We have defined it, measured it, asked why we do it. Now we get to how we do it. Sometimes called a philosophy more than a metric, first call resolution (FCR) is an entirely customer-centric measurement. If the customer does not agree that it was fixed and on the first call, then there was no FCR.

 From McGarahan and Associates we get the "5 Dos of FCR":

1. Customer perception of FCR is the most important and requires follow-up, closure, feedback, and monitoring.
2. Make FCR reflective of customers' values, expectations, and perceptions.
3. FCR results drive Continuous Improvement (CI) at all levels.
4. Give support professionals the proper training, empowerment, tools to support higher levels of FCR.
5. Market and communicate - reward and recognize FCR contribution, achievements, and results.

 We also get the 5 Don'ts:

1. DON'T focus on FCR alone without multiple perspectives.
2. DON'T only measure that "it was done" (checklist) vs how "it was resolved" and what was the experience.
3. DON'T make it self-serving in scope, definition, and data collection and manipulation. It's not about "hitting the numbers".
4. DON'T be more concerned with call resolution than issue resolution.
5. DON'T only measure FCR. Balance with other quality metrics.

From Enkata, we get 5 fundamentals for a successful FCR program (everyone seems to like the number 5):

1. Identify repeat calls accurately (remember what we said about those internal methods of measuring FCR doing poorly here?)
2. Know why customers are calling (apparently, some call centers do not know this)
3. Drive performance data to your front line employees (they can't improve if they don't know where the problem lies)
4. Improve agent performance through actionable insights and targeted coaching (not "hey, ya gotta do better")
5. Track the impact of your efforts (otherwise how will you know if you improved?)

Both of these resources are available online but may require a signup or registration.

Once you have measured your FCR rates for a bit, you will likely see some areas that could improve the metric if they were fixed. Ideally, those will be the issues that are high in frequency and cause a severe decrease in customer satisfaction.

As found by the SQM Group, the customer support represntative is the source for about 44% of failed FCRs. That does not mean CSRs are bad at what they do. It means they likely did not receive the training they needed and/or the information they require to perform their job is unavailable or inaccurate.

First of all, make sure to hire the right people. Just like not everyone can be a firefighter, not everyone is cut out to work as a support agent. Then make certain to train them on both the product/service they are to support and how to interact appropriately with customers.

Give them an accurate, up-to-date knowledgebase that is easily searched. Make sure they have the tools and upper level support to resolve and/or escalate the types of problems your customers call in with.

That takes care of nearly half the problem.

Other areas to consider for improvement:

• IVR
• Redirection to other channels/call deflection
• policy
• call length
• language issues
• issues that are unearthed about the product or service that should or must be fixed.

In order for any improvement to occur, you need management's committed support, the awareness of all levels of employees about the need for FCR, those same people must be held accountable for the success or failure of the metric, and create a recognition program for CSRs that achieve high FCR and customer sat goals.

Make upper management bonuses contingent upon customer performance metrics. Let your CSRs know you expect them to take ownership of the call resolution rate by asking the customer themselves if the issue is resolved.  Coach every level about FCR rates and their importance. The customer service and support center must focus on CSR retention and hiring/training  new CSRs with the FCR committment and goals. 

Ways to support the FCR initiative include escalation procedures where the customer is transferred to the next level of support but not required to repeat himself. Call flow must be managed effectively and appropriate process improvement measures must be used.

Technology can also lend a hand:

• intelligent skill based routing
• multiple contact channels
•  screen popups with the call type
• call wrap-up resolution
• knowledge management
• verification self service
• roaming knowledge experts and knowledge expert availability
• CRM
• virtual hold

and more. The most helpful may be a unified agent desktop where all the CSR needs are wrapped up in a single application, rather than multiple apps that must be ALT-Tabbed through.

All of these posts show that FCR initiatives can take time, effort, and management support but when the ROI comes in it is well worth it. Here are a few links to resources for First Call Resolution:

www.SQMgroup.com

www.metrics.net

www.crmxchange.com

www.slideshare.net/michaelrfisher/first-contact-resolution-the-performance-driver 

http://fcrba.iccbc.org/

www.icmi.com/knowledgecenter/details.aspx?id=1002

I hope this Customer Support Metrics 101 series has been helpful. Here are the links to the other three series posts about First Call Resolution:

First Call Resolution Defined

Measuring First Call Resolution

What's the Big Deal About First Call Resolution

We know the definition. We know some ways to measure it. But why bother? Isn't this a lot of work?

Well, we could just say that customer satisfaction usually increases. And employee satisfaction as well. But the bottom line is.....the bottom line. A poor first call resolution rate translates into a decreased bottom line.  A great first call resolution rate translates into an increased bottom line. And you could never guess how big the financial impact is.

