business? A step-wise guide

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