Contact centre metrics – are you measuring th the ri right th things? Paul Weald
The evolution of metrics They say ”you can’t manage what you can’t measure….” Since call centres were first invented, there has been a focus on efficiency measures, such as call duration, alongside effectiveness measures such as conversion rate and first- time fix The current perspective is broader – one that balances customer need, agent well-being and the wider organisational objectives.
Customer Experience Customer experience relates to the journey that a user takes from first awareness, through delivery of services, to becoming a repeat customer Increasingly this experience is multi- channel – contact online, telephone, written communication and social media For the contact centre this could mean some combination of Quality assessments, Mystery shopping, post- call surveys Customer advocacy measures such as NPS are now more widely used
Agent Experience It is a truism that achieving a high level of customer satisfaction relies on employees who are engaged and motivated to achieve this outcome So you need to measure the organisational culture, which is more than just an annual employee survey. It is a combination of: • Regular feedback – at least daily reporting on performance at an agent level • Having the right environment – where information is shared and the results are acted upon • Changing the mind set of staff to understand “what good looks like” from a customer perspective • Operational discipline – using workforce planning tools to manage resources e.g. tracking agent adherence
Stakeholder Experience The contact centre does not exist in a vacuum – you need to understand the costs and value that you provide to the organisation as a whole Consider all the factors that impact cost per contact: How well are the resources being used – throughout the day? Are the lowest-cost contact channels being exploited – particularly at peak times when wait times inevitably increase? Are root causes of customer contact understood – so that avoidable contact can be minimised?
The trouble with AHT…. It is a valid metric from a capacity management perspective – but not as an explicit agent measure Consider the following case study (from a global airline) with a focus on meeting customers needs: Continuous operational focus on reducing hold times – so that more customers get answered by right agent first time Linking the qualification for bonus payments to individual agent achievement of wrap targets Ensuring call routing delivers a higher proportion of service calls to primary skilled service agents Quality team focus each month on identifying conversation time spent on calls that was not adding value to customers
But it is possible to move the metric The outcome was a sustainable reduction of 100 seconds in AHT - circa 20% capacity release
Measuring digital effectiveness Example from a UK challenger bank Just because self-service functionality is available doesn’t means that customers will use it Drives an improvement programme promoting sign-up, raising awareness and providing real-time support Working with product team to prioritise service enhancements Continuous improvement to reduce sources of failure demand
For more information • Other resources are available at www.mcx.co.uk • Or you can find me via Linked in as the “Contact Centre Innovator”
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