How First Call Resolution affects Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction and FCR (first call resolution) have an obvious correlation with one another. When FCR increases, customer satisfaction increases as well. Of course, the opposite is also true – if FCR rates drop, the customer satisfaction will also decrease. That’s why, the most effective call centers monitor their FCR rate and take the needed measures if this vital metric starts to decline.

A fact: 12% of customers leave if it takes more than one call to resolve their problem with a company’s product or service.

But why is FCR so important to the effectiveness of a call center? Here are 4 reasons:

1. Customer satisfaction – it’s quite simple, actually – the quicker your agents resolve customer problems, the happier the customers. Hence – higher customer satisfaction. All your clients need is a fast and correct resolution that will help them move on past their issue as quick as possible;
2. Reduced costs – if your agents resolve customer’s issues the first time, they won’t need to call the client second or third time, thus reducing the costs of the made overall calls;
3. Reduced employee turnover – employees feel better when they resolve a customer’s issue from the first call and they also avoid calling a second or a third time, which could be very stressful, especially if the customer is already frustrated. Higher FCR acts as a confidence boost for your employees;
4.  Cross-sell and upsell opportunities – customers, whose problems had been resolved in the first call are more open to hearing about additional products or services that they can benefit from. A professional customer service agent will always capitalize on such opportunity;

A fact: For every 1% increase in your FCR rate you get 1% increase in customer satisfaction.

So, what to do to improve your First Call Resolution rates? Here are some ways:

1. Learn to monitor FCR in a way that is right for your company – it might seem straightforward, but measuring FCR is not that easy thing to do. Actually, it depends on the company, its product and customers. Yes, you might feel like your FCR rate is sky high, but if your customers don’t feel that their problem has been solved, the customer satisfaction won’t increase a lot. So, find out what your customers need and how to satisfy them when they call with an issue;
2. Make sure departments talk to each other – customers and their problems come in different sizes. And sometimes a problem is so specific that it is beyond the powers of the customer service agent. This is where other departments come to help. If they have a way to communicate, resolutions will appear faster;
3. Empower your agents – your customer service front line is your call center. And if your agents don’t have the power to solve a customer’s problem, they have their hands tied. Create an open environment for customers, where they can share experience and help each other with cases. Give them enough power and knowledge (via training) to tackle down any problem and watch your customer service rocket;
4. Hire a customer service agency with proven methods for increasing FCR and customer satisfaction – yes, it is that easy.

Improving your call center’s FCR rates can provide many short and long terms benefits for your company, so if you need it done quickly and effectively – give us a call, we can help.