6 Undervalued Call Center Metrics

Most modern software is going to report the typical call center metrics in a clean dashboard that any manager can navigate within a few minutes. It’s really never been easier to get a real-time view of exactly what’s happening.

But each call center metric only tells you a small piece of the story — a good manager knows this, and doesn’t hyperfocus on a single metric, no matter how important it is. They consider metrics in context, investigate the root causes of any problems they find, and don’t rush to pressure agents to close the gap.

After I cover six call center metrics that aren’t talked about enough, I’ll share three that are taken way too seriously. I’m not going to cover first call resolution — that’s a great metric, but everyone knows that already.

Six undervalued call center metrics

Good call center software will be able to report on most of these metrics; some may require a little setup. If you have a separate system for Interactive Voice Response (IVR), the data for some metrics will be there.

1. Containment rate

This metric conveys how many calls are managed or “contained” using only your IVR system. It’s calculated by dividing the number of IVR-managed calls by the total number of incoming calls, yielding your rate as a percentage.

The higher your percentage, the better. You want to at least be in the 65-75% range, meaning that many of your callers are taking advantage of self-service IVR options, which leaves agents more time to manage complex customer issues.

To boost your numbers, you’ll need to perfect your call flows — the sequence of IVR menu options provided to callers when they reach your business.

To start, you should understand the most common reasons why customers call in, then give them easy-to-follow instructions for how to navigate the system so they can reach their desired destination. A good call flow might include simple navigation instructions to update account information, hear their account balance, or schedule an appointment.

The key is to provide callers with a way to find answers or accomplish tasks without a live agent’s help. You could add an IVR payment option, for example, instead of having an agent take down card information and so on.

If you see your containment rate dropping, it typically means your IVR setup is either too complex or doesn’t offer enough self-service options. You should revisit your setup regularly, as shifts in your business may result in a need to change your IVR navigation options.

2. Agent redundancy rate

This metric captures the number of inquiries handled by an agent when they should have been managed with your call flow. Typically, these are simple and straightforward calls, like making a payment or finding out an account balance. These less complex calls can be tracked in your online call detail records, highlighting missing pieces in your IVR service menus.

Remember, customers want self-service options. If given the chance, most callers would opt to handle these easy queries themselves.

This also frees up your agents to handle more complex calls, which makes your call center more efficient.

As you track and categorize call details, pinpoint any frequently occurring questions or requests that could be managed by your automated system. Use these insights to amend or restructure your existing call flow, making sure to keep menu options brief so that callers don’t get frustrated and jump ship.

3. Average speed of answer (ASA)

In contrast to your answer rate, which reflects how quickly agents answer the phone, ASA captures how quickly they’re able to provide answers to the caller. There are a few important insights you can glean from this number.

If you’re seeing lengthy ASA times for multiple agents, it points to a bigger issue than just an individual lack of experience. It could be an issue with your knowledge base or the ease of navigating your operating system.

With these issues, you can invest in better training to ensure that agents know how to use all of the resources at their disposal. Call center training software is one option that won’t pull your managers away from their other responsibilities. Call coaching and reviewing good/bad calls works, but it is time-intensive.

4. Contact rate

Contact rate applies specifically to outbound call centers. Quite simply, it’s the percentage of customers your agents actually reach when they’re making calls

To find your call center’s contact rate, divide the number of calls answered by the total calls placed within a given period. This shows you the percentage of calls that resulted in an actual conversation with a customer.

Your contact rate is slightly different from your connection rate, which includes all customer answers, even if it reaches a customer’s voicemail or they answer and immediately hang up.

An average contact rate of 25-35% is considered acceptable, but there’s always room for improvement. To boost your numbers, you should rethink the variables of your campaign that might entice more customer engagement.

For example, you might try calling at a different time of day, after customers get home from work. It could also be helpful to coordinate with your Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone provider to set up a bundle of local numbers so customers aren’t wary of an out-of-state call.

Alternatively, you could implement an outbound IVR for routine calls that might not even require an agent. It’s not impossible to set up, and you can design flows so that an agent could intervene if need be.

A closer look at your lead management can also be beneficial. Rather than obtaining large lists of unvetted customers, spend more time identifying high-quality leads, which results in fewer calls with a higher rate of contact.

5. Average after call work time (ACW)

After call work time includes everything a call center agent has to do after the customer hangs up in order to log information into the system. ACW is vital to track for a few reasons.

One, ACW is a place where bad employees try to waste time. “Max out ACW” is a classic way to avoid taking calls, and you want to nip this behavior in the bud.

