Financial services call centers must focus on performance measurements that illustrate the center’s level of customer service to become more profitable, notes a study conducted by Cutting Edge Information.
Call center managers tend to measure call efficiency to reduce costs. However, they are often bogged down with so many metrics that it has been increasingly difficult to narrow down which metrics actually demonstrate performance. Common efficiency measures include speed to answer, cost per call or average after call work time.
In order for managers to change call centers from cost units to profit units, they must highlight both financial and non-financial metrics which focus on customer-driven quality. Managers must ask themselves, does this measurement reflect the issues customers value when they contact the company? Important service-oriented metrics include first-call resolution rate, customer retention and customer satisfaction.
“Customers are primarily interested in how well the company can answer their questions,” says Cutting Edge Information Senior Analyst Elio Evangelista. “Measuring how many rings it takes before a rep answers the phone, therefore, is of little use when determining how well the call center serves its customers.”