If you've ever contacted customer support and been told your problem was solved, but then had to call back to fix the same issue, it's because the company failed to meet expectations for first-call resolution, also known as First Call Resolution (FCR).
This metric is extremely important for call center teams, as consumers are increasingly looking for better service, and especially speed in resolving problems.
Furthermore, this indicator is closely linked to the customer effort metric, which is currently the most predictive indicator when it comes to customer loyalty.
If you're interested in this topic and want to know everything about what First Call Resolution is, how to measure it, and how to use customer experience metrics to complement this measurement, just keep reading this article!
What is First Call Resolution (FCR)?
First Call Resolution, also known as first contact resolution or FCR, is a company's ability to handle a customer's calls, emails, questions, or complaints during their first contact, thus creating a more efficient experience.
With this indicator, you can understand the first-contact resolution rate your customer service team has with your clients.
Improving this indicator helps reduce customer effort and enhances the customer experience in all aspects, and is considered one of the most important metrics to measure in a contact center model.
How to calculate FCR?
Calculating First Call Resolution is very simple: just divide the number of resolutions achieved during the first contact by the total number of requests made by consumers.
FCR = Total number of cases resolved / total number of cases
The higher the number, the more your team is resolving problems the first time and reducing customer effort.
However, calculating only this rate is not enough. How will you know if the customer's problem has actually been resolved? Asking the customer service representative may not be the best option.
Therefore, ideally, a satisfaction survey immediately after the contact is closed, asking if the problem was resolved after the ticket was closed.
Using complementary metrics
As we mentioned earlier, after closing the ticket with the customer, it's necessary to "close the loop" with them by asking if the problem was resolved through a CSAT survey.
However, a customer effort survey can also be applied , asking if your company made it easier for the customer to resolve their problem.
Since both metrics are transactional, it is up to the company to decide which one can provide better insights.
I imagine you're wondering where the Net Promoter Score (NPS) fits into this story, right? In these contact center scenarios, NPS isn't the most suitable metric, precisely because of the purpose of the contact customers have with your company.
For example, most customers will contact your company to resolve a problem, therefore, the NPS question will not have a neutral bias to truly understand the customer experience, since they will already be contacting you precisely to report a negative experience.
In this case, the priority is to know if the customer's problem was solved, whether there was little or much effort to solve this problem, and only after the problem has been solved does an NPS survey make more sense.
I even recently wrote a practical guide on using customer experience metrics, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each – I'm sure it will help answer any questions you may have.
Why measure First Call Resolution?
The main reason to start measuring First Call Resolution (FCR) is that you will be able to identify problems with first call resolution and also better understand the process your customer goes through when contacting your company.
If the support team doesn't monitor this rate, problems will persist and customer effort rates will continue to rise, resulting in lower customer retention and loyalty.
Once these problems are identified, they can be resolved, thus improving the work of the agents and also the First Call Resolution (FCR) rate.
7 practical tips to increase First Call Resolution
Now that you're up to speed on the subject, it's only fair to share best practices to further improve your company's FCR rates.
#1 Simplify the processes
Most cases with low First Resolution Rates (FCR) are linked to excessive bureaucracy in customer service procedures. Therefore, there's no need to require that customer issues be resolved by only one specific company member or manager, for example.
Always strive to simplify these processes and make problem resolution accessible to all service agents.
#2 Centralize the information
Good omnichannel is all an effective customer service team needs to resolve customer issues across different platforms.
With centralized and organized information, your team becomes more efficient, and there's no need for agent transfers or repeated explanations of the same problem.
#3 Autonomy for customer service representatives
Give your team autonomy so they can help customers without having to contact a superior or open complex support tickets every time.
This way you simplify the procedures for solving the problem and prevent it from remaining unresolved due to bureaucracy.
#4 Focus on solving the problem
Another important factor in this equation is prioritizing the resolution of the customer's problem , rather than metrics such as response time.
That's because if the customer's problem isn't resolved, they'll have to open another ticket, explain the problem again to another agent, and the service time will be doubled or tripled.
Therefore, focus on solving customer problems quickly, and the "consequences" will be the best possible.
#5 Continuous analysis
Monitoring First Call Resolution is extremely important, as it's the only way to know if your strategies for improving this indicator are successful or not.
For example, imagine you decide to simplify and change several internal procedures to ensure an increase in the call resolution rate, but if you don't monitor this indicator, you won't know if the adapted processes were positive or negative.
Analysis is a crucial part of any business strategy, and as Peter Drucker said, what can be measured can be improved.
#6 Understand the unresolved cases
If your First Call Resolution rate isn't at 100%, it's because some calls weren't resolved immediately, and understanding why is very important. At this stage, it's important to understand if:
- Was it an issue that didn't depend solely on the attendant?
- Was there a lack of technical knowledge?
- Did the customer or the service representative fail to cooperate in resolving the problem?
- Was a help center or FAQ?
- How could the problem have been resolved on the first contact?
- Were there any limitations in resolving my client's problem?
All of these variables are valid and can occur in the daily work routine. Therefore, monitoring occurrences makes a difference when it comes to resolving shortcomings and increasing First Call Resolution (FCR).
#7 Be helpful and proactive
This may seem obvious, but asking questions like "Did this solve your problem?" or "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" can dramatically improve first call resolution (FCR) and the customer's perception of your company.
This small action brings transparency to customer service, encourages the customer to speak up, ensures that the solution is working or not, and reduces the chance of the customer calling back. After all, it's better to resolve now what could become a big problem later.
Conclusion
First Call Resolution (FCR) is one of the most important metrics for contact center teams to understand their problem resolution rates.
By implementing these best practices, you can reduce calls and increase customer satisfactionby resolving problems and concerns without requiring repeated contact.
Using First Call Resolution will provide significant insight into whether your customer's problems are being resolved or not – and, most importantly, it will allow you to cross-reference this indicator with customer satisfaction, effort, and loyalty rates.
And as you can imagine, this is an ongoing task that you must undertake to identify gaps in the operation, create a plan for improvements to be implemented, and finally, apply these improvements to enhance your customers' experience.
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