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    Customer Support Metrics

 

We work with our clients on evaluating  and improving their  Call Center / Support Center metrics such as Response Time, Resolve Time, First Contact Resolution Rate, Call Abandon Rate, etc.  Our metrics philosophy is given in the Q&A segments below.

 

Question: Metrics may induce wrong behaviors, and distract from providing the best possible support to customers just to make the numbers. Are metrics really important in a well run Support Center? 

Answer: While it is true that you cannot manage by numbers alone, it is impossible to make the most of your team without tracking and sharing objectives on a regular basis.  Can you imagine playing on a team when you never really know the score?

Question: So what should a Support Center be measured on?

Answer: There are only two areas to measure:
a) How well customers are being served (Customer Centered Metrics)
b) How efficient the Support Center is in providing services (Efficiency Metrics)

Question: What are Customer Centered Metrics?

Answer: These metrics relate to the perception of service a customer receives.

Question: How could they be measured?

Answer: Well, one way is to ask a customer, through a survey, how happy he/she is.  There are two types of surveys.  The first type, called a  periodic customer satisfaction survey, measures customer satisfaction after the services are delivered, sometimes many months after.  The second type, called an event driven survey, or transaction survey, measures customer satisfaction immediately after the service is delivered.

Question: How accurate are these measurements?

Answer: It depends.  Some are better than others.  The problems come with choosing the right people to talk to, formulating the right questions, getting balanced responses from people who like and dislike the level of support received, and from processing surveys.  Another major problem is that surveys are usually lagging indicators, sometimes giving a measurement delayed as much as a year.

Question: Can you be more specific?

Answer: For example, a customer has a problem and calls a support center on Jan 1; a ticket is opened with a resolution time of 60 days.  The support center is overworked and the ticket is closed late on May 1.  This and other "news" about poor service filter up in the customer's organization to a decision maker (an executive who will answer our survey).  This takes some time.  Then on June 15, the executive is asked to respond to the survey questions.  Fortunately, he/she is called on the phone (no paper questionnaire) and there is no further delay.  However the survey involves 50 more executives.  As they are called the completion date moves to September 1.  Then surveys are processed.  The first draft is rejected, the "final results" ready on Nov 1, the Executive reading is on Nov 15, and the employee Town Meeting on Dec 15.  Action plans to remedy poor customer support start well into next year.

Question: Is there any way to get a faster turnaround?

Answer: Perceptions are built over time. One way to get a faster response is to tap somewhere earlier on the perception chain.  For example if event driven surveys are used, we could get information before our customer's executives get it from their own people.

Question: Sounds good.  So why are event driven surveys not being used very often?

Answer: Who said they are not?  It depends on a company.  Companies getting top rates in customer satisfaction use them quite often.  But remember, the event driven surveys are still not leading indicators.

Question: Leading indicators?

Answer: These are indirect metrics that measure our service before it even hits our customer.  For example, we know how many tickets are overdue (% Overdue).  The customer does not.  We know exactly First Contact Resolution rate.  The customer does not. We know how many tickets were resolved on time (% Resolved Within Objectives).  The customer does not. We could go on and on.

Question: I think I am getting it.  The sooner I measure the Service Quality, the sooner I can act.  So far we talked about Customer Centered Metrics. What about Efficiency Metrics?

Answer: Efficiency Metrics measure how well (efficient) you run your support operations.  They measure how many resources you use to get results that manifest later in Customer Perception of the service you deliver.  For example, it measures the volume of your tickets, their Severity, how many engineers are employed to answer questions, how many people surround engineers who answer questions, how much people cost, how much support tools cost, how many calls were avoided (customer self serve) etc.?

Question: Now I have a headache.  So many metrics. Which metrics should I use?

Answer: Just a few to get the Big Picture.  Certainly you need to measure Customer Satisfaction (with an understanding that it is just a lagging indicator that confirms what you should have already expected), use also Event Driven Surveys, have one or two leading indicators (for example %Overdue and %Resolved Within Objectives), and have one or two Efficiency Metrics (for example Volume of tickets and the Cost of Providing Support). And let's be clear.  Metrics are just a useless expense and distraction to the business if they are not followed with goals, regular reviews, and actionable activities.