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Articles & Papers
First Call Resolution: Still #1 Driver of Customer
Satisfaction
by
Rosanne D’Ausilio, PhD
Certainly first call resolution continues to remain the #1 driver
of customer satisfaction. The costs associated with customers having
to contact you more than once or twice, and then defecting to your
competition are steep.
According to a Yankee Group study 30 – 35% of calls coming
into the average center are unnecessary repeat calls. And, 65%
of all repeat calls are reportedly the result of agent errors,
such as: No confident answer, the wrong answer, someone doesn’t
follow through on commitment, and the customer will call back.
Customer Relationship Metrics’ research reports that caller
satisfaction ratings will be 35% to 45% lower when a second call
is made on the same issue.
Yet another study conducted by Service Quality Measurement Group
reported that for every 1% improvement in FCR, you get 1% improvement
in customer satisfaction. Additionally, if a customer’s inquiry
or problem were resolved in the first call, only 3% of those customers
were at risk of going to a competitor.
On the other hand, 34% of customers who didn’t get their
inquiry or problem resolved were likely to go to a competitor.
Do you know what losing that customer cost you?
The challenge still exists today as to how to define and then measure
FCR accurately, effectively, and efficiently. Some centers allow
agents to determine if the customer’s issue were resolved
on first contact. The problem here obviously is that it’s
totally subjective.
Some centers use their QA people to decide whether calls were resolved
on first contact. This method is based on a random sampling and
doesn’t reflect a complete picture.
Other centers use post-call surveys and directly ask the customer
whether or not their issue was resolved on the first contact.
To my way of thinking, the best way to determine the question of
resolution is to ask your customer. Many technical programs, measurements,
etc. will provide data that may be useful for internal purposes,
but please don’t forget the customer. In the final analysis,
it’s the customer’s perception that matters.
And finally, I believe that first call resolution is a training
issue. If your personnel have the communication skills, the knowledge
base, and the empowerment, you can eliminate those second and third
calls, as well as the misinformation.
On May 19th at 1 pm EDT, I am presenting a live webinar on First
Call Resolution: How to Define and Measure. Go here to learn more
about it and to register http://www.iccaevent.com/first_call_resolution.html Note: Your entire team can be present for one enrollment fee!
ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., an industrial psychologist, consultant,
master trainer, best selling author, executive coach, customer
service expert, and President of Human Technologies Global, Inc.,
specializes in human performance management. Over the last nearly
25 years, she has provided needs analyses, instructional design,
and customized, live customer service skills trainings as well
as executive/leadership coaching. Also offered is agent and facilitator
university certification through Purdue University’s Center
for Customer Driven Quality.
Known as 'the practical
champion of the human,' she authors best 6 sellers “Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction
Hub,” 4th ed, “Customer Service and the Human Experience,” “Lay
Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck (includes
32-card deck of cards)—motivational and inspirational readings,
How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: 101 Insider Tips,
How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: ANOTHER 101 Insider
Tips, as well as her popular complimentary ‘tips’ newsletter
on How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch! at http://www.HumanTechTips.com Her latest endeavor is The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service,
a compilation of 28 articles at http://www.customer-service-expert.com/report.htm and now available on Kindle!
Rosanne is also a Certified Call Center Benchmarking Auditor through
Purdue University's Center for Customer Driven Quality. This certification
training focuses on the access and use of key performance data
to help better understand benchmarking results so as to advise
on practical solutions for improvement.
For 10 years prior to starting her own organization, Rosanne had
responsibility for marketing, budgeting, promoting and ultimately
producing domestic and international computerized trade shows in
the US, London, Belgium, and Frankfurt. She inaugurated, created,
trained and directed a telemarketing on-site staff and was one
of the first 150 people to attain CMP (Certified Meeting Professional)
certification in 1987.
She is a columnist for TMCnet.com, Ask the Expert at supportindustry.com,
and The National Networker. She represents the human element on
the Advisory Board of an Italian software company, authors numerous
articles for industry newsletters, and is a much sought after dynamic,
vibrant, internationally prominent keynote speaker.
.
To submit an article, please email prem@iccaevent.com
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