Customer Support Outsourcing: 5 KPIs to Measure Success
Outsourcing can significantly improve business processes. In 2019, the market value of outsourcing reached $92.5 billion, a significant increase from $76.9 billion in 2016. Customer support outsourcing services accounts for this growth.
To measure the success of an outsourcing endeavour, it is vital to use criteria or benchmarks called key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs allow you to gauge if you are achieving your business goals efficiently. Your KPI data can also help you identify business aspects that need enhancement for you to beat the competition.
When evaluating your customer support outsourcing endeavour, you must use these KPIs to help measure the results with your outsourcing customer service provider.
1. Response time
Quality customer service means immediate feedback and speedy resolution of issues. According to a survey, 33% of customers get frustrated when put on hold. Meanwhile, 33% lose their enthusiasm when they have to repeat themselves when transacting with support reps.
Reducing your average response time (ART) — the time it takes for your customer support team to acknowledge a client’s request — is critical to client satisfaction. You must make customers feel you care about their concerns, regardless of whether they make a purchase or sign up for your service.
You can use various ticketing systems to calculate your customer support team’s ART, like Intercom, Help Scout, Zendesk, and Freshdesk. Filtering the time data by agent, group, or time zone helps identify areas for improvement.
Strategically outsourcing your non-core business functions, such as customer support, provides business advantages for your organisation. And since BPO companies like optiBPO are familiar with the ART metric, your organisation can quickly assess your customer support team’s performance.
2. First call resolution (FCR)
As part of customer relationship management, this metric refers to when a customer support agent resolves a customer’s issues on the first call. Here, the representative successfully handles the problem without the customer making a second or follow-up call.
To calculate your customer support team’s FCR rate, divide the number of cases resolved on the first call by the total number of cases handled by the agents. Then, multiply the quotient or resulting number by 100. For instance, if 200 out of 400 cases achieved FCR, your FCR rate is 50%.
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3. Customer satisfaction rate
One of the most popular ways to gauge customer service is by calculating the customer satisfaction rate (CSAT). This indicator measures how pleased customers are with your service, if your agents assisted them well, and if customers were satisfied at the end of the transaction.
To determine CSAT, you can survey customers to answer a simple question. For example, “On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with your recent purchase?”
You should carefully review answers from customers who responded with low scores and analyse possible areas of improvement where you can revamp procedures or conduct further agent training.
4. Schedule compliance
Schedule compliance is a performance indicator that measures how effectively your outsourced customer service team manages their work schedule. This KPI tracks your team’s handled tickets, time on tickets, and the average time to resolve a concern. A high compliance rate indicates that your team is efficient and cost-effective when providing responsive customer support.
On the contrary, low adherence rates suggest poor quality customer service. A compliance tracking system, coupled with outsourcing best practices, can help ensure your support team is constantly motivated and productive, increasing their schedule compliance rate.
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5. Service quality
The quality of service from your outsourced customer service team is critical to delivering a good support experience. To measure your team’s service quality, you can employ KPIs like average handle time (AHT), which calculates the total amount of time an agent spends conversing with a customer.
To compute AHT, add up the time it took to close a ticket — from the time the customer reached out and was put on hold to subsequent interactions and documentation processes.
If your customer support team consistently delivers high-quality service, you can turn your customer service team into a sales force for cost-effective outsourcing. An excellent customer support team provides customer support and brings in new customers and referrals through outstanding service.
A Satisfied Customer is a Happy Customer
A satisfied customer can help increase your business’s profitability as they can bring in referrals, expand your reach through word-of-mouth marketing, and cement your credibility with five-star reviews. Ensure your customers are happy by using related KPIs to measure your customer support’s speed and quality of service.
If you plan to outsource your customer service functions, consider an outsourcing company in the Philippines like optiBPO. We can help you plan, build, and manage a dedicated offshore team in the Philippines that serves as an extension of your organisation.
Contact us today to learn more about how our outsourcing services can help you grow your business!
