The impact of the first call on customer satisfaction
It is possible that when talking with a customer service center, we ask ourselves what is the way that companies have to evaluate the attention and work of the operators. It seems logical that after investing in sophisticated CRM, call center software or a virtual switchboard, it is necessary that a company dedicated to massive call traffic, consider some indicators when evaluating their work and that of employees. So. How do they do that?
The resolution of the first call.
Numerous investigations related to the call center market reveal that no other indicator has a greater impact on customer satisfaction than this so-called «first call resolution» or «FCR.» And it is precisely thanks to these call center software, CRM or to its virtual switchboard, as it is possible to collect enough data for its evaluation.
The resolution of the first call is neither more nor less than the ability to resolve any concern, doubt or any result assimilable to that in the first telephone contact, the final customer has achieved what he was looking for.
The same studies show that each percentage point of success in this first call directly represents a percentage point in the perception of customer satisfaction.
Additional advantages
The increase in satisfaction is not the only benefit of a call center focused on the first call resolution. In addition to this, call centers with a high success rate in this task undoubtedly achieve much lower operating costs. Since not solve initially will generate a certain number of repetitions of calls, companies will be doubling or tripling the number of operators, use of their virtual switchboard and VoIP costs or they will be losing additional customer service opportunities.
But this successful first call will also have benefits for the company’s own workers. We all know how annoying it can be to work with a dissatisfied client. By avoiding frequent calls from frustrated clients due to the initial non-resolution of their need, job satisfaction rates increase significantly, resulting in an exponential success of agents, supervisors and the entire operation.
How satisfaction is valued: adopting the right approach.
Although we have already seen that it should be taken into account to consider a call resolved, it should be noted that not all companies adopt a similar approach. Some of them program their CRMs or establish their indicators considering that the simple need of transferring that first call or subsequent follow-up work can be considered a success.
However, although it may seem like a solid approach to measuring quality, it may be incomplete by not taking into account something essential: the customer’s own satisfaction.
Post-call surveys, by phone call or email should be the icing on the cake in these situations. At the end of the day, in these technological times, it is still applicable that the customer always -or almost- is right.