Decrease Costs of Operation

 Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? Each call fielded costs a certain amount. If more than one call is needed to resolve an issue that could have been solved in only 1 call, that means operating costs are pushed up by extra unnecessary calls. 

In fact,  Dr. Jodie Monger, president of Customer Relationship Metrics, has an excellent illustration of just how much those extra calls can cost you. Here is the formula:

Even scarier: deceasing customer satisfaction can hit the bottom line 5-10 times more than that.  Can you afford that? How can anyone is this economy or any other survive annual losses of $13.75 billion or more?

Improve Customer Satisfaction

The metric with the biggest impact on customer satisfaction is first call resolution. According to the SQM Group, there is a 1:1 correlation between the two. For every 1% increase in FCR there is a corresponding 1% increase in customer sats.

Increase Opportunities to Sell

If you fix the problem, especially the first time, you have a much greater chance to sell that customer something more. In fact, if the customer's issue is not resolved, you really haven't earned enough trust to even think about hinting to them to buy anything else from you. Put yourself in the customer's shoes. And no, don't say, "I don't suppose you would like to buy something else?". Yes, I have actually been asked that.

They have a problem with your product. Customer Service couldn't fix it. And NOW you want them to buy something else from you? Are you crazy?

Fix it first, then you have a 20% greater acceptance of your cross-selling efforts. Don't fix it and try to sell to them anyway and you get a very irritated, and possibly former, customer.

Improve Employee Satisfaction

Handling that second or third call from an irate customer with a problem that should have been resolved the first time is extremely stressful. How many times can an agent do this in a day and still like his job? How could he even imagine coming back tomorrow? Absenteeism and turn-over, thy name is Low FCR Rates.

High FCR rates = higher employee satisfaction rates which translate into higher customer satisfaction rates.

Win-Win-Win.

Reduce Customer Loss

SQM research has shown that only 1% of customers are at risk of defecting to a competitor if the issue is resolved on the first call. As opposed to 15% of customers at risk to leave you if their issue is not resolved at all. 

This type of customer loss has the biggest impact on the contact center's revenues. If you have looked above at the math, you will be way ahead of the pack in knowing how much that is costing annually.

Hope those numbers didn't completely fry your circuits. Next post, we get more into the how's of increasing FCR, some of the tools and practices to put in place, and a collection of links to more resources.

Now that you know the definition of FCR (See Customer Support Metrics 101: First Call Resolution Defined) , you are probably itching to discover the best way to measure it so you can start getting some numbers together.

First of all, First Call Resolution is determined by the customer. That's right, the customer. This is one metric that cannot be squeezed out of the customer service and support system or from the agents themselves. Reports from those sources have little meaning.

The only one who can decisively tell you that the problem was fixed, and in one call, is the customer. You'd be surprised to find out how scary that proposition is to some organizations. I think this points to some suspicions that they already know they aren't performing well in this metric.

Think about it. If you only look at whether the customer called back again for the same issue, you will miss all those customers who didn't bother to call back, who resolved things themselves or through forums and friends, or who just stopped using the product. Maybe even returned it. 

Now, down to measuring it. Here are some Best Practices from the SQM Group:

• Ask the customer to complete a post-call survey over IVR
• An FCR focused survey asks "Was your call resolved?" and "How many calls did you make to resolve your inquiry?"
• If the answer is only one call was made, the customer had first call resolution
• If the call is transferred to another department or tier or service, it still counts as FCR because the customer didn't have to call back.
• Determine your FCR performance by Level of Business (LOB), segment, call center, manager, call type, skill set, customer value, outsourcer, etc.

Since we said the customer is the decider of FCR and using other internal methods wouldn't be very good, here are five methods of measuring FCR as determined by the customer. Again, thank you to the SQM Group:

1. Post-Call IVR Survey: customer completes immediately after or within 1 hour of call, answer whether issue is resolved.
2. Post-Call Phone Servey: customer phoned within 2 business days of their call and asked if issue is resolved.
3. Post-Call Web Survey: customer completes web-based survey within 3 business days of call and asked if issue is resolved.
4. End of Call Script: Agent asks customer at end of call if issue is resolved, link to QA evaluations
5. Voice Menu: Customer asked in IVR menu if this is first call made to resolve issue.

OK, OK, now that I mentioned there were other ways, I will give them to you. But be aware that they are expensive, less accurate, and less effective. They also tend to over-inflate the numbers by about 15% so there seems to less of a problem with the FCR.

• QA Call Monitoring: QA evaluators decide if FCR definition was met
• Call Back: Call record is checked to see if the customer called back within 2-5 business days (apparently no way to tell if a second call could have been about a different issue).
• Case Management/CRM: Agent uses desktop software app to keep track of first call resolutions.

