Call Center Solutions Featured Article

First call resolution is an important call center metric. Basically this is the percentage of customer calls that are completely resolved within the first contact. It's also an important driver of customer satisfaction: Most customers measure a company's customer service by its ability to resolve their issue or request on the first call.

 

Because FCR is such an important call center metric, companies must strive to keep their FCR rates as high as possible. When the FCR rates drop too low, the organization must do an investigation to determine what is going wrong. Typically the way most organizations achieve this, according to a recent white paper from the Primas Group, "Effectively Using Your Data for Customer Retention," is to examine the "repeat" calls, because very often they reveal the reason why the customer is calling back. Organizations typically go back through their call recordings and find repeat calls to learn more about why callers need to call back and where possible take corrective action. This, however, can sometimes be a time-consuming process.

 

As the white paper points out, there will always be reasons for repeat calls which fall outside the scope of what can reasonably be done to prevent them. These calls need special treatment - call it "second call treatment," if you will, but the point is, the call better not go on to a third round or you will be in serious jeopardy of losing that customer.

 

The Primas Group has launched a new software solution called Evolution FCR that allows companies to provide a "different experience" for repeat callers. The solution allows repeat callers to hear a different greeting when they hit the IVR - plus it can "eliminate the IVR menus from the repeat caller's initial experience and transfer them directly to either the agent or the department they selected the last time." From there the system uses customer metadata to connect a repeat caller to the most appropriate agent to handle their issue. Very often this means transferring the customer to the same agent who originally handled their issue - or the next-best suited agent based on their skill sets and past experience dealing with repeat callers.

 

Primas claims that by implementing its second call treatment solution, companies can reduce customer churn; improve revenue opportunities (in revenue generating contact centers), including introducing up-sell and cross-sell strategies; properly align the customer to the correct resource (agent); expand their data collection, tracking and reporting; and increase agent productivity and satisfaction.

 

The software allows a company to tap into any customer database and "screen-pop" pertinent customer information onto agent desktops. Basic customer metadata can be collected via the IVR system each time a customer calls in, plus more detailed customer data can be extracted from the CRM system, order management system or other database and moved into the customer's profile. This can also include the last agent contacted and the nature of that contact. With that information at their fingertips, automatically each time a customer calls in, agents are better prepared to deliver fast customer service and resolve customers' issues quickly.

 

Evolution FCR can also be used to launch post interaction surveys via the IVR system. "Upon completion of the survey, management now has the tools to separate the repeat callers into two profiles: 1) Call types that will always require repeat calls and therefore would appreciate the streamlined process, and 2) First Call Resolution improvements. These are the calls that should have been handled on the first call but somewhere in the existing process there are improvements that need to be addressed," Primas officials say.

 

Primas says the solution can be customized to meet specific contact center needs.

 

"Our goal is to offer beneficial, relevant products and services for today's sophisticated contact centers," said Mike Mastro, president of Primas, in a release. "Providing Evolution FCR lets our clients give their customers a high touch, personal experience, almost like being remembered at your favorite neighborhood store, when for whatever reason, they have to call back into your center. This is an approach that customers who demand better service for their continued loyalty want and appreciate."