Gauging Customer Satisfaction
While it’s very easy to measure call times, it’s difficult to gauge customer satisfaction. A recent survey revealed that 43% of Americans are willing to wait for an agent for one minute or less. However, 39% of them would rather wait from five to ten minutes. Although there’s no standard for hold times, it’s still a good idea to keep them under 10 minutes.
How to Improve Customer Satisfaction
The first step in improving customer satisfaction is to determine how long it takes to resolve an inquiry. Typically, this is measured by the average resolution time (AHT), which is usually directly proportional to the number of incoming calls. Obviously, short AHT is better for customer satisfaction. Therefore, call center managers should aim to reduce the average resolution time without compromising quality. AHT is the total time an agent takes to resolve a single call and is calculated by multiplying that number by the total number of incoming calls.
Analyzing Your Current Metrics
Once you’ve established the ideal call length, you should analyze your current metrics and implement changes accordingly. If your AHT is too high, you may need to increase the number of agents. A high callback message rate can be an indication that the number of calls needs to be decreased. Another metric to monitor is the number of repeat calls. This metric measures how often the same customer calls a call center and can be a useful tool for tracking common issues and the duration of time you want them to spend on each problem.
