At part of our 2021 survey we asked our audience ‘What Are the Most Important Contact Centre Metrics?’ Read on to find out the results.
The results taken from our survey report “What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now 2021 Edition” outline which metrics our audience think are very important, quite important, and not important.
| Contact Centre Metric | Very Important | Quite Important | Not Important |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Satisfaction | 84.7% | 14.0% | 1.4% |
| Service Level | 73.2% | 22.2% | 4.6% |
| First Contact Resolution (FCR) | 69.4% | 25.0% | 5.6% |
| Quality Scores | 68.1% | 24.9% | 7.0% |
| Customer Complaint Volumes | 64.8% | 26.3% | 8.9% |
| Abandon Rate | 63.9% | 30.6% | 5.6% |
| Agent Satisfaction | 60.0% | 34.0% | 6.1% |
| Customer Effort | 55.7% | 30.2% | 14.2% |
| Average Handling Time (AHT) | 47.6% | 37.7% | 14.6% |
| Attrition Rate | 45.7% | 43.3% | 11.0% |
| Schedule Adherence | 42.4% | 40.0% | 17.6% |
| Net Promoter Score (NPS) | 41.7% | 33.2% | 25.1% |
| Utilization | 40.8% | 43.6% | 15.6% |
| Occupancy | 36.4% | 46.4% | 17.2% |
| Shrinkage | 36.2% | 42.9% | 21.0% |
| Forecast Accuracy | 32.5% | 52.2% | 15.3% |
| Sales Volume | 27.6% | 24.8% | 47.6% |
| Cost Per Call | 24.5% | 39.2% | 36.3% |
| NetEasy Score | 10.3% | 30.4% | 59.3% |
Looking at the percentages of survey participants that believed each metric to be “very important”, the year-on-year chart below shows a shift in what metric contact centres are focusing on.
Discover more insights and charts like this in our report: “What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2021 Edition)”.
From this information we can draw several key observations about contact centre metrics and their perceived importance within the industry.
Effortless Is the Future
The percentage of contact centres that consider the customer effort metric to be “very important” has reached its highest rate on record.
Within the last year alone, the percentage has risen by 15.6%, taking the total to 55.7%. Compare that to the 14.1% of contact centres that consider the metric to be “not important” and it’s clear that reducing customer effort is a critical contact centre trend.
The growth of First Contact Resolution (FCR) also supports this. This metric is now considered to be “very important” by 8.8% more contact centres than in 2020, highlighting how contact centres are trying to prevent customers from having to make a second call.
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) Tightens Its Grip on Contact Centres
Discover more insights and charts like this in our report: “What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2021 Edition)”.
Another customer experience metric that’s seemingly growing in value is NPS.
In 2016, 29.6% of contact centres viewed the metric as “very important”. That figure now stands at 41.7%, which highlights how this well-established key performance indicator (KPI) continues to grow.
However, while this is true, customer satisfaction (CSAT) remains the undisputed king of customer experience metrics, with just 1.4% of contact centres viewing the metric as “not important”.
The Rebirth of Average Handling Time (AHT)
In many quarters, AHT was almost becoming a dirty word, as contact centres pressured advisors to cut down their handling times. The result was low FCR rates and stressed-out advisors.
With this being the case, the perceived importance of AHT was – until 2018 – subsiding. Now, however, the metric is enjoying a mini-revival. In fact, 47.6% consider AHT to be “very important”.
Perhaps contact centres are realizing AHT’s importance in staffing calculations? Or maybe safer ways to reduce AHT – such as signposting, screen popping and coaching – are coming to the fore?
Either way, let’s cross our fingers that advisors aren’t being directly targeted against the metric.
Latest Survey Report
These findings come from the survey report “What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now 2021 Edition”, featuring over 40 insights into contact centre operations. Download the latest survey report to get more great insights.
The results of the survey were collected in July and August 2021, and we are delighted to publish this report in partnership with Akixi, NICE, Nuance, Odigo, Poly and ProcedureFlow.
Source: Call Centre Helper Survey: What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2021 Edition) Sample size – 224 Date: August 2021
Author: Robyn Coppell
Published On: 19th Jan 2022
Read more about - Contact Centre Research, Akixi, Contact Centre Reporting, Metrics, NICE, Nuance, Odigo, Poly, ProcedureFlow
