on your cost and first call resolution, customer satisfaction and retention performance
The effective handling of escalated calls and good service recovery are, for many call centers, the very best opportunity to demonstrate to customers that you want to resolve their call and you really care about their concerns. Based on the fact that escalation Customer Service Representatives (CSR) are, in many cases, the last resort for a customer to have their call resolved, it is essential that the call center call escalation practices achieve high levels of call resolution, preferably on the first call. It has been SQM’s experience that customers whose calls are handled by escalation CSRs are seldom or never asked to participate in a post-call survey about the service they received. It is our belief the customers whose call was handled by an escalation CSR are the most important customers who should receive a post-call survey. The reason for this belief is that, in many cases, these are the customers most likely to defect to your competition as a result of their call center experience. In addition, our research shows that 18% of all calls are handled by an escalation CSR and when the call is handled by an escalation CSR the first call resolution (FCR) is 20% lower than when calls are handled by non-escalation CSRs. It is very clear from our research that most call centers need to improve their call escalation FCR and Customer Satisfaction (Csat) performance. Our Call Center Escalation Impact Study focuses on assessing how escalated calls impact your operating cost, FCR, Csat and your ability to retain customers as a result of their call being handling by an escalation CSR. In addition, SQM will share with you best practices for handling escalated calls.
Why Participate in SQM’s Call Center Call Escalation Impact Study
Do you know…
- your FCR and Csat performance for calls handled by escalation CSRs?
- how calls handled by escalation CSRs are impacting your operating cost?
- how calls handled by escalation CSRs are impacting your organization’s ability to retain customers?
- the financial impact of not retaining those customers?
- how your FCR and Csat performance for calls handled by escalation CSRs compares to over 450 leading North American call centers?
- the reasons for your repeat calls for calls handled by escalation CSRs?
- the best practices for handling escalated calls?
If you don’t have quality answers to these questions, let the experts at SQM Group assist you in assessing your call center’s call escalation performance.
Top 5 Reasons to Improve your Call Escalation Performance
Reduce operating cost - for the average call center that SQM benchmarks, a 1% improvement in their FCR performance equals $276,000 in operational savings. If you are performing at the call center industry average for calls handled by an escalation CSR your first call resolution rate is 60% then you need to understand that at least 40% of customers that use your escalation queue have to call back because their inquiry or problem is not resolved on their first call. The cost to the call center is enormous.
Improve call center customer satisfaction - by having high first call resolution. In fact, every 1% improvement in FCR equals a 1% improvement in call center customer satisfaction. Call center customer satisfaction drops an average of 15% with each repeat call, so the impact repeat calls have on your overall customer satisfaction is enormous.
Reduce customers at risk - customers that are at risk of going to competitors are a result of unresolved customer inquiries or problems and have the biggest impact on the call center’s financial performance. The cost to the organization of customers at risk (as a result of their call not being resolved) is 5-10 times greater than the operational savings received from improving FCR performance. Most call centers are not aware how much revenue they are losing as a result of the customer’s inquiry or problem going unresolved. SQM’s research shows that if the customer’s call is not resolved in the first call, 40% or more of those customers will not call back. Therefore, the call center has lost the opportunity to resolve those customers’ calls and retain those customers.
Increase opportunities to sell - the customer’s inquiry or problem must be resolved before the CSR has earned the right to move onto any sort of sales activity. If the CSR moves to the cross sell too early, the customer is irritated and feels the CSR is pushing the organization’s needs, rather than serving the customer.
Improve employee satisfaction - an organization with low first call resolution often has low employee satisfaction and high turnover. Interestingly, only 10% of employees are satisfied that management focuses on improving FCR! The stress on the employee of taking the second and third call from that customer whose issue wasn’t resolved the first time is huge. In fact, for the average call center, 52% of total calls handled by CSRs are not resolved in one call.
Call Center Call Escalation Impact Study Methodology
Our Call Center Call Escalation Impact Study takes key aspects of your call center’s FCR, Csat and operational performance and brings them together for a deeper insight into your call escalation performance.
There are two surveys:
1. Post-Call Customer Survey
A random sample of 400 post-call phone surveys are conducted with customers who have had a transaction with your call center escalation CSRs within 1 business day of their call. SQM’s post-call phone surveys are conducted by SQM’s telephone survey representatives. The post-call phone survey is an in-depth interview and is 5-10 minutes in length and is based on up to 20 rating and open-ended questions. Survey will include up to 5 customer protection questions. SQM’s post-call phone survey has a proven track record for measuring the attributes that accurately assess your escalation CSRs performance.
2. FCR Operational Survey
Call center management complete an FCR operational survey which has over 45 metrics covering areas such as speed of answer, talk time, number of calls a CSR handles per day, CSR salary and CSR turnover.
The data from these two surveys are collected separately. However, our Call Center Escalation Impact Study report combines the data so that you gain greater insight into what really drives your call escalation performance.
Assessment of Call Escalation Practices
An SQM consultant will come on site to evaluate your call escalation people, process and technology practices.
Call Center Call Escalation Impact Report Deliverables
A 50 page Call Center Call Escalation Impact report will be delivered to you and your management team via a conference call with a senior SQM consultant outlining your call center’s FCR, Csat and operational performance for escalated calls.
Specifically, SQM’s Call Center Call Escalation Impact Study will provide the following:
- Benchmarking comparison to over 450 leading North American call centers
- Benchmarking comparison to peer group, call center industry and world class call centers
- Customer Protection – CP SCORE™
- High level and detailed FCR and Csat ratings
- Amount of revenue the call center protected and lost
- Unresolved calls impact on operating cost
- Top 5 repeat call reasons and their improvement opportunity for financial savings
- Targeted opportunities for reducing repeat calls
- Operational benchmarking data for over 45 metrics
- Assessment of your call escalation practices
- Best practices for improving your call escalation practices
- One copy of SQM’s book, World Class Call Center
- Entry into SQM’s Service Quality Excellence Awards Program
Your Investment
The total investment for the Call Center Call Escalation Impact Study is $12,000 plus applicable taxes. The only additional charge would be to cover travel and accommodation expenses for a SQM senior consultant to present the results to you and your team on site.
