We are living in a time of constant change and uncertainty, where it is difficult to predict what will happen tomorrow. Added to this is an increasingly complex landscape, where differentiation between companies is becoming more and more difficult.
In this situation, we stop to ask ourselves: What do Apple and Spotify have in common? What determines the success or failure of a company? The answer is simple: excellent customer service. Customers want to be part of companies that take them into account, where they feel valued, listened to and considered on every aspect and process within their journey.
Briefly, we will define customer service as the way in which we as businesses relate to our customers, engaging in conversations in order to care about the needs and concerns they may have. This includes resolving their queries and meeting their expectations with a positive attitude.
In this article we will focus on one of the main metrics, first contact resolution (FCR), to measure and develop a management system to help us achieve excellent customer service.
What is FCR or First Contact Resolution?
It is a very relevant metric that measures the ability of a company to resolve in the first interaction calls, emails, queries on social networks of its customers. It is important to note that this indicator has a high correlation with customer satisfaction levels that can be found in NPS surveys.
In general, this indicator is found within the call centre channel and is known as first contact resolution in call centre and measures the effectiveness of teams in resolving requests without the customer having to call back. In many companies this indicator is included in the representative's variable percentage, along with NPS or satisfaction.
How is FCR Calculated?
This metric is obtained by calculating the percentage measure of the volume of enquiries resolved on the first contact out of the total number of contacts.
Not to be confused with the internal first call resolution formula which would be: total customers resolved on first call / total customer calls received. Or the external resolution formula: percentage of total customers responding to the survey who were resolved on the first call out to the total number of customers who responded to the survey.
How to Achieve FCR Improvement?
To establish a system for improvement, we need to work on 5 key points:
1. Measure, evaluate and compare the FCR percentage, this will allow to know the level of efficiency of team works. Use internal measurement methods, such as feedback from agents, quality monitoring... And external methods, sending surveys once the interaction has ended. As well as, determine a resolution target and compare the result with the industry standard.
2. Identify and analyze the reasons for repeat enquiries: knowing only one indicator will not allow us to take action, we need to know the reasons for repeat contacts. To do this, a good practice is to identify the customers who did not manage to solve their query or problem in the first contact and find out what happened. Once you start with that procedure, you should develop categories of reasons and then take action. For example, if one of the reasons why we are not getting the expected result is staff knowledge, we should invest in training.
3. Take action! There is no point in measuring and measuring, if we only have data and do not develop action plans. The action plan must be developed and endorsed by top management, and include the different actions to be taken in each case. For example: establish voice of the customer management models, provide tools to manage critical cases, empower agents to improve the customer experience.
As we can see, FCR is a key indicator to measure the efficiency of front office teams at a time when excellence in customer service is essential to differentiate and retain customers, who are willing to pay more or go to the competition in order to receive outstanding treatment. There are different tools that can help us to measure and manage our customers' experience in the different channels, providing a 360ยบ vision:
Qualtrics - Medallia: a platform designed to optimize research into the customer, employee, product and brand experiences of your customers across the company's different channels. As well as managing the close the loop through the management of tickets and alerts or integration with other existing tools within the company.
Winsight: is Izo's own solution, which can be implemented in contact center operations to support quality projects and service audits in the channels (monitoring and surveys) with a focus on Customer Experience. Through the implementation of Winsight it is possible to determine in a short time the main causes of No First Contact Resolution (No FCR) to make an immediate intervention in those points that are generating friction and high unjustified efforts for the customer.
Author: Alea Gonzalez,
Experience Designer.