Two, ACW has to be accounted for accurately in order to staff appropriately. When the average ACW starts to climb, chances are it’s not just one employee trying to avoid calls. If these post-call tasks are eating up more than the industry average of 45 seconds, you should probably look into ways you can streamline the wrap-up process.

Is your operating system slow to load or difficult to navigate? Do your agents need additional training in an efficient close-out process? If your call quality and AHT fall within a healthy range, yet agents aren’t managing a steady number of calls, ACW might be where you gain back your edge.

A lot of call center managers pay close attention to their Average Time in Queue (ATQ), the average length of time that customers are waiting to speak with an agent. It’s less common to consider how inefficiencies in your ACW might directly impact both of these key metrics.

6. Employee engagement

Your agents are the foundation of your call center; you can’t run a successful call center without agents who are motivated and engaged in their roles. Though this metric is not as clean and technical as the others, it is possible to measure employee engagement, and call centers should get data on it as soon as possible.

It’s no secret that the fast-paced nature of call center work can quickly become overwhelming and isolating. Providing the right support can lead to higher retention rates, with agents feeling more satisfied in their roles and motivated to create better customer experiences.

The trick is to find the right ways to empower your team. For instance, you could set up a little competition among teams or individuals — set goals and reward people when they hit them. You can also set up special awards for top performers and completing training modules or institute a full-blown call center gamification strategy.

Be sure to provide ample resources that help agents do their jobs quickly and effectively. This increases personal satisfaction with their roles while also improving the customer experience.

Three misleading call center metrics

So many call center horror stories can probably trace their origins back to a hyper-focus on one of these three call center metrics.

Yes, these are important metrics; for instance, if you see crazy spikes or dips in your call center reporting, it’s worth checking out. But these metrics don’t tell the whole story, and call center managers who read too much into the following metrics can cause more harm than good.

1. Average handle time (AHT)

Average handle time measures the average time it takes to complete a customer interaction, which includes all talk time, hold time, and ACW. All of that time is divided by the number of calls completed.

AHT gives you an idea of how quickly each rep can serve a single customer. A typical AHT is between three and six minutes, but it depends on your specific sector. Most call centers will figure out the AHT for different call flows — for example, dealing with a fraud claim will, on average, take longer to deal with than a caller who wants to update their address.

The trap companies fall into is constantly urging agents to reduce their handling time. The lower the AHT the more calls an agent can handle per hour — that’s great — but at what cost to call quality?

Someone who is rushing callers through every process may have the best AHT, but that may be unpleasant for customers and bad for the brand. If they make a mistake while they are moving quickly, it’ll cause problems downstream.

When AHT is some golden metric, customer service reps have no choice but to try and get people off the line as quickly as possible. It does not make for a good customer experience.

2. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Customer Satisfaction surveys are incredibly common tools for call centers to measure customer sentiment and get a deeper read on the quality of service being provided by reps. Check out these customer satisfaction survey templates if you aren’t familiar with this side of call center work.

CSAT scores are often a leading indicator used to judge employee performance and sometimes part of a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

So yes, CSAT scores are integral to running a smooth call center operation, providing helpful feedback on your performance from a customer perspective. Yet, there are a couple of reasons why CSAT results aren’t ever giving the full picture.

For one thing, abandoned calls don’t even reach the survey step, though they may be a sign of a deeply unsatisfied customer.

On the other side of the coin, research suggests unhappy customers are more likely to respond to these types of surveys than happy ones. As a result, your data may be slightly skewed toward the negative.

These are still essential insights to consider. You should definitely take steps to measure customer satisfaction, especially if you’re seeing the same complaints pop up over and over again.

3. Call abandonment rate

This one is tricky by nature, as you can’t necessarily track why a customer gives up on an interaction. Were they interrupted by another incoming call? Frustrated by a longer-than-expected wait time?

It’s possible the caller simply decided to try a self-service option suggested to them in your call flow. For instance, they may have hung up on the call to make a payment on your website instead.

You never really know for sure, and without knowing the exact problem (if there is one), it’s hard to come up with a solution.

What you can do is consider this data relative to your average time in queue (ATQ), which will show you how long callers waited before hanging up. This at least gives you an idea of how many customers were likely irritated at long wait times.

If you see that a lot of callers are hanging up after waiting for several minutes or longer, you can begin to come up with solutions to solve this problem. For example, your agents may need access to additional training or resources to become more efficient in their roles. It could also be that higher call volumes during certain periods require better staffing support to service each call quickly.