First Call Resolution (FCR) is a percentage measure of how many customer queries contact center agents successfully resolve at the first attempt.
While it has often proved tricky to track, contact centers have stood by the metric – understanding just how critical it is to solve queries at the first attempt.
After all, the goal of any contact center is to make their service experience as easy as possible, and calling back multiple times to resolve the same issue expends a huge amount of customer energy. It’s a relationship killer.
The Impact of FCR Operational Efficiency and CSAT
According to an SQM Group study for every one percent improvement in FCR, companies reduce their operating costs by one percent.
Indeed, when businesses increase FCR, they reduce the number of contacts they need to handle. As a result, contact centers can reduce their headcount requirements and cut down their staffing costs.
Meanwhile, the research also found that for every one percent improvement in FCR, there is a one percent growth in customer satisfaction (CSAT) score.
Why? Because as businesses improve FCR, they also reduce customer effort – and that has a significant impact on CSAT – and, consequently, numerous factors that influence bottom line. Those include customer retention, lifetime value, and willingness to recommend the business.
A 2022 study from ContactBabel reaffirms just how crucial FCR is to CSAT rates. It asked 1,000 UK consumers in 2022 what their top three most important factors were when contacting an organization by phone or digital channel.
Resolving an issue at the first attempt was the second most important factor – beaten only by short wait times.
Strategies for Improving FCR Rates
Thankfully, organizations are waking up to what customers want from their customer support teams.
Indeed, the aforementioned ContactBabel report found that 54 percent of businesses believed that FCR is critical to customers.
As such, many are employing strategies to boost FCR rates. Here are three excellent examples.
1. Split FCR Across Intent
Contact centers are becoming much better at tracking their most prevalent customer queries. If they can split FCR across these different customer intents, they may spot the most troublesome issues.