First Call Resolution Rate
What is First Call Resolution Rate?
The First Call Resolution Rate (FCR) is a critical customer service metric, as it measures the number of customer interactions that your support staff is able to resolve at the first time of asking.
Of course the highest this number is, the larger is the number of new requests the agents can manage. In terms of customer satisfaction, FCR can impact your customer loyalty to your brand, and therefore help you find retaining customers who endorse your brand.
How do you calculate First Call Resolution?
There is a formula for calculating First Call Resolution Rate but first, you need to customize the FCR for your company according to your business’ communication channels, your staff’s skillset, and organizational best practices. It is all based on how you want to rate a resolved call, and to precisely define it you should decide first:
- What channels do you want to apply FCR to?
- What does it mean to resolve a customer’s problem?
- How much time do you wait before counting a call as FCR?
- A customer can be satisfied straight after the call, but after a while he may find that he still has the same problem.
- How do you manage a call escalation in FCR?
- Do standard callback influence FCR?
- Does a customer contacting the wrong department affect FCR?
- How do you count abandoned calls due to wait times?
Once you have defined the above criteria, the formula to apply is: First Call Resolution Rate = (Total Resolved Cases / Total Number of Cases) x 100%
Best practices to improve First Call Resolution Rate in the contact center
Here some best practices to improve FCR:
- try to understand the causes of inefficiency also listening to recorded calls
- pay attention to all the relevant customer service KPIs through periodical reports
- train agents are the first step to increase their knowledge base, their performance, and enhance their skills
- motivate your team with inventive programs to stimulate their abilities to solve quickly and efficiently requests
- invest in CRM software integrated into your contact center to track customer history.
This will help saving time, and keep your most valuable resource – customer data- safe and always updated.