Many call centres now use VoIP business phone systems, particularly with the landline switch-off happening by 2025.
VoIP software can not only specifically help measure call centre productivity metrics, but it can also identify where employees can improve. This in turn can give customers an improved, more streamlined experience that actually turns leads into sales.
How to Measure Productivity Using VoIP
Here we look in a bit more detail at how call centre productivity can be measured, in conjunction with a VoIP phone system.
1. CSAT (Customer Satisfaction score)
Want to know what your customers really think? Ask them!
An exit survey for example is a great way of gathering real-time feedback, plus it will help you identify any trends over time. Often a simple “very satisfied, satisfied, not satisfied, very dissatisfied’ type of questionnaire is ideal. However, try not to change the questions too often, otherwise it may be difficult to make comparisons later on.
Call recording is another ideal feature that can be used by employees in reporting.
2. First Contact Resolution (FCR)
Customers want you to fix their problem fast, first time. So the most satisfied customers will be the ones that can be dealt with effectively in one single call. Granted some problems are more complex than others, but often the ability to solve a problem swiftly is simply down to the knowledge and experience of the call handler themselves. Churn and abandonment rates are increased if a customer has to call back about the same problem multiple times - and they’re not going to be pleased about it either. This is why tracking the successful resolution of calls over time is important. And where calls aren’t being resolved first time, get to the bottom of why.
3. Call Abandonment Rate
Call abandonment is when the customer gives up on the call before their issue is resolved. So they will either have hung up before they even got to speak to an agent, or they - shall we say - put the phone down in anger.
Carefully monitoring your call abandonment rate is really important so you know what percentage of inbound callers aren’t simply giving up. Of the ones that are, you need to understand why. Obviously every caller has their own patience threshold and expectations, but by gauging call abandonment you get a general sense of satisfaction as a trend. Perhaps you need to employ additional agents? Or temporarily run more shifts that coincide with a new release or update that you know will create a lot more enquiries?
Overlooking the importance of your call abandonment rate can easily mean losing customers fast. Not exactly great for your bottom line.
4. Customer Churn Rate (CCR)
Your Customer Churn Rate will measure the proportion of customers that have used your service for a while but then walked away. For instance, they may have signed up to a free trial but then once the trial has elapsed they haven’t committed to a monthly package. Essentially, it’s the opposite of your Customer Retention Rate (CRR), and is very handy when used against other business data like your customer acquisition cost.
5. Customer Effort Score
Another important metric to understand is the Customer Effort Score (CES). It’s simple to set up and is great for tracking customer loyalty over time. However, it should be used in conjunction with the NPS (which we’ll look at next) in order to get a fuller picture. For example, your customer could have a very good general relationship with your business, but has recently had one bad call experience. If you only looked at the CES in this case, you could fall into the trap of thinking they aren’t a loyalty customer when actually they are.
6. Net Promoter Score
Following on from the CES, the Net Promoter Score measures the proportion of customers who are genuinely loyal to your brand and those who could be lost to competitors. It takes into account the whole relationship between your brand and your customers and uses it as a good indicator of business growth.
NPS goes hand in hand with CES because while CES focuses on just one touchpoint, NPS looks at the whole experience. This includes customer service, the product itself, brand and price point.
7. Customer Call Frequency
The fact is customers shouldn’t need to call you regularly, because primarily they should be able to self-serve.
However, you will always have callers that regularly need help with something unusual or who just need some extra support. It’s therefore worth keeping an eye on these callers to see if any efficiencies can be made over time. It’s a useful KPI that can tell you how often a particular caller has contacted your call centre during a specific timeframe.
Does a VoIP phone system sound like the ideal solution for your small business?
Get in touch with bOnline today to start the hassle-free switching process. Or if you’re not quite ready to commit, why not sign up for a 7-day free trial? There’s no obligation and you can test out all the business-friendly VoIP phone features on offer, including voicemail, video calling, call divert, call analytics and much more.
Our pricing is also some of the most competitive around, starting from just £6+VAT a month.
The 2025 landline switch-off is coming. Don’t let your business get caught out!
