Have you ever called customer service or assistance, been assured your problem has been handled, only to be compelled to call back because the offered solution didn’t work? This is an example of a corporation failing to satisfy first call resolution expectations, sometimes known as “first contact resolution” or simply FCR.
Most firms can’t afford to fall short on the first-call resolution since it’s generally associated with bad customer service, which costs businesses a range between $75 billion to $1.6 trillion each year. Continue reading to learn more about first call resolution, how to evaluate it, and what best practices to employ for an excellent customer experience.
What is the First Call Resolution?
FCR is an acronym that every contact center professional has heard, but what does it mean? In essence, First Call Resolution is the capacity to fix client issues on the first attempt, without the need for follow-up. FCR is an important call center indicator for measuring business performance:
How Do I Measure My First Call Resolution?
According to a recent survey, 60 percent of contact center respondents said they utilize FCR. Despite widespread deployment, there is no industry-standard method for collecting data.
A system-based strategy appears to produce accurate results at first glance. While call transfer and callback data can be used to assess First Call Resolution, this method has drawbacks.
Consider a CRM system that simply stores a customer’s home phone number. What happens if the customer calls from a cell phone or a work number? The system may not recognize the customer’s subsequent call as a repeat call.
In addition, a consumer may come back within a few days with a query unrelated to their original call. Both of these common instances have the potential to bias an organization’s FCR analysis. Organizations may also utilize call quality monitoring to get FCR statistics. This can happen in conjunction with agent input or on its own.
Another typical way is to obtain consumer feedback using a post-interaction survey. Companies utilize this strategy to ask customers if their issues have been remedied.
Importance of call centers
Customers have high expectations when it comes to customer service. They want their concerns addressed and resolved as soon as possible. When clients call for service or assistance, organizations must have agents available, and those with call centers can better serve customers in need.
Call centers can make an organization available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or during a timeframe that corresponds to client expectations. Customer phone calls are valuable for reasons other than customer service. With some products or services, phone calls are the only way for enterprises to contact clients and hence the only way to connect with customers personally.
Since there is so much variety to what an answering service does, doing an answering service vs call center services comparison is important as you identify and build relationships with key stakeholders in your business. You can identify key personnel in a call center and leverage their influence in the business to provide a seamless branding experience for your company.
Why Is First Call Resolution So Important?
Why does FCR stand out among all the other techniques to evaluate call center performance? Most notably, it’s a clear way of viewing a call center conversation through customers’ eyes.
Most consumers would prefer to resolve concerns or the reason for their call by the first person they dial into rather than being transferred. They also expect their calls to be handled correctly the first time they call. This expectation for rapid issue resolution is growing as self-service becomes the norm. Customers frequently try to resolve issues on their own, as Forrester confirms.
How does this affect your call center? You must understand that clients perceive interaction with a support center as an escalation. To manage an increasing number of complicated customer complaints, you also need highly qualified and well-trained agents with access to extensive knowledge libraries.
Call centers that accept this fact will find it easier to meet their clients’ expectations. Indeed, global research shows that customers prefer first-call resolution. According to the findings of the study, the most significant part of a successful service experience was “having my issue handled in a single conversation.”
Measure First Call Contact Resolution
First Call Resolution should be at the top of your list of call center KPIs to track. FCR provides vital insight into how customers perceive your company. You can see if you are addressing issues or incurring unnecessary difficulties.
FCR has an impact on other important call center KPIs. FCR improvements have been linked to operating expenses, turnover, and sales reductions. To calculate FCR, you must first create a clear data collecting and calculation strategy. You can use industry standards as a reference, but keep an eye out for developing trends.
Modern businesses are now considering each customer interaction in the context of the customer journey and emphasizing first contact resolution rather than first call resolution. These businesses are effectively utilizing customer journey analytics software to compute FCR and improve CX and make effective customer engagement decisions at each touchpoint.