Many companies focus on hiring friendly customer service agents and implementing policies that make the buying experience as pleasant as possible. Unfortunately, supervisors often fail to track key performance indicators that help determine if the service provided meets customer expectations. If you don't track customer service metrics, you really have no way of knowing if your policies and procedures are helping or hurting your company.
One of the most important customer service metrics to track is conversion rate. Conversion rate is the percentage of people who buy something or take another desired action after interacting with a customer service professional. If 5 of the 100 people who ask for assistance eventually buy something, your conversion rate is 5 percent. Tracking your conversion rate can help you determine if your agents need additional training.
If you provide customer service via the telephone, contact volume and average resolution time are important metrics. Tracking contact volume helps you determine which service channels your customers use to ask for help. If you offer support via telephone, chat service and social media, tracking contact volume can help you decide which channel should receive the most resources and support. Average resolution time refers to the average amount of time it takes to solve customer service issues. If it takes agents longer than it should to solve problems and answer customer questions, you'll know you need to provide additional training.
If you don't already document each complaint or problem reported to your customer service agents, start doing so. Once you've built up a comprehensive database of customer issues, have support personnel review closed cases when they are not actively helping current customers. Reviewing resolved issues can help your agents learn new ways of dealing with customer complaints. Supervisors and managers should also review closed complaints regularly. Doing so makes it easier to determine which employees should be promoted or given additional responsibilities.
Many supervisors shy away from calculating turnover rate, but it's something you need to know if you are going to manage a customer service team effectively. Turnover rate refers to the percentage of employees who leave your company within a specific time period, usually one year. Companies with lower turnover rates typically deliver better customer service because their employees are happier and more productive. If you have a high turnover rate, look for ways to improve retention of your most talented customer service agents.
If supervising customer service personnel is one of your job duties, don't forget to track several key performance indicators. Tracking conversion rate, contact volume, average resolution time, and resolved issues can help you determine if your agents need additional training to provide a better customer experience. Poor customer service is often related to a high turnover rate, in which case your company may need to revise its employee retention strategy.
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