5 Call Center Statistics You Should Be Paying Attention To

When it comes to running a business, knowledge is power. More specifically, collecting information about your business’s performance allows you to identify and address any potential weaknesses in your operations. This data collection is crucial in all aspects of your business, but call center data is often overlooked. However, paying attention to these five metrics could help you make huge leaps in your company’s overall performance.

Outsourcing your call center operations to an experienced provider like Global Response can help you achieve these goals and improve your overall customer satisfaction. To learn more about the benefits of call center outsourcing, click here.

 Answer Success Rate (ASR)

The first step towards ensuring your call center is efficient and effective is getting your target audience on the phone in the first place. While the ever-changing world of Caller ID can make landing calls difficult, this metric is still crucial to understanding the pitfalls your particular business faces.

First Response Time (FRT)

Over the past few decades, businesses have begun to rely heavily on AI (or robot) services to handle the bulk of their call center needs. While AI certainly has its benefits in call center settings and helps to cut down on administration costs, many customers prefer to speak with an actual associate in order to resolve their call. FRT measures the amount of time a customer waits between initiating the call and speaking with an associate. 

The longer the wait, the higher your FRT metric will read. Generally, the lower the number on this particular set of data, the better. If you find your FRT is particularly high, consider working to tweak the way your agents handle calls or how your AI interacts with customers before their query is passed to a live representative.

Average Handle Time (AHT)

The length of time your agent spends on an individual call is among the most crucial call center metrics, and one of the most heavily analyzed ones for businesses around the globe. Of course, the length of time your agent can keep a potential client on the phone is imperative, as this measures the amount of information that’s both collected and shared between parties. This particular metric is broken down into three separate parts:

• Average talk time: the amount of time actually spent talking
• Average hold time: the amount of time a client spends on hold during a call
• After call work time: the amount of time an agent works on resolving a call after completion

There is no clear ideal time range for AHT metrics because calls will vary widely based on the purpose of said all. Working alongside a team of consultants may help you decide the optimal AHT you should aim for, and what steps you can take to raise or lower your numbers as needed.

Occupancy Rate

This metric measures the overall performance of your agents and their productivity within the workplace. While an agent’s main job might be making calls to clients, they also must complete a significant amount after call work, and so overall performance cannot be judged by the number or length of live calls alone. With more individuals working from home than ever before, particularly in this line of work, this metric is crucial for analyzing how on-task your agents are staying between calls and can help you revise and implement new policies as needed.

Call Quality

As is the case with almost everything in life, quality matters far more than quantity when it comes to both incoming and outgoing calls. This is, again, a metric that’s mostly used for analyzing the overall performance of your agents. In order to create this particular metric, a number of variables come into play, including:

• The knowledge of an agent on the subject of the call
• The ability of the agent to stick to the pitch
• The politeness of the agent
• The utilization of proper call etiquette

Taking stock of these details in a clear and concise manner not only helps you to identify the effectiveness of individual agents, but also helps you identify areas where your training practices or call center policies might be lacking. 

Your call center is your main point of contact with your target audience. Take these metrics into account to ensure you’re properly balancing efficiency and customer service to make the best possible impression and streamline the experience for everyone involved.