Standard SLAs such as number of calls answered and abandoned, average talk time, average conversion time and average speed of answer are all essential considerations in the operations of any call center. Most companies today, however, are more concerned with their first call resolution metric that varies from case to case and industry to industry. First call resolution – addressing customer’s queries in a way that eliminates or inhibits their need for further follow-up – may be different when you call a doctor than when you dial a grocery store. Given this difference, it is essential to understand your call center’s first call resolution metric, no matter the industry. We list four ways to help you find this out.

Survey Your Customers

One of the best ways to determine your call center’s first call resolution metric is surveying your customers. This means questioning them whether they are happy with the time frame within which your call center agents solve their questions and whether they had to call again for the same purpose. This would help you agree with what all outcomes to regard as a first call resolution. You might take the help of an inbound and an outbound return call to cover certain questions, but in all cases, customer satisfaction must be the primary concern.

Deploy Tools that Facilitate FCR Calculation

Measuring first call resolutions becomes difficult if you lack the tools required to do the job. Ideally, every call center needs to have an all-in-one cloud based VoIP call software that can be seamlessly integrated with third-party CRMs and other systems within your call center. When all your communication solutions display all your recorded data, matching interactions with their specific transactions becomes a breeze, and it puts you in a better position to calculate your first call resolution metric.

Monitor Your Customer Care Process

Your first call resolutions may involve various interactions within your call center. It is, therefore, essential to monitor the route and time taken in every such interaction. Given this, find out any factor such as:

• What all departments were contacted to provide the resolution and the time consumed in the overall process?
• Did any of the customers ask for an escalation in order to get a specific solution?
• Do all departments worn on and have access to the same applications?
• Are these departments storing and updating these transactions and informing the customer about service request status updates?

Analyze Collated Data

Last, but not the least, study all your recorded quantitative data. This involves analyzing elements, such as the number of interactions taken to complete a transaction and the cycle time to its resolution. Your call center CRM software, basically your virtual dialer and cloud CRM, if you are using one, must have this information, and this data should be linked with your interaction solution. When you have to find out the qualitative aspect of your first call resolution, include customer service feedbacks to get the results.

Things to Remember when Calculating FCR

• Always get to know what stands acceptable as a first call resolution in the eyes of your customers
• Review your call center’s technology, its working environment and systems that play an integral role in defining your customer services’ first call resolution
• Monitor your entire customer-related process
• Evaluate all necessary elements when gathering data that goes in the making of your first call resolution

Last Words

Although the definition of first contact resolution may not be the same in every industry, its calculation is as vital as a performance metric, as it leads to enhanced customer satisfaction and business growth – the main objective of every business. To accurately calculate FCR, you may need everything from an advanced virtual dialer and cloud based VoIP call Software to unearthing and retuning the layers of your customer care process.