Call Center Software

Best 30 Call Centre Metrics KPIs to Track For Your Business

Call center agents’ performance is directly proportional to the customer experience.

According to research, 81% of customers repeat purchases when they experience positive customer service. Your brand loyalty depends on it.

Positive customer experience is thus the key to success for any business. It can help you attract new customers and keep existing ones coming back for more. But how do you deliver an exceptional customer service experience?

By tracking call center performance metrics!

With call center metrics, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses and take stock of how your agents are faring.

Call center metrics are performance indicators that help businesses track and improve the efficiency of their customer service operations. By tracking call center KPIs, businesses can identify areas where they need to improve to serve their customers better.

But which contact center metrics and KPIs should you focus on?

In this blog, we will help you identify which call center metrics calculations matter the most.

Call Center Metrics

When it comes to measuring call center metrics, a number of factors play an important role. The best way to approach this is to track a combination of metrics and KPIs rather than prioritizing a single one.

Here’s a list of all the important metrics for call centers you need to look out for.

1. First Call Resolution

First contact resolution or first call resolution (FCR) is a measure of contact center agents’ performance. It depicts their capacity to handle customers’ queries within the first call itself.

A high FCR contributes to creating better customer satisfaction.

Customers call up contact centers with the expectation of getting their queries addressed. The longer it takes for agents to resolve customers’ queries, the more frustrated your customers will be.

The key to a better customer experience lies in improving the first call resolution rate. Further, first-call resolution limits the risks of losing customers and thereby, reduces revenue costs.

To calculate the first call resolution, you’ll need to know the number of customers whose queries were resolved on the first call itself. Then, divide the total number of customer inquiries received on a given day.

2. First Call Close Rate

This call center metric depicts the number of deals closed within the first call itself. Outbound calling campaigns involve a lot of hit and trial. Closing new leads on the first point of contact can be difficult but it isn’t impossible.

A higher first-call close rate contributes to better revenue generation for your business. Monitoring the first call close rate helps you understand which factors favour conversions and which ones don’t.

Track the patterns and trends that lead to better first-call close rates. This will help you achieve a better success rate.

To calculate the first call close rate, divide the number of new deals closed on the first call by the total number of calls to new leads.

3. First Response Time

First response time refers to the time that agents take in responding to a customer support request. Serving customers right from the get-go pays off.

Responsive agents leave a positive impression on customers and improve call center operations.Customers expect personalized responses to their queries.

A lower first response time or FRT, in this sense, is directly related to higher satisfaction levels. It shows your customers that addressing their queries as quickly as possible remains their first priority.

The average first response time is a good indicator of how speedy your agents’ response is.

To calculate the average first response time, you will need to divide the total first reply time by the total number of cases.

4. Call Abandonment Rate

The number of callers that hang up before connecting with an agent is a measure of your call abandonment rate. It is an essential service level KPI you can’t overlook. It can be very frustrating for customers to wait before they speak with an agent.

The call abandonment rate can also be referred to as the rate at which callers hang up prematurely. A high call abandonment rate, in this sense, points out snags in your call center operations.

While a call abandonment rate of 4-8% is normal, it may also vary for different industries.

You can simply calculate the call abandonment rate by dividing the number of abandoned calls by the total number of inbound calls received.

Average abandonment rate

5. Call Volume

Tracking the call volume per day is crucial for efficient contact center operations. This call center metric accounts for the total number of inbound

In very simple terms, average handling time is the average duration of contact for each customer call. It represents the amount of time it takes to initiate calls, speak with customers, and in waiting for an answer.

As such, the average handling time is reflective of a contact center’s service quality as well as agent efficiency. Tracking average handling time is important for ensuring that agents solve each case in a timely manner.

A lower average handling time, or AHT, means agents have more time to make calls in a day. Since, for customers, time is of the utmost value- a reduced AHT also boosts customer satisfaction.

