Call Center Metrics
Many executives ask the important question is a call center doing its job and justifying the money spent on it. Unfortunately many organizations simply can’t answer this question because they don’t have a good understanding of call center metrics.
To put it simply call center metrics are the numbers that tell you whether a call center is doing its job or not. The most successful call centers watch these numbers closely. Indeed, the most successful call center executives can use the statistics to identify problems and correct them before they develop.
The most important call center metrics are Average Call Handling Time (ACHT) and Longest Wait Time (LWT). Most successful call center strategies are based upon these two all important metrics.
Average Call Handling Time simply refers to the amount of time the average caller spends on the phone with customer service representatives. A good rule of thumb is the more time the customer spends on the phone with the customer service rep the less likely the customer’s problem is being dealt with.
If ACHT increases substantially there is something wrong with the call center or the customer service process. The customers’ problems are not being dealt with and the process is taking too long. This means there are probably deficiencies in the process that will have to be corrected. It could mean that more training is need for customer service representatives.
Longest Wait Time can be an even more important statistic because it refers to the amount of time a customer is waiting on the phone to talk to a customer service representative. Chances are for every person waiting to speak to someone; several customers have simply become frustrated and hung up.
Every customer who hangs up is a customer lost to the company. A long wait time is a sign of poor customer service and lost business.
Long wait times also indicate that customer service representatives are spending so much time dealing with customers’ problems they can’t help additional customers. A really long wait time is usually indicative of serious customer service problems.
The longest wait time could indicate that the call center is understaffed and in need of more customer service representatives. It could also mean that the customer service representatives are having a hard time explaining a process to customers.
Call center metrics can indicate if an organization’s customer service strategy is working or not. They can also who a company what call center resources will need to be applied to achieve its customer service goals.
