Maximizing Customer Satisfaction: First Call Resolution Tips

What is Customer Service?

Customer service can be defined as helping clients solve problems, answering their questions, and teaching them about products. Customer service means to serve the customer's needs. Customer service teams come in many forms, from downloading software or troubleshooting product installations to handling a return.

Customer service is usually a fast-paced, high-quality service. A customer will contact the company with a concern, question, or complaint. The customer service rep (or team) responds quickly and efficiently to offer support and expertise.

Customer service can have a major impact on a business's performance. 90% of Americans consider customer service when deciding whether to do business. Unhappy customers can be a costly business loss. 50% of consumers say they will switch brands after a single negative experience.

Think again if you believe customer service or support is incompatible with your customers' success. Building a relationship by offering excellent customer service is an important building block to help customers succeed.

What is the most significant difference? Customer service tends to be reactive. However, customer success can also be proactive. For example, instead of customer service agents responding to problems, they work with the customer to set goals and develop strategies. Later, we'll talk more about that.

Different Types of Customer Service

Let's explore the different ways that companies provide customer service:

1. Phone

Most organizations offer customer service through telephone interactions. A customer calls a hotline and enters a queue. Then, a representative answers the call. A recent report discovered that telephone-based customer services are decreasing in popularity. However, phone service was viewed as an escalation to another channel, such as web service or email.

2. Text Messages

Social survey to find out how consumers use messaging. While 71% said they expected brands to provide customer service via messaging, only 48% are equipped to do so. The customers want to communicate with the business via this channel. (Order confirmations, notifications, status updates, and surveys are common uses). Because they already use these platforms daily, receiving support is a convenient and easy way.

3. Email

Many customer services are still delivered and requested via email, where it is possible to deliver a personal touch even through a computer. A report discovered that emails were the most popular method for customer service communications among all age groups. You can submit requests at your convenience without waiting on hold. We'll soon provide customer service emails that you can use to resolve many problems.

Commitment to excellent customer service is legendary, but the email below might be the best example yet. This email example does not apply to every customer question. Still, it shows that the representative cares about delivering excellent service and making customers happy.

4. Self-Service

Customers are increasingly using DIY customer service tools to quickly get information without needing to call or send an email. More than 69% of consumers attempt to resolve issues themselves. Businesses are responding by creating knowledge bases, the most popular form of self-service for consumers. They publish videos and articles that show customers how to use their products.

The Knowledge Base at Academy contains videos and articles demonstrating how to use the software. Academy offers free training and certifications to help you learn more about inbound marketing and the specific verticals of the software.

5. Messages

Over time, the use of messaging as a channel for support has increased significantly. It is one of the most common ways customers get service assistance. Businesses rely on messaging services to provide quick content distribution to their audiences and serve them as customer service.

The conversations on these platforms can be in many different forms. They include text messaging, messaging apps, and social media direct messages. We use Facebook Messenger to share blog posts such as this. Still, many other businesses also make their customers' lives easier by using apps they already use to talk to friends and family.

6. Social Media

Social media customer support service is another way that businesses communicate with their customers. Social media allows businesses to have more fun and provide quick and simple answers to customers' questions. Many brands have created specific customer service accounts.

7. In-person

In-person customer service can be another option. It is used in brick-and-mortar stores, such as those involved in the retail and food industries. A customer service agent will usually approach a shopper while they are shopping to ask if they require assistance and then charge them.

Although in-person service has become a thing of the past, there is nothing better than an excellent experience. Let's look at a few specific examples to understand better customer service and how it can benefit your business.

Excellent Customer Service Examples

You can recall a good service experience, too. Maybe a representative went the extra mile to resolve your problem. You might not think it, but spending more time with customers will pay off for your business. Creating a culture where customers are treated with respect and kindness is important. That will lead to better business results. Here are some more examples of good customer service from big brands. You can also take away actionable lessons you can share with your team.

The Company example. It allows its employees to use up to $2,000 to solve customer issues without requiring approval. While that huge amount may be out of budget for you, it is important to remember why this organization has implemented such a policy. It believes employee engagement is key in cultivating staff dedicated to improving the customer experience. Discover its philosophy and those of other customer service leaders.

What is the First Call Resolution?

The first call resolution (FCR or first contact resolution) is the ability of a business to respond quickly and effectively to a caller's question or complaint, whether via email or phone, during its first communication.

What is The Importance of First-Call Resolution?

All companies striving to provide quality customer service should achieve optimal first-call resolution; for businesses looking to grow, obsessing about FCR can be beneficial.

A Good First-Call Resolution can Help Retain Customers

It is impossible to ignore the spillover effect of an unresolved issue or complaint from a customer. 72% list bad customer service as the primary reason for leaving a company. The difference between retaining and losing customers can be solved by solving a client's problem, ideally when the customer first contacts you.

