First contact resolution (FCR) is a critical key performance indicator (KPI) in measuring both the quality of the customer experience as well as the efficiency of a contact center. According to research, a 1% improvement in FCR can mean a 1% improvement in customer satisfaction, too. However, it can be a challenge both in terms of measurement and continuous improvement.
When a customer has to repeatedly contact a business to resolve an issue, they get frustrated and very disappointed with the service. On the contrary, when an agent resolves the issue in the very first contact, it creates a better customer experience and marks the operational efficiency of a call center.
Measurement of first contact resolution typically comes down to the customers’ feedback on whether the inquiry was resolved to their satisfaction. You may need to use a number of different tracking methods in order to capture this information.
With a little effort from your end, FCR can be boosted. Want to know about them? Here we have 8 ways to improve your call center FCR:
1. Train call center agents to handle most queries
A skills matrix helps you see the abilities of your agents at a glance. Training programs need to be tailored accordingly with the goal of nurturing and developing your team. A knowledge base for frequently asked questions can help less skilled agents can easily find out ways to resolve common issues.
2. Use call routing technology to find the right agent on the first call
Skill-based routing should be there to ensure customers are matched up with the best agent for the call. Calls should be based on language proficiency or product knowledge and aligned your agents’ skills in real-time. Intelligent call routing or data-directed routing lets you interrogate data within your CRM and factor it into the routing process.
This way, a customer with an ongoing, active complaint could be routed directly to a supervisor. Immediate callbacks to customers who abandon a queue or get disconnected can also help you turn bad customer experience into a service recovery opportunity.
3. Eliminate conflicting KPIs that could work against FCR
If your staff is being measured for Average Handle Time (AHT), it can have a negative impact on successful First Call Resolution. It happens quite often and therefore needs addressing. Eliminating these conflicting KPIs can help agents focus on FCR.
4. Use Incentive to boost FCR
Make your agents aware of the importance of first contact resolution and good customer service. If you want your agents to focus on FCR, it needs to be deeply ingrained within the company culture. You can use incentives to motivate agents to perform against your FCR goals.
5. Measure First Call Resolution consistently
A sophisticated call recording system is essential to quality monitoring and call ratings. However, post-call customer surveys too can be used for measuring first call resolution as only the customer can provide an honest perspective on whether they feel their issue has been resolved. Asking the customers about their experience on social media too can help you get an honest answer. You need to adopt a multi-touchpoint approach to measuring first contact resolution to get the correct picture of customer satisfaction.
6. Encourage feedback from staff
Encourage staff feedback and make it a part of your operation. It will help you understand whether an issue is recurring or not. Acting upon the inputs from the agents will help you nip a recurring problem at the bud.
7. Check your IVR system
You should review your IVR system from time to time to ensure that it is up-t-date and getting the right customer to the right place without delay.
8. Tweak the scripting process to boost FCR
Dynamic agent scripting that integrates with your CRM system can help agents to adequately handle customer issues during the first call resolution.
These are the eight ways you can work on to improve your call center FCR, efficiency, and customer experience.