In order to calculate the average handling time, you first need to sum up the talking time, initiation time and waiting time. Then, you need to divide this number by the total number of calls handled.

6.Average Time in QueueAverage Time in Queue

In contact centers, incoming calls are routed through the automatic call distributor system. When agents are unavailable to attend to calls, the callers are put in a queue.

The average time in queue is the duration of time that callers have to stay in the queue before speaking with an agent. More than 70% of customers feel that it takes too long to reach an agent.

Measuring the average time in queue for your call center will help you in lifting up the customer experience. Keeping an eye on the average time in queue is important for maintaining high standards of support to customers.

A high average waiting time shows poorly managed customer service.

7. Average After-Call Work Time

Agents are required to perform a range of actions besides making calls to customers. Once they hang up, a slew of tasks is lined up to be performed. This includes saving call details, scheduling follow-ups, and other post-call tasks.

It is important to account for the time agents spend on carrying out these tasks. This is known as the after-call work or post-call processing. The average after-call work time is useful for pointing out snags in call center operations.

How much time are your agents spending on post-call tasks? Is it hampering their productivity? Tracking average after-call work time is vital for boosting call center productivity.

Calculate the average after-call work time for each agent by adding up the time consumed in tasks after each call. Then divide this number by the total number of calls for the day.

In this way, you can calculate the average after-call work time for both inbound and outbound calls.

8. Call Transfer Rate

Call transfer rate is one of the most important call center metrics to capture. It gives you an estimate of the number of calls being transferred from one agent to another.

Call transfers are essential for connecting customers to the right agents. Keeping the call transfer rate low is an unwritten rule to go by. Constantly transferring calls from one agent to another can put off customers who are

The call transfer rate is simply the percentage of calls transferred from the total number of calls received.

9. Customer Satisfaction Score

When measuring call center metrics, the customer satisfaction score is one of the most straightforward indicators of the quality of your support.

The average customer satisfaction score helps you understand whether your services are living up to your customer’s expectations or not.

Call centers can obtain CSAT scores through customer satisfaction surveys. You can pose questions on important parameters such as responsiveness, professionalism, timely resolution, and so on.

This will give you clarity as to which areas call for improvement. CSAT scores tend to vary for different industries and companies. Nonetheless, call center agents should be vying for a good CSAT score ranging from 75%-80%.

10. Lead Conversion Rate

This is one of the most crucial call center metrics that directly impact revenue generation. Lead conversion rate estimates the percentage of calls it took to convert leads into customers.

Are your leads even converting into paying customers? You need to keep an eye on your lead conversion rate to figure this out. For call centers, conversion rate optimization is one of the topmost priorities.

Not only is it important from the point of view of revenue generation. But it also helps you identify gaps in your prospecting strategy.

To calculate your lead conversion rate, simply divide the number of converted leads for a given day by the total number of leads you connected with.

11. Peak Hour Traffic

Contact centers receive a huge number of calls each day. To capitalize on the huge volume, finding out the peak hour traffic can be very instrumental.

Peak hour traffic refers to the point during a typical business day when your call center receives the most calls. Your peak-hour traffic can tell you how to allocate shifts or duties.

Perhaps, you would want to put most of your agents on duty during the peak hour traffic. This will ensure streamlined handling of each call and lead to improved customer experience.

Monitor call center traffic regularly to identify the peak activity time. Accordingly, you can set shifts for your call center agents.

12. Customer Retention Rate

The customer retention rate is also reflective of how efficient your customer service is. It is a measure of the number of customers your company continues to serve.

A good retention rate is a product of efficient support by your agents as well as powerful call center software. Customer acquisition is always costlier than retaining existing customers. This is why it is very important to maintain good customer retention rates for contact centers.

You can calculate your customer retention rate at the end of each month, for instance. For this, you’ll need to know the number of customers you have at the end of the month (E), the number of customers at the start of the month (S), and the number of new customers acquired during that month (N). The formula for customer retention rate then goes as follows:

CRR= {(E-N)/S} X 100

13. Customer Churn Rate

At the other end of the spectrum from customer retention is customer churn.

