Which KPIs are effective for customer service outsourcing?

Key performance indicators, or simply KPIs, are used to measure the success of an organization or the progress of a crucial activity the organization undertakes. KPIs vary from industry to industry, company to company, and even department to department. Two businesses under the same industry may have a completely different set of KPIs, and similarly, the work units within those companies could be evaluated following contrasting success indicators. This is because each company and department has functions and priorities that are different from those that its counterparts have.

So, what highly matters in HR may not be a KPI in sales.

KPIs may also vary in customer service outsourcing firms, but there are common denominators that every call center may use to assess company progress and agent performance. Some of them are basic and should be kept at a minimum, if not kept at zero, to ensure that the customers’ time is valued while agent time is spent on productive tasks. These self-explanatory indicators include:

•   Call answer time

•   Call hold time

•   Call abandonment rate

•   Callback/follow-up time

Other call center KPIs are used to gauge the quality of customer service delivered by the agents and the level of satisfaction that the customers derive from the service. They are:

•   First call resolution– This measures if the customers’ problem is solved during the first call they made.

•   Query age– This calculates the amount of time that a problem remains unsolved from the moment the caller reported it.

•   Call frequency– This indicates the frequency of calls from the same customer. It also helps identify if the agents gave effective solutions or correct information in the previous calls. Aside from that, this KPI can point out recurring issues either on your products or on the customer service outsourcing firm handling your customers.

•   Number of escalations– This counts the instances when agents asked a higher-up for assistance in handling a call.

Standard KPIs such as the ones listed above help companies monitor and assess the performance of their employees and the call center as a whole, but it is best not to limit your measurement to call statistics. You can set indicators for other areas of performance such as employee attendance and collaboration. More importantly, you should be able to identify your company’s needs and your customers’ demands so that the metrics you set don’t just measure your progress but guarantee your success as well.