The FCR or First Contact Resolution formula is one of the most important metrics when measuring the performance of contact center services. The First Contact Resolution metric focuses on initial calls that did not require any further contact from a customer service rep. It is most commonly a percentage of these calls out of the total number of calls during a period. Read on to discover more about this metric, how to measure it, and how to drive up your own FCR percentage.
The First Contact Resolution Formula
Calculating the First Contact Resolution for an Omnichannel contact center, for example, is fairly simple for any given period. The formula is: FCR = (Number of resolutions at first contact/total contacts handled) * 100%
To calculate a more accurate FCR, both variables should be from the same period. Businesses can calculate an FCR for a single shift, a full day, a week, a month, a quarter, or even on an annual basis. For each period, the FCR metric should be able to tell you how efficiently your contact center representatives are resolving customer needs without needing a subsequent follow-up.
What Does a First Contact Resolution FCR Percentage Measure?
The FCR metric is one of the most important indicators of how well a contact center is operating. In BPO service models involving contact centers, the FCR is always one of the most important stats that a client focuses on to evaluate performance. An FCR percentage can offer insight into how well (and how efficiently) your agents perform when dealing with calls. And, as a bonus, it can also offer an understanding of potential satisfaction levels among the callers/customers.
Calculating First Call Resolutions
Calculating the FCR is not too hard when you have the necessary information on hand. For example, let’s say you want to measure the FCR percentage of an inbound call center. You start by dividing the total number of cases resolved on the first call by the total number of calls your agents handled during a period. You then multiply the resulting figure by 100 to arrive at the percentage of your total calls that were resolved at first contact.
If your FCR percentage is too low, it could indicate problems with how your agents or processes handle resolutions. On the other hand, a higher FCR percentage indicates your agents are doing great at resolving their needs efficiently and keeping customers satisfied. Measuring first-call resolutions allows businesses to improve their contact center operations and performance.
Determining If Your First Contact Resolution FCR Rate Is Good
Maintaining a good FCR is crucial for contact center success. But what benchmark should you measure it against? Generally speaking, the industry standard for a good FCR rate is usually between 70-75% of total calls. In other words, contact center personnel should be aiming to meet the needs of at least 70-75% of their callers on the first contact, at any given time. A rate that is any lower could merit a more careful evaluation of personnel and operations.
How to Improve FCR Rate
Do your most recent FCR percentages leave room for improvement? There can be several ways to boost FCR rates, depending on how your contact center operates. At the very least, try implementing these best practices:
Capturing and Tracking the Right Analytics
To improve an FCR rate, businesses must know what metrics to gather and track. This can often involve both historical data as well as real-time information. You can configure several contact center analytics tools to gather, segment, and track the areas that need the most attention for an improved first contact resolution.
Acquiring or Upgrading the Right Tech
Having the right technology and equipment in place gives businesses a competitive edge when it comes to contact centers. Technology can automate certain operational aspects, allowing reps to dedicate most of their productive time to handling customer retention and resolving them more efficiently. For example, using a predictive dialer for an outbound contact center or a smart call routing system for incoming calls allow reps to handle a larger number of calls/contacts.
Empowering Agents with the Right Tools
When targeting an improvement in FCR rates, businesses must also consider empowering their agents with the tools and information necessary to do their jobs more effectively. For example. access to helpful information, product knowledge, and customer insights can give them everything they need to tackle most customer needs. It also saves the time they would otherwise spend looking for this information, adversely impacting other performance metrics like average call handling time.
Offering Stronger and More Effective Training
Finally, businesses should invest in creating stronger and more effective training processes. A consistently low FCR could be a direct result of certain knowledge or communication gaps in the training process. But with better training, agents may be able to start handling customer contacts faster and more effectively than they currently do.
Conclusion
First Contact Resolution is a reliable indicator of contact center performance. By extension, it can even help measure customer satisfaction levels. But calculating it is not a standalone fix to address contact center agent performance. Businesses can improve their FCR continuously, by following some industry best practices and keeping it above benchmarked standards.