You can Make a Customer Happy

You could turn someone who would otherwise have been a detractor for your company into one of its biggest supporters. The average dissatisfied client will inform up to 15 others of their negative experience. Making the initial interaction helpful and positive could eliminate pre- or post-call frustration. When 80% of your customers spend more to get better service, you can be sure that it won't harm to offer this service to every customer support request.

You Can Get More from Your Staff

When a customer's problem is resolved the first time they call or email, it will not be repeated. It means that you will receive fewer calls and fewer calls per day. What is the result? The result?

Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our consultants!

What are The Best Metrics to Measure First Call Resolution?

It can take time to achieve first-call resolution consistently. Still, dedication to improving it makes a real difference for a company. Even concentrating on the FCR will lead to improvements. Most businesses that monitor for FCR for at least one year experience up to a 30% increase in performance. This improvement will quickly affect your bottom line as an increased FCR results in a higher level of customer satisfaction, which makes them more willing to continue doing business with you.

The following metrics can be used to measure your progress and identify areas for improvement:

A number of Support Calls.
A number of Support Requests per Channel.
The total number of resolutions that have been satisfied (based on the qualifying criteria).
The total number of resolutions received on the first call.
The escalation rate for each inquiry type.
Average resolution time per type of inquiry.
Rarely are inquiries of certain types resolved.
The average NPS for each inquiry type.

These are all great examples of digging deep into what is holding back your most critical metric, the first-contact resolution rate.

How High is The First-Contact Resolution Rate?

The first contact rate represents the number of support calls and requests successfully handled by customers in their initial interaction with an agent.

Calculating First Contact Resolution Rate

Use the formula for first contact rate to quantify how many first contacts your company has resolved. The first contact resolution ratio (FCR) is calculated by dividing the number of customer cases resolved on the first outbound call by the number of customers in one day. Your team will be better able to resolve issues if you have a higher number. Let's imagine that Company A had 1,327 phone calls in January. Seven hundred fourteen of those calls were solved on the first call. It would be an FCR of 53.8%.

Company B had 798 contacts in January, and 584 were resolved on the first contact. It is a rate of 73.2%. While Company B had a higher rate of FCR, it also resolved issues with customers more effectively. You'll want to investigate further if your FCR is slipping or is less than what you desire. The FCR will differ by industry, but a 70-75% benchmark is advisable.

The Best First-Call Resolution Strategy

Answers to Common Problems in Document Form.
Optimize your internal documents for easy access.
Improve customer experience by improving how you route calls and contact points.
Quickly respond to all customer service inquiries.
Get as much info as possible and then repeat the information to your customer.
Give clear instructions to the client on what they need to do.
If you have any other questions, please ask.
Answers to Common Problems in Document Form.

Investing in your company's FAQ or knowledge base section might be worthwhile if customers call you repeatedly, asking the same questions. That will serve as a library of common answers about your service or product online. The knowledge base contains, for example: "How can you import the WordPress posts we have created onto 's blog?" or "How can you view historical values on a ticket or contact property?"

The knowledge base is a great way to improve the first call resolution strategy. Knowledge base articles provide simple, step-by-step answers to common questions. They don't need a highly personalized response. These articles are effective tools for customer education that answer specific questions by providing the correct solution. It solves the issue the first time and increases the FCR. If you list your knowledge base articles properly, they can easily be found online or through your website.

Optimize Your Internal Documents For Easy Access

It is easier to solve a customer's problem if your staff can quickly find the answers they need to their questions. That will reduce the number of calls, time spent on the phone, and the likelihood that the customer has to call back.

Improve Customer Experience by Improving How you Route Calls and Contact Points

You'll encounter more types of inquiries and customers the larger and more diverse your business is. You can reduce the time a customer spends waiting or being transferred by implementing call routing based on the language spoken and/or the type of customer inquiry.

You can also direct billing questions to the finance team, customer satisfaction issues to the team that handles them, and technical problems to the team that deals with technical support. It will reduce the time to resolve customer problems and your resource strain.

Support Inquiries Should be Responded to Quickly

Seventy-three percent of consumers say time is the most important factor in determining whether a customer service experience is good or bad. Speed of response and the speed at which a problem is resolved are two of the most desired characteristics in customer service.

Get as Much Info as Possible and Then Repeat the Information to Your Customer

A miscommunication can cause time waste and frustration. Asking questions and actively listening will help you to understand the issue better. As they describe the issue, identify two key things:

Their goal
Why are they failing to achieve their goals?