As important as tracking the retention rate, the churn rate refers to the percentage of customers who stopped using your service or didn’t renew their subscription to your business.

The harsh fact is that customer churn is costly for your business. As you may understand now, acquiring new customers comes at a higher price than maintaining existing customers.

Analyzing your customer churn rate is essential for keeping it low. You can only reduce the customer churn rate by identifying the reason behind the customers withdrawing from the subscription of your service.

To calculate the customer churn rate, divide the number of customers during a period, by the total number of customers you had at the beginning of a time period. Then, multiply this number by 100 to arrive at the customer churn rate percentage.

14. Adherence to the Schedule

Amongst the different call center performance metrics focused on agents’ performance, you cannot overlook adherence to schedule. It projects the time an agent spends handling customer calls during the day.

Call centers need to look at agents’ adherence to schedule for tracking overall call center performance as well. High adherence to schedule means agents are productive and fulfilling their targets within the allocated timings.

Low adherence to schedule is a red flag and implies lower standards of customer service.

Now, to calculate the adherence to schedule, tally up the total time spent in handling calls along with the total available time.

Then, divide the sum by the total paid hours.

15. Customer Effort Score

If you want to gain more direct feedback from your customers, then customer effort score is an important call center metric to look at. Customer effort score helps measure the ease with which you solve a customer’s use case.

In order to obtain your customer effort score, you can directly ask your customers to rate your service in terms of the ease of query resolution or other such parameters.

Like customer satisfaction scores, customer effort score surveys are conducted to generate a score. A higher customer effort score is indicative of good customer service.

The call center calculations for your customer effort score would vary according to the kind of questions you pose as well as the scale you set.

16. Net Promoter Score

Finally, one of the most vital call center metrics to track is your net promoter score or NPS. This is a measure of customers’ experience with your brand and tells you how satisfied your customers are with your service.

To arrive at your NPS or net promoter score too, you need to record your customers’ responses. Typically, customers are posed with questions such as “How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” 

The respondents are then categorized into the following groups based on the scores they give:

  • Promoters- who give scores ranging from 9-10
  • Passives- who score you from 7-8
  • Detractors- who give scores from0-6

In order to calculate the net promoter score, you need to follow this formula:

NPS= Percentage of promoters – Percentage of detractors

The higher your NPS score, the more positive word of mouth your service is going to generate.

17. Channel Mix

This metric can help you understand how your call center is performing by looking at the mix of channels that are being used.

For example, you can look at the percentage of calls being answered through your call center and the percentage of calls being routed to other channels such as voicemail or chat.

This metric can be a helpful way to understand where your call center needs improvement. For example, if you see that a large percentage of calls are being routed to voicemail, you may want to consider increasing the number of agents available to answer calls.

18. Agent Utilization Rate

If you manage a call center, you know that the agent utilization rate is a key metric to track. This metric tells you how much time your agents spend on calls, and it can be a helpful indicator of efficiency.

There are a few different ways to calculate the agent utilization rate, but the most common is to take the average number of minutes that agents are on calls divided by the average number of minutes available to take calls.

Formula: (Average number of calls handled × Average handle time) ÷ (total working hours) × 100%

19. Agent Attrition Rate

It measures the percentage of agents who leave the call center over a certain period of time. A high attrition rate can be a sign that something is wrong with the call center, such as poor working conditions, low pay, or a high level of stress.

Formula: (Number of agents that retired or resigned in a given period) ÷ (average number of agents employed in that period) × 100%

20. Occupancy Rate

The occupancy rate measures the time agents spend engaging customers and resolving their queries. A high occupancy rate means that your call center is well-staffed and able to handle a high volume of calls.

A low occupancy rate means that your call center is understaffed and may not be able to handle a high volume of calls.

