Contact centres are potentially one of the most measured areas in a business. Particularly as they scale, small improvements in processes can amplify into big productivity gains.
Here, we look at some of the KPIs we suggest our customers measure – and discuss some of the obstacles that may get in the way of doing so.
Measure what matters to you
Most contact centres use common KPIs, some of which we’ll cover below. However, it’s important to understand that contact centres are a strategic asset for delivering on a company’s overall objectives. For that, some KPIs will be driven by those high-level targets.
If the contact centre is primarily about sales, KPIs should dovetail into overall revenue goals. If it’s about customer service, then that can feed into retention rates and NPS targets.
As with all measurements, it’s important to keep track of what is important to you and that it relates to your objectives to provide actionable insights.
Handle times
The key metric for gaining a view of the contact centre is Average Handling Time (AHT).
But rather than seeing it as a single metric, break it down into a few components:
- Talk Time (TT) – The duration of a live conversation. A high TT may indicate complex queries or the need to provide agents with training. If it is low, it could mean the interactions are rushed.
- Hold Time (HT) – Highlights delays in retrieving information or asking for support, excessive HT often signals knowledge gaps or inefficient systems/processes
- After Call Work (ACW) – The amount of work needed after a call is ended, such as CRM updates. High ACW could mean a lack of automation or inefficiencies.
Reviewing these metrics individually is important as this gives a better picture of where inefficiencies lie and what to improve for better AHT and service quality.
Moving beyond the typical AHT measurement, you could also track the contact rates below to understand the activity better.
- Right Party Contact (RPC) Rate – The percentage of calls reaching the intended recipient. A high RPC rate means your data quality is good and outbound calls are effective.
- Call Connection Rate (CCR) – The percentage of outbound calls that result in a live connection or those that go to voice mails. A low CCR may indicate poor timing of calls or low-quality data.
- First Call Resolution (FCR) – How many queries are resolved at the first touch point without transferring the call or arranging a callback?
This data is all vital to understanding productivity, as Legal for Landlords found when it replaced a legacy phone system. “The reporting in the old system was based solely on phone recordings,” explained Hayley Finch, Product Manager. “This meant that unconnected calls or voicemails weren’t accounted for, making it appear as though our teams weren’t as productive as they actually were.
“We couldn’t accurately track how many outbound calls were made or how often voicemails were left. Without that data, it was difficult to do performance reviews or monitor team activity effectively.”
Revenue-related volumes
When you want to understand revenue driven by the contact centre, measuring the percentage of calls generating revenue is important. This ensures your team is focused where it needs to be and doesn’t get drawn into other activities.
When taken with average revenue per voice contact (and you can measure this on inbound vs outbound), you begin to build a picture of the contact centre’s efficiency and how the outcomes vary depending on whether a customer initiated the contact or the contact centre did.
If you also assess against the annual fully burdened agent cost, you can begin to build a more complete picture of the contact centre’s costs and profitability.
Volume, call times and abandonment rates
In addition to measuring the sheer number of calls, the average queue and abandonment rates are the lifeblood of contact centre metrics.
Longer wait times typically lead to more calls being abandoned, which may impact customer satisfaction or revenue goals. Inbound calls should be treated with the highest priority to avoid poor customer experiences.
Riverside Underwriting implemented an 8×8 contact centre solution and used its new system to dig into why calls were being abandoned. “We didn’t realise how the reporting lacked efficiency until we started using 8×8,” explained Shannon Sweeney, Customer Resolutions Manager.
Now, Riverside Underwriting can not only see the rate of abandonment but also analyse the logs to see exactly what happened when calls were abandoned.
By optimising their processes, they’re already seeing positive results and are able to answer calls quicker. “We’ve already managed to reduce call wait times from 20 to 15 seconds, and we expect further improvements,” said Sweeney.
HubSpot reports that a good abandonment rate is typically 5 – 8%, but to achieve those numbers, calls need to be answered within 20 seconds. So, even a five-second improvement will lead to significant improvements in this vital metric.
Don’t forget email and chat
When contact centres have made the step to integrating digital channels, there are many metrics beyond typical call statistics that you can use to get a full picture of how your agents are being used.
- How many web chats are initiated each month?
- How many team members are working on them?
- And how long are they spending on chats?
Similarly, for email:
- What is the email volume?
- What’s the average time spent on email actions?
- And how many hours are spent on emails each week?
Not only will this give a full view of an agent’s workload, but it will also help you understand what channels are providing faster outcomes so you can prioritise resources appropriately.
It also allows you to work on improving the different channels. For example, introducing AI into customer-facing engagements with chatbots may resolve routine issues without involving an agent, allowing them to focus on higher-priority tasks.
At the same time, it’s important to evaluate whether the right channels are being encouraged.
Email is often a high-cost channel with extended resolution times and longer customer journeys. Ask yourself: are we prioritising email effectively? Would shifting interactions to lower-cost, faster-resolution channels (such as chat or self-service) provide a better experience for both customers and the business? What would happen if we did not offer email for all queries?
“Challenge the status quo. Just because you’ve always used email doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for you. Your priority should be to figure out how to answer customer queries to the lowest cost and highest success rate”, says Daniel McMullen, Contact Centre Specialist and Technical Consultant at CloudClevr.
Having the right contact centre technology is vital
Both CloudClevr customers mentioned above had the same problem: legacy systems were getting in the way of inadequate reporting. Either they couldn’t get the data needed, or it was very cumbersome and time-consuming.
“Downloading reports took time, and pulling data for just one week could take 15 to 20 minutes [per agent]. We didn’t report on how long people are spending on calls or other useful info because it took way too long to pull just the basic information together,” explained Sweeney.
With legacy technology, some contact centres are running blind on their key metrics. Even with access to data, it’s important to get the right information for you and analyse it appropriately.
As with all metrics, the data can tell different stories. A good renewal rate and quick call time are good for a renewal call. However, if it were a helpline for someone in need, a quick call may be of concern. It’s important to work out what these data stories mean for you.
That’s why at CloudClevr, we have a raft of standard KPIs that we help clients analyse when implementing a contact centre solution so they can understand how they are performing and maximise contact centre performance.