Each of the above 8 methods can, and should, be used in combination as each method highlights a different side to the story and establishes differing levels of accountablity for FCR improvement. So just as you shouldn't focus too heavily on this metric, you also need to know more than one side to the story. 

A benchmark is needed to find out where you are on the line with FCR. You need to know where you started to find out if you are improving. You can also set a target but do not manage to the target. Use these answers as part of an ongoing investigation and improvement project to increase the first call resolution without creating another problem that can lower customer satisfaction. 

If it helps, SQM Group shows about 29% rate of call-backs needed on average while a world class call center usually only has 10-15%. Something to aspire to. And not impossible to reach, others have done it.

Now we know the definition and how to measure FCR. Next, we talk about  how improving your FCR benefits the business and how each point can be used to build a business case for implementing FCR metrics into your call center.

As far as metrics go, First Call Resolution (FCR) is one of the most important and useful metrics measured for the customer service and support or contact center. But many organizations find it difficult to properly measure and determine FCR impact on the support center and the business as a whole. Smaller organizations may feel this metric won't apply as well to them, but it is always best to know how you are doing in your efforts to keep customers happy and coming back.

A great first step to learning anything new is to define it: what is it, what does it do, what is it for, why use it? As with problems, the definition creates a framework to hang the rest of the practice on.

Here is one definition, from Kristin Robertson's book "Spectacular Support Centers: Best Practices for Small to Mid-Sized Help Desks and Technical Support Centers" :

[FCR] is both an efficiency measure and an effectivenesss measure. It is a leading indicator of customer satisfaction because customers want their support requests resolved immediately. Also important to the support center because high FCR saves money. Beware of putting too much focus on this metric without balancing it with re-open rates.

As you can see, there is a caveat at the end of the definition. We know that you only hire the best, most ethical and hard-working support agents for your customer service center, but just in case, keep in mind that most metrics can be influenced by user behavior. In this case, an agent may "resolve" an issue and close it when it is not really resolved. The ticket must then be re-opened or a new one created to complete the resolution.

A shorter, more mathematical definition comes from the SQM Group:

...FCR performance is the percentage of customers who achieved call resolution in one call.

In other words, the name is pretty self-explanatory.

According to the SQM Group, the current call center industry average for number of calls to resolve a customer's problem is 1.4; one-third of customers must call back to complete the resolution. How satisfied do you suppose that one-third is with the service they received?

As I mentioned in a previous post, not all calls can be resolved the first time. Complex problems may require multiple troubleshooting steps, long processing times, or are simply the contact center version of a case for Dr. House.  With a quality product, this should be rare. Increasing FCR rates will give your contact center more time to deal with these calls when they do come in.

Well, that is enough to wrap your head around for one day. See the next post (Customer Support Metrics 101: Measuring First Call Resolution) to learn about best practices in measuring this metric.

Contact center, call center, help desk—all of these terms are used by companies when they tell their customers who to call if something about the product goes wrong; so does that mean that those terms are synonyms?  Many would think so. They are tightly interconnected but they refer to different things.

Contact Centers

A contact center is the umbrella under which everything else is nestled.  It utilizes an incoming/outgoing system of customer connection.  An important part of multichannel support, a contact center uses call centers to manage incoming inquiries and messages, while also incorporating e-mail newsletters and support, live chat, snail mail, and other forms of customer interaction. 

Companies often use contact centers as the basis of customer relationship management (CRM). Contact centers are also called customer interaction centers or e-contact centers.  Often specialized software is used to store contact information, route information to other people or departments, track contacts, and gather data.

Call Centers

A call center, on the other hand, is the branch of a contact center that deals only with incoming and outgoing phone calls.  A business may have separate call centers focused strictly on incoming calls or outgoing calls.  The incoming calls can include customers needing help with the company’s product and other inquiries, while outgoing calls often consist of follow-up surveys.  Call centers can be located anywhere, so companies often outsource their call centers to a managed services business to help them save costs. 

Outsourcing a United States call center overseas seemed to be a less expensive alternative to local support, but there were some shortcomings with that approach that have caused companies to pull their call centers back to the U.S. One of the problems was accented English that the customer had difficulty understanding.  This is one reason why many customers prefer online customer service outlets and help desks.

Help Desks

Help desks, although similar to a call center, is typically an internal IT support desk geared toward supporting a company’s other employees with their technical issues.  This can include everything from password resets and issues with a single desk-top computer to network problems and updates for the various software packages in use.

As you can see, there is a distinct difference between a contact center, a call center, and a help desk even though they all have over-lapping qualities.  A contact center is a must-have for every company, but instead of just being a call center, be flexible and offer your customer more options by having email, live chat, and other interactive media as part your contact center repertoire. 

