practices effectiveness, provides insights on reducing repeat calls and awards
call centers that have demonstrated Esat excellence
For the average call center SQM benchmarks, only 48% of total calls are ‘one and done’ call resolution. This means for the average call center, 52% of total calls handled by CSRs are for customers who are calling 2 or more times to resolve their call. The opportunity to improve the call center’s ‘one and done’ call resolution performance is enormous and, in most cases, is the greatest opportunity for the call center to improve its FCR, Esat, Csat, operating cost and its ability to help retain customers for the organization. Also, SQM’s research shows that for each additional call, customer satisfaction drops by 15%. In addition, employee satisfaction is negatively impacted when CSRs handle too many calls from customers who have called in 2 or more times to resolve their call.
It has been SQM’s experience that CSRs who handle the customer’s call are one of the best sources for feedback about improving your FCR performance. This study benchmarks your call center’s FCR business practices’ effectiveness and provides insights on reducing repeat calls. This is achieved by CSRs and supervisors completing an online survey that takes approximately 30 minutes and consists of up to 50 questions.
Why Participate in SQM’s Esat FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study
Do you know…
- how satisfied your employees are with your call center’s ability to deliver first call resolution in a consistent manner?
- what repeat call reasons your employees want you to improve on?
- how your call center compares to your industry and world class call centers for key FCR employee satisfaction indicators?
- how satisfied your employees are working in your call center?
- if your FCR employee satisfaction changes by call center or by employment status?
- how to prioritize opportunities for FCR employee satisfaction improvement?
- how your first call resolution performance is impacting your employee satisfaction performance?
- your targeted opportunities for employee satisfaction improvement?
- if you are using the right measures to effectively evaluate your employee satisfaction with your FCR business practices?
If you don’t have quality answers to these questions, let the experts at SQM Group assist you in benchmarking your employee satisfaction for your call center’s FCR effectiveness and to provide insights on reducing repeat calls.
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All benchmarking participants are eligible for SQM awards Click here to learn more about SQM awards 
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Top 5 Reasons to Improve Your First Call Resolution 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 of 67% first call resolution rate, you need to understand that at least 33% of customers calling your call center 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 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.
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.
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 not getting their call 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.
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.
About Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study
The Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study assesses the call center’s FCR business practices from an employee perspective and provides best business practices for achieving FCR.
It is SQM’s belief that your frontline employees are your best resource for assessing your business practices for achieving FCR.
Benchmarking comparison to your peer industry, call center industry and best call center for employee satisfaction ratings. In addition, our study can compare your call center by position, status and teams.
We benchmark over 250 leading North American call centers on an annual basis and we have been doing this study since 1996.
Join other major organizations that have participated in our Call Center Benchmarking Studies such as Avon, Bristol Myers, Capital One, Discoverfinancial, Exelon Corp, Florida Power, GMAC, Liberty Mutual, Marriott, Safeway, Sears, Staples, US Bank and Wells Fargo.
Based on our Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study data, we work with you to develop meaningful and actionable targeted opportunities for improvement that will protect and optimize one of your company’s greatest assets - your customers!
Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study Methodology
Customizing the Benchmarking Study
Employee surveys are conducted through our website or via email. Our in-depth, 50 questions survey is completed by up to 100 of your employees. SQM’s employee survey focuses on the call center’s FCR business practices’ effectiveness from CSRs and frontline management’s point of view. SQM has a proven track record for measuring the factors that drive first call resolution and employee satisfaction. The survey can be customized to meet your call center needs.
In order to get the most from our benchmarking study you will be guided on how to select your employees to be surveyed, survey questions for your employees and the frequency of the surveys. For example:
- If you are looking to understand full and part time employee satisfaction, you will select a sample of employees that is representative of your call center employment status mix.
- If you want to get a deep understanding of specific call centers, attributes, or positions the survey can be customized to meet your needs.
- You can determine the frequency of when the benchmarking surveys should be conducted (i.e. quarterly, semiannually, or annually).
Our Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study can be focused on specific areas, such as:
- Position - Frontline, supervisors, and management
- Status - Full time and part time positions
- Center - Call center locations
- Teams - Teams or departments
- Educational Level - High school or college
Our Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study can also be focused on specific call types or skill types, such as:
- Inquiries
- Orders
- Complaints
- Dispatching
- Helpdesk
- Collections
Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Report Deliverables
A straightforward, but in-depth report delivered to you and your management team outlining your call center’s Esat for FCR Effectiveness performance. This report can be delivered to you within 5 days of completion of your data collection. Typically, the whole project can take as little as 5-10 days from start to finish.
Specifically, the Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study gives you:
- Benchmarking comparison to over 250 leading North American call centers
- Benchmarking comparison to peer group, call center industry and world class call center
- Esat and customer feedback for call center’s FCR business practices’ effectiveness
- Targeted opportunities for reducing repeat calls
- Best practices for reducing repeat calls
- Entry into SQM’s Service Quality Excellence Awards and Certification Program
* Your front line employees are your best resource for assessing your business practices for achieving FCR. *
What’s Next
1. Call SQM Group at (800) 446-2095 to talk about your objectives for the project.
2. We will walk you through a sample report which will show you clearly what you can expect from the Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study.
3. To get the project started, SQM Group will conduct a pre-survey consultation to walk you through Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study implementation steps.
Your Investment
The total investment for the Esat for FCR Effectiveness Benchmarking Study is typically $4,000 plus applicable taxes.
Additional employee surveys are $15 per survey.