There can be other reasons behind a low occupancy rate:

  • Poor agent work habits
  • Frequency of training sessions or meetings
  • Longer breaks

Formula: (Total contact handling time ÷ Total logged time) × 100%

21. Average Speed of Answer

The average speed of answer (ASA) is one of the most important call center metrics. It measures how long it takes for a call to be answered by an agent and is a key indicator of customer satisfaction.

A high ASA can mean customers are waiting too long for their calls to be answered and may be more likely to hang up.

Formula: Total wait time for calls answered ÷ Total calls answered

22. Callback Messaging

Callback messaging is a way for customers to request a callback if they don’t want to stay on hold for a long time.

It’s a way to track how often customers are calling back to speak to a live agent, and it can be a useful metric for measuring customer satisfaction.

Formula: Number of callback requests

23. Cost Per Call

This call center KPI can help you to determine the cost of each call made by your call center and can be a useful tool in evaluating the efficiency of your call center operations.

Formula: Total cost of all handled calls ÷ Total number of calls

24. Call Type Mix

This metric shows the percentage of different call types a call center handles.

Examples of different call types include:

  • Claims/refunds
  • Account related queries
  • Tech support
  • Campaign-related actions

25. Longest Hold Time Rate

As the name indicates, the longest hold time rate tells you the longest duration a customer was put on hold. Naturally, you must try to keep this at a minimum.

The longer the hold time, the greater the probability that the customer will eventually abandon the call.

26. Average Age of Query

It measures the average time a customer service representative takes to answer a customer’s query.

A high average age of query indicates that customers are waiting a long time to get their queries answered, which can lead to frustration and customer churn.

A low average age of query, on the other hand, indicates that customer service representatives are answering queries quickly and efficiently.

Formula:  Total time (in days or hours) that current open queries stay open ÷ Total number of queries open

27. Percentage of Calls Blocked

Blocked calls are a big deal. After all, a blocked call means a lost customer. And no business wants that.

There are a number of reasons why calls may be blocked, but the most common reason is that the caller is trying to reach a number that is not in service. Other causes include busy signals, wrong numbers, and blocked numbers.

The percentage of calls blocked tells you how many calls are getting through to your agents and how many are being blocked.

Formula: (Number of calls that don’t reach agents ÷ Total number of incoming calls) × 100%

28. Call Arrival Rate

This metric tells you how many calls are coming in and can help you predict call volume (in a given timeframe).

29. Service Level

Service Level is an important metric used in call centers to measure the percentage of calls answered within a certain time frame. The most commonly used time frame is 20 seconds, although some organizations may choose a different time frame depending on their needs.

Formula: (Number of calls answered within the time frame / Total number of calls received) x 100

For example, if a call center received 1,000 calls in a day and answered 900 of them within 20 seconds, the Service Level would be:

Service Level = (900/1000) x 100 = 90%

This means that 90% of calls were answered within the 20-second time frame, while the remaining 10% were either abandoned or answered after the time frame.

Service Level can also be calculated for specific time periods, such as hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. This allows call center managers to monitor performance over time and make adjustments as needed to meet Service Level goals.

30. Repeat Calls

This call center metric measures the percentage of calls requiring multiple customer interactions before the issue is resolved.

It indicates the effectiveness of the call center in resolving customer issues during the first contact and also provides insight into the root causes of customer dissatisfaction.

Formula: Repeat Calls = (Number of calls requiring a follow-up call / Total number of calls received) x 100

For example, if a call center received 1,000 calls in a day and 200 of them required a follow-up call to resolve the issue, the Repeat Calls rate would be:

Repeat Calls = (200/1000) x 100 = 20%

This means that 20% of calls required a follow-up interaction with the customer to resolve the issue, while the remaining 80% of calls were resolved during the first interaction.

Wrap-Up on Call Center Metrics

Being at the frontline of dealing with customers, it is important to track call center operations effectively. These metrics do not exist in isolation from one another.

Tracking metrics for call centers in correspondence with one another will help you give the best results. So, start tracking your call center metrics now!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are call center metrics?

