Business processes can be enhanced significantly through outsourcing. Over the last year alone, outsourcing market value rose dramatically from $79.9 billion to over $110.5 billion; most likely, this increase can be attributed to customer support outsourcing services.
Employing key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge the success of any outsourcing project is vitally important. KPIs allow you to gauge whether you're meeting company objectives effectively while simultaneously using this data to pinpoint areas for growth so as to outdistance competitors. KPIs should be utilized when assessing customer support outsourcing providers to measure the results of your efforts. In this article, we'll be exploring top key metrics for evaluating provider performance.
Outsourced Customer Service
What is Outsourced customer service? Outsourced customer service occurs when management contracts out customer-facing communication channels to a third-party service provider. Businesses frequently outsource through call centers that employ agents trained specifically for handling an organization's incoming calls.
Deliberating whether or not to outsource customer service to third parties can be challenging and cause much anxiety for business owners. You want to ensure your organization continues to meet consumer demand with quality customer care services that keep consumers coming back for more.
Customer Service Outsourcing occurs when companies hire an external organization to take over their customer service operations rather than employ employees from within themselves to do so. Instead, outside agents take care of answering questions, handling complaints and offering support - much as an internal employee would.
Companies often outsource services in order to reduce costs, access specialized skills or enhance service quality. An external organization (vendor) might reside either locally or elsewhere - this allows the original company more time and energy to focus on other aspects of its business while still assuring its customers receive adequate support.
Key Metrics For Outsourcing That You Should Monitor Right Now
Key metrics for Outsourcing provide companies with tangible values to measure how their goals are being accomplished, including core competency measurement metrics as key performance indicators (KPI).
Company's employ various performance metrics to monitor specific business processes. For instance, software development BPOs might use KPIs like user satisfaction to track results; HR outsourcing BPOs might track measures like LinkedIn sourcing channel effectiveness as indicators of their effectiveness. All metrics provide you with an overall snapshot of your company activities, progress and performance. Here are some types of key metrics outsourcing companies must keep an eye on.
Average Response Time
Excellent customer service relies on fast issue resolution and immediate feedback; according to one survey, 33% of customers lose enthusiasm when transacting with support reps again and again. Utilize various ticketing systems to calculate your customer support team's Average Response Time; for easier analysis, consider filtering this time data by agent group time zones, etc.
One of the key metrics used to judge outsourced customer support services is average response time, or how quickly customer inquiries are addressed and resolved. A quicker average response time indicates more efficient service providers; monitoring this metric helps identify bottlenecks in customer satisfaction initiatives as well.
First Contact Resolution Rate (FCR)
Calculating the FCR rate requires dividing the number of cases resolved on the first call by the total cases handled, then multiplying that resultant quotient or figure by 100; in our example above, if 200 of 400 cases achieved FCR (false call rate = 50%).
FCR measures the percentage of customer inquiries resolved within their initial interaction with an outsourced support team without needing further follow-up or further follow-up from customers. A higher FCR indicates that this team is knowledgeable, experienced, and adept at quickly solving customer issues without creating frustration for either themselves or their customers. Businesses that optimize FCR will reduce customer frustration while simultaneously improving overall experiences for all involved parties involved.
Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) Scores
As is typical for contact centers, most aim to answer 80% of calls within 20 seconds; however, in recent years, several have taken measures to increase service standards by answering 90% within 15 seconds.
What Is Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)? Businesses and organizations rely heavily on Customer Satisfaction as an indicator for measuring how satisfied their customers are with the products or services offered to them, providing insight into customer experiences as a whole and driving business strategies and decision-making processes forward.
What Does CSAT Tell You? Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) measures customer contentment with interactions, products or services they have received. CSAT typically involves asking customers to rate their satisfaction either on a numerical scale or through questions with multiple response options (e.g. "How satisfied are you with our service?). Once collected, results can then be converted into percentage scores to assess overall levels of customer satisfaction. How Can CSAT Be Measured? There are multiple Key metrics for Outsourcing available for measuring CSAT:
- Surveys: Conduct post-interaction surveys via email, web forms, or in-app pop-ups in order to directly query customers about their satisfaction with your products or services.
- Rating Scales: Utilizing numerical scales such as 1-5 or 1-10 to gather quantifiable feedback about customer satisfaction is one method of collecting concrete feedback on customer experiences.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Although not strictly CSAT, NPS is another popular way of measuring customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking consumers whether or not they would recommend certain products and services to others.
- Customer Interviews: Conducting in-depth conversations with customers to gather qualitative insight about their experiences and level of satisfaction is one way to generate new business leads and enhance customer loyalty.
To measure customer satisfaction (CSAT), conduct customer satisfaction surveys that ask them a simple question such as, 'On a scale from 1-5, how satisfied are you with the recent solution provided to you? Customers submitting low-scoring responses should have their answers reviewed thoroughly, with an eye toward finding areas for improvement, such as revising procedures or increasing agent training.
Customer Satisfaction Score or CSAT is an indirect measurement of customer happiness with regard to support provided, typically measured through post-interaction surveys or feedback forms. When outsourcing customer support services, it is vital that CSAT scores are regularly tracked so as to meet or surpass customers' expectations; analyzing and acting upon feedback allows businesses to enhance these processes continually.
Escalation Rate
The Escalation Rate measures the proportion of customer inquiries which need to be escalated for resolution by higher-level support teams or supervisors. 31% of clients say knowledgeable customer service consultants are essential to their happiness and experience.
An increased escalation rate could indicate insufficient training, knowledge or resources among the outsourced support team. By monitoring and reducing this escalation rate, businesses can ensure customer issues are promptly resolved at first contact and improve customer satisfaction by increasing resolution timeframes at the first point of contact.
