First Call Resolution is a key metric in the contact centre industry, and it is an important element of customer relationship management (CRM). Any customer dreams with first call resolution. For them, it means that with 1 unique phone call, the solution is provided by the customer representative. A high rate of in this KPI impacts positively on customer satisfaction and maximize your resources available.
Why should you aim for First Call Resolution?
First Call Resolution is the call centre’s ability to resolve customer problems, enquiries or questions the first time they call, with no need for a follow-up (another call, e-mail, chat…). The benefits of First Call Resolution can be appreciated in all your business operation, but mostly in the customer experience area.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
The provision of First call resolution impacts overall in customer satisfaction. Quick and accurate responses that directly address a customer’s problem will improve customer experience with your brand. Furthermore, it will showcase your team expertise and experience in your industry and in turn ensure repeat business. Overall, your clients’ satisfaction will be determined by:
- Quality service
- Speed of answer
- Accuracy / Suitability of the response
- Empathy level
Improve customer satisfaction by throwing First Call Resolution in the mix.
Maximize your resources
Through First Call resolution, your team will not have to follow up previous enquiries. This translates on:
- Reduced number of contacts
- Team available to address other customers’ enquiries
- Shorter call duration in unrelated enquiries from the same person (i.e. callers will trust your team)
Additionally, happier customers will impact your team daily activity and overall morale. A more relaxed team in the top of their game will increase their loyalty and reduce your long-term budget.
How to achieve First Call Resolution?
There are three key elements that are paramount for first call resolution in any call centre. These are related to the business definition of process & procedures, the agents’ skillset and the available technology to your team.
Active Listening Skills
First call resolution can be achieved only if the customer problem is fully understood by the call centre agent. Therefore, it is about their skill set and attitude in front of their job.
Active listening translates on fully understanding the problem and being able to gently interrogate the caller to provide the most suitable solution. While some skills can be tough, others can only be recruited. Identifying the right team members for your team is part of the challenge. You should look for the perfect cultural fit.
Call centre procedures training
Training is paramount for the successful delivery of customer support. Call centre agents must be familiar with your processes in order to satisfy any customer information requests.
Overall, you should remember that well-defined procedures will improve the velocity of the response provided to your customers. So it is worthy to invest time to define information needs and designing the best approach to meet them. You could use a customer journey plan as a tool to achieve this.
Suitable Customer Relationship Management
Thirdly, information systems play a vital role in customer support. Call Centre agents will log your customers’ information into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to allow a better case management. These systems can interact with other software such as e-commerce platforms or tracking systems to gain a better understanding of customer buying process. The information provided to your customer representatives will improve First Call resolution as it will reduce the number of interaction with a different department (e.g. warehouse, finance…).
When to achieve First Call resolution?
You should aim for now! Contact us for more information about our call centre services.