Call center metrics are a set of quantifiable measures used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of call center operations. These metrics can include call handling time, first call resolution rate, customer satisfaction score, and other key performance indicators (KPIs) that help managers and supervisors monitor and improve call center performance.

Why are call center metrics important?

Call center metrics are important because they provide valuable insights into the performance of call center agents, teams, and operations. They help managers and supervisors identify areas of improvement, measure the effectiveness of their strategies, and make data-driven decisions to optimize call center performance. Additionally, tracking call center metrics helps ensure that customer needs are being met and satisfaction levels remain high.

What are some common call center KPIs?

Some common call center KPIs include average handle time, first call resolution rate, abandoned call rate, customer satisfaction score, net promoter score, service level, and occupancy rate. These KPIs provide insights into various aspects of call center performance, such as agent efficiency, customer experience, and call volume.

What are some call center performance metrics that can be used to track customer satisfaction?

Some call center performance metrics that can be used to track customer satisfaction include customer satisfaction score (CSAT), net promoter score (NPS), and first call resolution rate (FCR). These metrics provide insights into how well the call center is meeting customer needs, resolving issues quickly, and creating positive experiences for customers.

What is a call center metrics dashboard and how can it help track call center KPIs?

A call center metrics dashboard is a tool that displays key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics in real-time, allowing managers and supervisors to monitor call center performance at a glance. This tool can help track call center KPIs by providing up-to-date data on call volume, agent performance, customer satisfaction, and other important metrics, enabling managers to make data-driven decisions and optimize call center operations.

What are industry standards for call center metrics?

Industry standards for call center metrics can vary depending on the industry and the type of call center. However, some commonly used metrics include service level, average handle time, abandonment rate, and customer satisfaction score. Many call centers also track more specific metrics based on their goals and objectives.

How can call center metrics be used to improve overall call center performance?

Call center metrics can be used to improve overall call center performance by providing insights into areas of improvement and allowing managers and supervisors to make data-driven decisions. By analyzing call center metrics, managers can identify areas where efficiency can be improved, training can be provided, or processes can be optimized to increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

What are some examples of call center benchmarks?

Some examples of call center benchmarks include service level, average handle time, occupancy rate, and abandonment rate. These benchmarks can be used to compare call center performance against industry standards and best practices, enabling managers to identify areas for improvement and optimize call center operations.

How can call center workforce management metrics be used to improve call center efficiency?

Call center workforce management metrics can be used to improve call center efficiency by providing insights into agent performance, staffing needs, and call volume trends. By tracking metrics such as agent adherence, occupancy rate, and forecast accuracy, managers can optimize staffing levels and scheduling to ensure that customer needs are met while minimizing costs.

What are some call center goals and metrics that should be tracked for optimal performance?

Some common call center goals and metrics that should be tracked for optimal performance include customer satisfaction, average handling time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), service level agreement (SLA) compliance, abandonment rate, and agent occupancy rate. By tracking these metrics, call centers can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and provide better customer service.

What are some call center KPI examples that can be used to improve agent performance?

Some call center KPI examples that can be used to improve agent performance include average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), customer satisfaction (CSAT), net promoter score (NPS), and agent turnover rate. By tracking these KPIs, call centers can identify areas for improvement, provide targeted training, and incentivize high-performing agents.

What are some standard call center metrics that every call center should track?

Some standard call center metrics that every call center should track include average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), service level agreement (SLA) compliance, customer satisfaction (CSAT), net promoter score (NPS), abandonment rate, occupancy rate, and agent turnover rate. These metrics provide insights into the efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness of the call center, and help identify areas for improvement.

Taran, as the Support Manager at JustCall, spearheads efforts to enhance customer satisfaction by strategically collaborating with client-facing teams. He upholds rigorous standards, ensuring JustCall's support services consistently excel. Passionate about superior customer experiences, Taran champions a company-wide dedication to a customer-first mindset.

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