Monitoring call center KPAs is an important part of the process. However, the sensitivity that each company shows with respect to the KPAs is very different. Oftentimes, a call center outsourcing company that simply focusses on the results overlooks the fundamental KPAs. For example, a company might try to lower AHT at the expense of good Quality Scores in calls to meet immediate target. This approach might look to be providing good results in the short term, but it will eventually have a negative impact on your business. Customers might feel shortchanged, and attrition might become a real possibility. Therefore, one should outsource customer support services after analyzing both short- and long-term impact.
Important KPAs to Consider
The most important thing about KPAs or Key Performance Areas is that they have to be improved in unison. It is very easy to bolster stats by focusing on 1 or 2 key areas, and get a good score. But this approach becomes hazardous in the end. Below are some KPAs that should be improved by an inbound call center outsourcing company for achieving the desired results in the long-term:
First Call Resolution (FCR)
FCR scores say a lot about the competency of your agents, TLs, managers and SMEs. If you want to know how well-versed the agents are in their process handling, then look at FCR as a barometer. Incompetent agents often rely on hold and mute to find resolution to customer queries, which wastes a lot of time. But a good agent is someone who understands the problem quickly, paraphrases it to the caller, builds a rapport with customer and guides the customer query to a quick and first-time resolution.
Average Handling Time (AHT)
Every process has a target Average Handling Time (AHT). The agents should be taught to handle calls in a way, so that they achieve AHT target without actually forcing the issue. FCR and AHT only provide a good representation of the call center process, if they are both on target at the same time.
CSAT
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) is what defines the success of your call center process. High CSAT numbers reflect the capability of your agents to keep customers happy, which is the holy grail of customer service.
There are many other KPAs of an inbound call center outsourcing process, but the ones mentioned above are paramount. For other processes e.g. outbound telemarketing services, the KPAs are different, and you need to ensure that you focus on the related KPAs for a particular process.