What Abandoned Call Targets Should we use?

We have recently adjusted our service level targets to 85% in 15 seconds.  We would like to extend this and offer up a realistic abandoned calls KPI based on the new service level target.

We are struggling to achieve the current target of 1% at certain times.

I need some advise please on what abandoned call target should be in place.  I am thinking 2%.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

2% would still seem reasonable

It’s difficult to say what the abandon rate should be without knowing your business but I would offer the following advice. Are you excluding immediate hang-ups within the first 5 seconds? If you are, then 2% would still seem reasonable but this depends on many factors including whether these are service calls or new business calls, what prompts people to call and what if any front-end IVR you have in place. One way to reduce your calls and still have the service level in place is to use a bureau for overflow.

I’d take a look at your average abandoned delay – if it’s extremely low, you’re going to have a high abandoned rate no matter what. Unless you can ignore calls abandoned in less than a threshold (I’d suggest 10-15 seconds based on your service level). If it’s fairly high, you can confidently set your abandoned rate low, knowing that people will wait.

With thanks to Rob.

We use a target of 1.8% and then also have a GOS target of 92%.

We use a target of 1.8% and then also have a GOS target of 92%. We used to target agents on 2.5% or below (using a scale of recording figures if abandoned over 15 seconds) but this was reviewed at the start of this financial year. When we looked through the data captured for the previous year it averaged at 1.9%, so we reset the target to become stretching yet achievable.

With thanks to Robert Spencer.

It must be low for a Telesales Centre

But as others said – what are you? A sales center needs to grab every single call that comes in. A service center can be a little more lax (or a lot more, depending on your customer’s threshold).

Thanks to Derek.

The abandon rate target depends upon whether your customers can go elsewhere

As Rob says, it is difficult to comment accurately without knowing your business. For example, if you are offering a product or service that is only available from you – for example the local council – then your abandoned call rate might include a high proportion or repeat attempts where people call, hang up and try again later. If you strip out ‘impatient’ callers you may be doing better than you think!

Thanks to Ken Reid. 

You need to set up a time threshold for abandons

I agree Rob and Ken-it all depends on what you term a true ‘abandoned call’. In some contact centres,the ACR is calculated after the opening message has been played and the caller is still on the line. Calls terminated prior to the end of the message are eliminated from the calculations. So ultimately it depends on whether or not you want your ACR to incorporate all calls offered, or calls that are terminated after the threshold.

With thanks to R.

Author: Jo Robinson