10 most important call center KPIs you should be tracking

There are hundreds of call center KPI’s to choose from. Which ones should you measure? Here’s our list of 10 most important call center metrics you should be tracking.

Key takeaways:

There’s no such thing as a peaceful day at a call center. Calls seem to never end, and you have plenty of decisions to make every day. But you can’t just make decisions on a whim. To make the right decision, you need data. And you do get a lot of data daily – sometimes more than you can handle. To not drown in the endless amount of data, you need to have a set of metrics with essential data for your business.

Those metrics are called Key Performance Indicators (or KPI for short). Call center KPI’s are measurable values that show whether your team is on the right track on achieving your business objectives. You can also use them to look for any internal issues you should take care of. 

The problem is, there are hundreds of call center KPI’s to choose from.

• Which ones should you measure?
• How can you separate the metrics you currently need from those who don’t have much value for your business?

We got you covered! Here are 10 of the most critical call center KPIs you should be tracking.

Best KPIs to use in your call center

#1 Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

One of the most important call center KPIs is the customer satisfaction rate. If it’s high, then it means your customers are delighted with the service you provide. But if it’s not, then it’s high time to have a look at potential issues inside your call center. 

The fastest and most effective way of learning about the potential reasons for customer dissatisfaction is to use customer satisfaction surveys. Those are a fantastic way to learn what customers think about:

• your product service,
• what problems they have,
• and is there something they would suggest you should work on.

After getting feedback from the surveys, you can then pinpoint the exact reason for low customer satisfaction and look for actions you should take to improve the situation.

#2 Net Promoter Score (NPS)

While NPS might seem to be identical to the Customer Satisfaction score, there’s a slight difference. Customer Satisfaction score only counts the satisfaction of a customer at a given moment. Net Promoter Score meanwhile is measuring how likely the customer is to recommend a product or service to others. 

High NPS not only means that your customers are satisfied with your product but that they are also likely to buy more often and recommend your company to others. Since NPS surveys can be quickly prepared, it’s a great way to find out which of your clients are the most loyal ones and which are likely to churn. 

#3 The number of blocked calls

This is one of the metrics that have a direct impact on customers’ satisfaction rates. Blocked Calls KPI shows you the percentage of callers that heard the busy tone when they were calling you.

If your customers hear a busy signal, usually it means all of your agents are busy, or that technical issues are preventing your agents from answering the call. To improve this metric, you must first find out what is the exact cause of the high number of blocked calls (understaffing, lack of adequate training, technical issues) and then look for a solution. Maybe your agents need more training, or maybe you should schedule more agents during peak hours?

Another reason for the high amount of blocked calls might be your call center software that can no longer catch up with the amount of calls. If that’s the case, it’s high time for a system upgrade! 

#4  Call Arrival Rate

This metric tracks the number of daily calls throughout the month. Based on this call center KPIs you can easily find out at what times you need to schedule more agents for the increased call volume but also on what times of the day you have the lowest number of calls.

You can also pinpoint any days where the number of calls was exceptionally high or low. With this metric, you can predict when you expect the most people will call and schedule your agents’ work accordingly. 

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#5 Average wait time (AWT)

This metric will show you the total call queue waiting time, divided by the total number of calls answered. Why should you use this metric? Today, spending several minutes in a queue waiting for an available agent is out of the question.

Two-thirds of people said they’re only willing to wait on hold for two minutes or less. The longer it takes a caller to reach an agent, the more likely the caller is to dismiss the call and give you negative feedback. That also leads to increased…

#6 Average Time to Abandon (ATA)

The average abandonment rate is the percentage of calls from customers that hung up before being connected to an agent.

• If your abandonment rate is between 5-8%, you have no reason to worry
• If it’s higher than 10%, you should have a closer look at why your agents aren’t able to connect with the callers. 

Maybe it’s because your team is understaffed and there are not enough agents during peak hours. If you have any technical issues that decrease your agents’ efficiency, this might increase the KPI as well. Each client that hung up is a missed opportunity, so keep an eye on this metric.

#7  Average Handle Time (AHT)

Average Handle Time measures the time starting from the customer initiating the call to the time when an agent is ready to start another call. That includes the time the caller spent in the queue, talking with an agent, and any post-call tasks the agent has to do after finishing the call.

It’s a great metric if you want to assess the efficiency and performance of your agents. Be careful when optimizing it though! Rushing agents to finish calls as quickly as possible might improve your AHT rate, but it will also decrease customer satisfaction. 

#8 Average After Call Work Time (ACW)

The call center agent’s work isn’t only about answering the calls and solving the customers’ issues. After each call, agents also spend time on:

• updating databases
• completing transaction reports
• informing team members about the call
• reporting issues

If your ACW metric is high, it might mean that either your agents require more training or that they are overloaded with post-call tasks. A good tip here is to train your agents in doing some of the post-call tasks during the call. 

Call center systems like CloudTalk can also help in lowering your agent’s post-call workload – it can be connected with your company’s CRM system, to add or update customer’s data automatically. 

#9 First Call Resolution (FCR)

Do you have an FCR metric in your call center KPI mix? If not, you definitely should. Having a caller issue solved on the first call is a guaranteed way of boosting your reputation and customer satisfaction rate. On the other hand, having them call different agents and explaining their issues each time can end in negative feedback and them switching to a rival company.

Have a look at this statistic: According to SQM Group, only 3% of customers out of those who had their problem solved during the first call are likely to churn. For the second and next calls, the likelihood of the customer leaving your company rises to 38%!

#10 Agent Turnover Rate

Besides tracking your customers’ satisfaction with your company, you should also spend time checking on your agents. You can’t have excellent customer support without your agents after all. If they are positive and motivated, that boosts both your customer service and the team morale. But if your agents quit after a short time to work elsewhere though and you have to look for new employees continuously, that should be alarming. 

Not only your team morale drops when employees change frequently, but you also lose time and money on recruiting and training new agents. If that’s your problem as well, talk with your team to find out what’s causing the problems.

Is it excessive pressure, workload, feeling underappreciated, or maybe they have problems with dealing with abusive calls? Then, after you get their feedback, you can take steps to improve their working environment – and that will improve the customer support they offer as well. 

Choose only crucial KPIs for your call center

When it comes to call centers KPIs, the most important thing is to select the right ones for your business out of the dozens possible. Picking the right mix of metrics ensures your call center is working efficiently, your agents are performing the best they can without feeling overwhelmed, and your customers know they can depend on your business. 

Luckily, CloudTalk can help you with keeping an eye on the most critical metrics for your business so you won’t miss a thing.