How to improve FCR and surpass the industry standard

How to improve FCR and surpass the industry standard cucm cisco

It’s good practice to measure FCR for an issue based on the first interaction, regardless of the channel used. You should also measure FCR at two levels: aggregate and per channel. These metrics can help you compare channel effectiveness, and pinpoint gaps that you need to address with solid actions – expand chatbot knowledgebase, improve website navigation, etc.

CRM integration, as well as tools like click-to-dial, can provide the relevant customer information, context, and insights to streamline the support workflow and improve FCR.

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) software ensures that the agent with the right skills interacts with customers for a particular query type. This can help reduce escalations and speed up resolution.

Case Escalations

In this article, a case (or call) escalation refers to an escalation from an agent to a supervisor. This is an issue that needs to be tackled on priority because it could indicate serious gaps in an agent’s skills or training.

The industry benchmark for case escalation: Less than 10% (of cases)

How to lower call escalation rate and surpass the industry standard

Training – or rather re-training – agents is a good way to rein in case of escalations. Use call recordings to understand where they’re struggling, and deliver training that addresses those key lag areas.

Another proven strategy is to provide agents with the knowledge and context they need to successfully resolve issues to the customer’s satisfaction. CRM and other integrations (ServiceNow, Zendesk, etc.), click-to-dialer, and agent scripts can be useful.

Another way to reduce escalations is via a Supervisor Desktop. With real-time data about agent performance, this tool enables supervisors to monitor agents’ performance, and take the necessary decisions to re-skill or upskill the “back-benchers”. They can also drop in on live calls to assist agents (and customers), reduce hold/wait times, and prevent escalations.

QA scoring (Call Quality Analysis)

QA scoring is a way to assess a call center’s call quality. It involves analyzing recorded calls and comparing them to preset standards around professionalism, courteousness, greetings, etc.

This is a very popular metric with an accepted industry standard of 75-90%, i.e. scoring 4 random calls per month.

Many contact centers don’t meet this industry standard. This can be problematic because QA scoring is a useful way to identify common issues, enhance agent performance, standardize/benchmark communication processes, and improve customer experiences. It is also a critical tool to measure improvement over time and to identify the steps needed to consistently deliver the ideal customer experience.

How to improve QA scoring and surpass the industry standard

Peer feedback sessions where agents randomly analyze each others’ calls can help improve QA scoring. This can be a weekly exercise, with the scoring agent (this can be a rotating role with each agent assigned as the scorer for one week) providing feedback on each scored call. This powerful technique can eliminate conflicts with the quality department. It is also a great way to build a culture of coaching, learning, and continuous improvement.

Interaction analytics provide a data-driven method to improve QA scoring. An automated scorecard measures various performance indicators, such as advisor quality, customer satisfaction, and compliance risk. It also provides objective feedback to agents and empowers them to improve their own performance. It can also be used to design and personalize training programs for agents.