Keep asking the client questions until you are confident that you understand their concerns. Repeat it to the customer: "If you understand me correctly, you desire X but are having issues with Y." It gives the other person a chance to clarify if they feel you have missed something or to confirm you are both on the same page before you continue.

Give Clear Instructions to The Client on What They Need To Do

Once you and your customer have agreed on the problem, decide what actions must be taken. Let the client know what action you are taking and when to expect it. Stipulate what action they will need to take and the outcome once these steps are taken. Consider sending video tutorials and additional documentation for complex problems. You can also save time by guiding them through the process via video or screen sharing (if applicable).

If You Have Any Other Questions, Please Ask

Asking agents, "Did it solve your issue?" or "Was anything else we could help you with today?" will improve the FCR. That ensures the solution is effective and decreases the likelihood of someone calling back with a similar problem. That is also a proactive, simple best practice that companies should adopt. Now is the time to deal with what may become a major problem.

What Can Be Done to Improve First-Call Resolution?

You can help your representatives improve their FCR by establishing a baseline of good customer service. Everyone has agreed to the plan, so it's time for continuous improvement within an individual and throughout your entire company. These are a few tips.

Create a Portal For Customer Service

With software, it can be easier to keep track of all customer interactions. It becomes more difficult to track all support interactions without software. A customer service portal or software makes tracking tickets, emails, and calls easier. That is especially true when the system has been integrated with your CRM. It makes it easier for your agents to respond to customer inquiries. It gives you more actionable and data-rich information.

Define Your Escalations

First, call resolution is defined differently by different companies. Define and specify the parameters of your company for when an incident qualifies as being resolved in terms of FCR. If a problem escalates to a manager, does it go beyond the initial contact?

Does the ticket have to be paid for within a day to count? What if it is more complicated and requires two business days to resolve the issue instead of one? Keep a clear track of your FCR goals, including the number of participants, timeframe, outreach method, and people involved.

Your Team Needs to be Staffed

Understaffed support departments can cause agents to be under pressure to solve the problem quickly and without resolving it thoroughly. Customers frustrated by long wait times may also become dissatisfied with your service.

To boost your FCR, you need enough support staff to handle the calls, emails, and online chats you get. That will ensure customers receive the answers they are looking for without waiting.

Your Staff Should be Trained

Your support agents must always continue learning more about the product or service they are supporting. It is essential for tech and SaaS companies where the products constantly change. Your support team can only succeed if you provide them with a solid foundation and regularly updated training. Their solution may not be correct anymore; worse yet, it never was.

Your Team Should be Structured Appropriately

Talk to employees about their strengths when building or rebuilding a support staff. If your company has simple support requirements, you should hire a support team that is made up of generalists who have broader product knowledge rather than specialized expertise.

It is a good idea for companies that offer more complex and niche solutions to structure and divide teams according to each employee's knowledge. For example, a company like Xfinity might assign support agents to handle internet, cable, and phone issues, billing, and account details.

Support employees can specialize in a particular business area rather than covering a wide range of topics. The right employee will be able to get to the heart of a problem and provide the most effective solution on the first call or email from a client.

You Can Use Phone Surveys or Follow-up Emails to Determine Your Customers' Happiness

Ask customers to stay on the line to take a survey by phone or to send a follow-up email if they contacted support via this method. The outreach will provide immediate insight into FCR and prompt support agents to contact the client to resolve the issue. If your business counts the resolution of issues within a day as a successful FCR, it could improve.

Motivate Your Team

A recent report shows, "If we take good care of our employees, then they'll take great care of clients." Customer success teams have a difficult job in the company. They must deal with angry or upset customers. The best customer service starts with the staff. Make sure they feel happy, motivated, and empowered at work. Create incentives and challenges for better performance.

Trends Can be Identified By Analyzing the Data

After you have installed the software, hired employees, and trained your team, begin analyzing your customer support emails and calls. Don't stop monitoring the FCR. Dig deeper when you ask the right questions.

They could lead to a more positive customer experience. As an example:

Does one agent report an FCR lower than the others?
One common problem continues to persist.
What day of the weekend is most popular for customer service calls?

You can drastically increase your first-call rate by finding answers to these questions.

Changes Can be Made as Required

What's the point of all this data if you don't use it to improve your business:

Consider putting that support worker on a different team or in a new training session if their FCR is below what it should be.
Consider writing an article in the knowledge base on a problem frequently raised by support staff.
Staff up if you see a spike in support requests on a particular day.

Here are only a few ways that supporting data can help increase FCR.

Conclusion

First call resolution is a call center metric that can be used to measure customer satisfaction. This metric will help you understand whether the customers are satisfied with your customer service. It is also a good way to see how efficient agents work. You can tell if agents are working efficiently by their high rates of first-call resolution.