As part of outsourcing customer support services, an SLA must be established that specifies response and resolution times as well as overall service quality expectations. Regularly tracking SLA compliance helps measure an outsourced team's adherence to agreed-upon standards while assuring service levels are being consistently met.
Customer Retention
Your goal should be to retain as many consumers who come in contact with a problem as possible by monitoring how many return and make additional purchases from you or whether their problem was handled effectively enough that no rift appeared between client relationships and you. For a comprehensive customer perspective, integration is required between all systems (Help Desk, eCommerce, etc), feeding data directly into and out of the CRM platform for maximum impact and resulting in a complete 360 customer view perspective.
Retention saves resources as it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain existing ones. An increase of just five percentage points could produce between 25-95% more revenues.
Tickets Issued Per Customer And Their Total Amount Purchased
Customer care teams should monitor the overall number of support tickets submitted as an easy KPI to track. In addition to keeping tabs on this total figure, track how its volume fluctuates throughout the day, week, and season, as well as track individual tickets per customer to inform resource allocation based on long-term and short-term needs. 53% of shoppers do not trust that their feedback has been heard or reflected in any way within statistics; as a result, not seeing any improvement may cause them to leave and seek better solutions elsewhere.
Abandonment Rate
An increased abandonment rate could signal customer discontentment with your support process. It may compel them to abandon attempts at solving their issues altogether. Let's give an illustration: Imagine this: your company receives 1000 support calls monthly, and 300 of those customers hang up or disconnect before receiving assistance, thus constituting an abandonment rate of 30%. To determine this percentage:
Abandonment Rate = (300/1000) x 100 , Abandonment Rate = 30%
Interpreting Results: In this example, the abandonment rate was 30% - meaning 30% of customers who reached out for support abandoned their interaction before receiving assistance. Such high abandonment rates can indicate potential issues within your support process, such as long wait times, unclear IVR systems and unhelpful representatives that need further evaluation and fixing. High abandonment rates could have serious repercussions for businesses, including:
- Customer Frustrations: Customers who abandon your support process could become even more dissatisfied, potentially leading to negative word-of-mouth and spreading negative publicity for your company.
- Lost Opportunities: Abandoned interactions represent lost opportunities to address customer needs and retain customer loyalty.
- Dissatisfied Customers And Their Impact On Retention: Disgruntled customers tend to leave in search of lower pricing offerings from competitors and are, therefore, likely to churn and leave your service altogether.
- Reduced Efficiency: High abandonment rates may put additional pressure on support teams, placing strain on resources.
- Addressing High Abandonment Rates: Businesses may implement various strategies in order to address an alarmingly high abandonment rate:
- Reducing Wait Times: Take steps to minimize customer wait times by increasing support staff during busy periods and providing callback options.
- Enhance IVR: Optimize your Interactive Voice Response system so you can efficiently direct customers and representatives to the correct departments or representatives.
- Training Support Representatives: Provide additional training to your support representatives so they can improve their problem-solving and communication abilities.
- Feedback From Customers Who Abandoned Interactions: Involve customers who abandoned interactions in gathering feedback in order to identify common pain points and areas for potential improvements.
By monitoring abandonment rates and taking proactive measures to enhance customer support processes, businesses can boost customer satisfaction, lower churn rates and strengthen relationships with their clientele.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is an objective metric designed to assess customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking one simple question on a scale of 0 to 10: "Would you recommend our product or service to friends or colleagues?" Based on the responses received, customers are then divided into three distinct groups.
- Promoters (score 9-10): Customers who have high levels of satisfaction with your business and are likely to recommend it as an industry leader.
- Passives (Score 7-8): Customers who are satisfied but don't actively promote your business.
- Detractors (Score 0-6): Customers who express displeasure over your service or product and may share bad words about your business with others.
Calculate the Net Promoter Score by subtracting the percentage of detractors from that of Promoters; NPS equals Promoters minus Detractors. Example of NPS Calculation If we surveyed 100 customers and received responses from 60 Promoters, 20 Passives and 20 Detractors: NPS = (60/100)- (20/100). This would give an NPS score of 40
- NPS Stat: According to Qualtrics' Customer Experience Trends Report, the average NPS across industries stands at approximately 32.
- Interpretation: An NPS score of 40 indicates a business has relatively positive customer sentiment as it's higher than average NPS scores; however, there remains room for growth to turn more customers into Promoters.
Average Resolution Time (ART)
Average Resolution Time (ART) measures the time it takes for customer support teams to address an issue once reported by customers, providing timely problem-solving and efficient support services that keep customers coming back for more. Customers value prompt resolution times. To compute Average Resolution Time (ART), add all resolution times together and divide by the total number of cases:
- Statistic On Average Resolution Time (ART): The amount of time an issue takes to resolve can differ widely depending on its complexity, industry sector and support channels used. Still, companies often set internal targets tailored towards specific support goals and customer expectations.
- Interpretation: In general, lower Average Resolution Times are seen as beneficial; they indicate that customer issues are being quickly addressed. However, finding a balance between speed and quality solutions may prove essential; rush job solutions could leave customers dissatisfied and cause unnecessary complications down the line.
Keep in mind that while statistics can provide useful insights, understanding them within the context of your specific business and customer needs can provide additional valuable information for interpreting and setting targets for these metrics. Regular tracking and analyzing of such measures will enable you to pinpoint areas for improvement while simultaneously optimizing customer support operations effectively.
Conclusion
Tracking the appropriate outsourcing metrics can greatly enhance your company's performance and help ensure its success on multiple fronts, such as employee engagement, customer satisfaction and cost reduction. LiveHelpIndia's comprehensive accountability system gives your firm more than a simple, balanced scorecard can. Utilizing our outsourced customer services, your organization will have everything it needs to monitor and develop various core competencies accurately.
