.png)
Contact centers are an integral part of any customer experience. These tend to take the form of inbound call centers, run by contact center agents who help solve customer issues in real time.
On the customer-facing side, contact center metrics should be based on customer satisfaction and response times. But call center KPIs can also offer a window into business operations and sales-side processes, isolating areas where performance is thriving as well as areas for improvement.
Whether a bank is already an omnichannel expert or just beginning to explore options in the digital space, the same metrics provide actionable insights. In this article, we look at the top contact center metrics that tell banks all they need to know about agent performance and customer outcomes.
Call center KPIs for customer service
The following indicators allow you to gauge how customers are finding their experience and determine their overall level of satisfaction. Typically, higher satisfaction is the blueprint for long-term customer loyalty.
- Average handle time (AHT): the average time spent on customer calls is a good indicator of efficiency, with shorter calls being the objective for most banks. Once the different types of calls and calling processes have been established, teams can set a benchmark for average handle time to guide improvements in customer satisfaction.
- First-contact resolution (FCR): Resolving customer queries upon initial contact is great for securing a low customer effort score and customer retention. Aiming for a high % of first-contact resolution is, therefore, a sound investment in overall customer satisfaction.
- Average wait time: the average time customers spend on hold has an immediate impact on caller satisfaction levels. While call queues are sometimes an inevitable fact of banking customer service, average hold times should always be minimized. Thus, average waiting time is one of the key center performance metrics.
- Average abandonment rate: the percentage of calls ended by customers is closely linked to customer satisfaction. Not only does the abandonment rate reveal whether a customer judges the hold or queue time to be reasonable, but it also offers an indication of whether they view the call experience to be worth the wait.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): NPS represents the probability that a customer will recommend the service, relying mainly on customer surveys. While this is related to customer satisfaction scores, NPS can also gauge customer loyalty and the overall strength of their relationship with a company, making it a useful metric. In fact, as of 2020, improving NPS was a priority for 63% of banks.
Call center KPIs for sales teams
Sales teams will look at different areas of performance than support call centers, which entails another set of key metrics. While call center managers will be more concerned with customer success and satisfaction, sales teams will hone in on any outbound calls and the outcomes. That said, these two departments should be in constant dialogue to ensure call center success.
- Conversion rate: the number of sales made expressed as a percentage of total calls gives the conversion rate. In a call center setting, this essentially represents how many calls it takes before a team member closes a deal. By using the conversion rate as a benchmark, the sales department can analyze existing sales processes to determine which are the most effective.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): monitoring the cost absorbed by each acquisition is imperative. By understanding how much each conversion costs a sales team, CPA will highlight the most cost-efficient techniques which can help to optimize your ROI.
- Sales per agent: measuring the sales (as a fraction of total calls) made by each agent is useful for enhancing team performance. The center management can see where their team is falling short, examine why this might be the case, and define targets to improve sales outcomes. Plus, clear goals coupled with appealing incentives are crucial for employee engagement, which will bolster sales performance in turn.
Unblu’s co-browsing technology empowers sales agents to get closer to their targets and advance team performance. Financial institutions using Unblu Co-Browsing are able to provide a better level of service, resulting in up to 3x more conversions.
Call center KPIs for business growth
Banks and financial institutions should also monitor wide-scale call center operations to support business goals, processes and planning.
- Service level: the percentage of calls answered within a certain time frame, or what is sometimes known as the “target time threshold”. Banks can measure this over any period of time (i.e. 30 minutes, 4 hours, a day or a week). It can also be measured at various levels; for each agent, team, department or the company as a whole. Service level can be thought of as the overall activity output for a call center, and is usually a performance metric as well as a service standard. This will inform an organization’s service level agreement (SLA) with employees and customers.
- Cost per contact (CPC): CPC represents the average cost of each call handled, giving an overall idea of how much it costs to run current operations. It is calculated by dividing the sum of all call center operating expenses by the annual inbound contact volume. While operating expenses should factor in the cost of employees and facilities, inbound call volume should reflect all contact from voice/video calls, emails, social media messages, and so forth. From a business planning perspective, this metric is important for maintaining cost-efficiency and optimizing resource allocation.
Unblu’s Co-Browsing solution allows financial services to decrease their CPC by reducing the length of calls. A typical phone call can be expected to have an AHT of 8 minutes. By introducing a visual component, co-browsing improves the resolution rate and reduces the response time to 6 minutes, entailing a 30% CPC saving.
Keeping up with KPIs: digital customer service & Unblu
Digital tools offer a promising avenue for making customer interactions more efficient. At the same time, well-designed deployments have the potential to reduce operational costs.
In financial services, organizations now have the opportunity to build an omnichannel strategy where customers can choose which communication channel they want to use. If each channel is optimized for speed, flexibility, and efficiency, this approach can effectively distribute incoming calls between agents to drive better results on key call center metrics.
According to a 2021 Capgemini study, 76% of customers now expect an omnichannel experience and 59% of customers expect on-demand services. This seems to have caught on among banks, where digital transformation is no longer the stomping ground of a few frontrunners. According to Cornerstone Advisors’ 2022 What’s Going On in Banking study, 75% of credit unions and banks are currently undertaking digital transformation activities (Forbes).
Unblu’s range of conversational banking solutions gives agents the tools to deliver rapid, efficient customer services. While fostering higher agent productivity and employee engagement, Unblu also boosts banks’ bottom lines through improved digital customer service that raises the bar for key performance indicators. Learn more by booking a demo here.
