How can Call Centres achieve high FCR (First Call Resolution) rate?

Don’t you think that considering customer’s problems as your own and offering the resolutions in tandem with their perspective is the best way to take your business to the top? However, catering to customer’s needs isn’t an easy task because you have to be available round-the-clock for the same.

This is where companies offering call center outsourcing services come into play. These companies apart from making sure that précised solutions are offered also ensure a swift deliverance of the services. Why? Because no one really wants to wait to avail resolutions. That’s why call center managers to keep a close watch on different performance indicators of customer support service.

Some of the known metrics are AHT (average handling time), SLA, average abandonment rate, average call after time, and FCR (first call resolution). Out of these, FCR plays a vital role in deciding the fate of your business because the sooner you are able to resolve customer’s pain points, the more loyalty your brand will gain from the patrons.

So, we are going to reveal 4 tips that will help call centers in achieving high FCR rate. So, have a look: 

Monitor repeat calls

From the business’s viewpoint, nothing is more annoying than a high rate of repetitive calls. This is so because the high rate of repeat calls makes a dent in the business’s reputation. In addition, call volume also gets increased and thereby workload on agents also increases. Consequently, this results in poor productivity.

In order to provide unmatched call center outsourcing services, repeat calls should be monitored. By doing so, it would be very easy to identify those factors that are affecting the FCR (first call resolution) rate.

Furthermore, it is crucial for call centers to make agents understand that FCR is more important than AHT. This factor is worthy to get attention because customer service agents often try to reduce the average handle time rather than increasing the FCR rate.

It is significant to use repeat call tracking technology. With the help of CRM integration, call centres can even know about those customers that are making contact repeatedly via different channels.

Promote self-service as much as possible

In order to elevate the FCR rate, it is vital to promote self-service facility as much as possible. This is so because if customers solve the minor issues on their own, the average rate of support queries will automatically decrease. Hence, agents get more time to eradicate complex issues, which, in turn, leads to better resolution.

Moreover, it will improve the CSAT score because if customers solve all the trivial issues by themselves, they don’t have to wait to get connected with agents. Another benefit of promoting self-service facility is average call queue length will also get reduced. This means customers who are waiting in a queue, will get a faster resolution. As a result, this will bolster the brand image.

Before you get us wrong, we would like to tell you that around 60% of customers prefer to make contact with agents even for minor problems. From the business’s point of view, if customer service agents keep themselves busy in solving minor problems, it would be very difficult to manage the FCR rate.

All in all, the self-service facility should be promoted for the sake of rendering remarkable call center outsourcing services UK.

Listen to your agents

For better FCR rate, it is paramount for call centres to leave no stone unturned. Owing to this, it is imperative to listen to support agents. This is so because agents always have a fair idea about the changes that should be made in order to render phenomenal services.

Therefore, it is vitally important for call centres to arrange a meeting with agents every month and ask about the changes that could be made in scripts, IVR menu, etc. This will surely help to increase the FCR rate.    

Optimize all the channels

In this modern era, customers have the liberty to avail the desired support service from various channels such as email, live chat, social media, etc.

Have you ever thought why 60% of customers prefer to avail the desired resolutions via voice channel?

The most cited reason behind why customers prefer to make a call is ‘Human touch.’ From the business’s outlook, handling 60% of customers on one channel could be a daunting task. Therefore, it is crucial for call centres to optimize all the channels.

This factor is vital because if customers get the same level of support service across all the channels, there is a high possibility that customer call traffic will get reduced. If agents have less number of calls to answer, they are more likely to solve customer’s issues in one attempt.