Does anyone have different definitions for these terms? Do you call your contact center something different? We would love to hear from you. Leave a comment so we can find out what everyone thinks.

What comes to mind when you hear the term “streamline”?  I see visions of muscle cars racing in my head with deep red paint jobs, black leather interiors, smooth lines, gentle curves, and V-12 engines that scream, “I am speed! Hear me roar!”

Such powerful vehicles wouldn’t have such speed without smooth lines and gentle curves. Streamlining in this case is improving aerodynamics, reducing drag, and increasing speed capabilities.

Well, within the last few years, the business world has been adopting the term to refer to creating faster processes. If a customer service center is streamlined, operations within that department run smoothly and quickly with few issues. So how do you go about streamlining your customer support center?

Here are two tools that can help: an Online Self-Help Center and Web Chat.

Self-help centers are wonderful inventions for both the customer and the business. The customer doesn’t have to waste precious time waiting in line for eternity. At their own leisure they can look through the knowledge base, FAQ section, and forums at any time day or night. They can even do research in their PJs. On the business end, self-help centers help decrease the number of service calls a company receives, which gives agents the time to troubleshoot more complex problems.

Web chat, or Live Chat, is also a very good tool for reducing phone traffic and saving customers’ time. Live Chat allows an agent to work with more customers per hour with shorter interactions and occasional multiple simultaneous chats. Live Chat allows for a fast resolution when the customer needs a little more than a self-help center.

A Self-Service Center and Live Chat are only two ways of streamlining your business. If you want more ways to make your customer service and support run as smooth as possible, check out PhaseWare’s customer service solutions for small to medium businesses.

Many companies want to improve customer service, but in the world of information overload it is easy to become overwhelmed. But like any project, taking one step at a time will get you to the finish line.

The white paper, Hone Your Support Desk Tool: 3 Keys to Optimizing the Support Desk Process, outlines some first steps towards using software tools for customer service improvement, from process mapping to the decisions required to make sense of the data the technological process pulls in. User requirements, feedback, data usage and reporting are all steps along the road to customer service excellence.    

Download Hone Your Support Desk Tool: 3 Keys to Optimizing the Support Desk Process, and start down this road today. Customer service excellence is the Emerald City at its end. 

When was the last time you gave thought to the people answering customer questions, troubleshooting customer problems, and selling customers product? And what was your attitude toward them and the contact center in general?

Too often, those in direct contact with the most vital component of your business, your customers, are often treated as drones who are uneducated, unmotivated, and generally incapable of acting human.

Now, if this is the type of call center agent you have it is because this is the type of call center agent you hired. In an effort to save a few pennies in wages, customer service and support is sacrificed. And it is a sacrifice........customers who have even a single bad customer service and support experience are gone forever, no second chances. There is another company down the road only too happy to offer the customer what you did not: customer service and support that solved their problems, offered them new or extended solutions, anything to keep them happy and coming back for more.

Maybe what I just wrote sounds harsh, maybe puts people on the defensive. But poor customer service and support has not, is not, and never will be good for business. Whatever meager savings are gained from shorting the very staff that is in direct contact with the people who keep your company afloat is lost in spades. In a good economy having good customer service and support is good business. In a poor economy, good customer service and support is essential.

I cannot stress enough: Those who work directly with your customers are your biggest asset. You could have the best widget in the world, but if a customer cannot get good service, your company will never sell them another of those widgets, nor sell any to their friends, nor anyone following their Twitter stream, read their their blog, or seen their opinions about your company in community forums. No amount of marketing, price reduction, or other efforts to repair your reputation will save you. People are far more likely to trust the aforementioned resources than they are to trust anything a company puts out.

Phew! OK, the pummeling is over. I'm sorry I had to do that but it was for your own good.

There have been innumerable articles, blog posts (mine included), whole books even about customer experience, customer service and support, contact center management, customer retention, on and on and on. It can seem overwhelming. And you feel like you don't have time to read any of it anyway, you are trying to keep your business going.

But you don't really need any of those resources if you put yourself in your customer's place as part of any decision making activity you undertake. Just stop for a moment when a suggestion that negatively impacts the contact center is put on the table. Imagine if you needed help from someone who has just taken a pay cut, had more work piled on them, was denied appropriate training. What kind of help would you get? How would it make you feel? And would you ever buy that company's products again? 

Go sit with your customer service and support agents on a regular basis. Listen to the calls, read the emails, watch the customer forums. And learn how your agents treat your customers. If you have taken care of your contact center agents, you will be astounded at their expertise, their diplomacy, their very desire to help.

If you haven't, you will see first hand just what that is doing to your business.