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KPI Examples

KPI Examples.

Call Center Metrics.

Your call center operates in a high-stress environment and to achieve your full potential, you need to be dialled into the latest KPIs and metrics. Real-time metrics like current service level, call volume, and call abandon rates should be coupled with KPIs like customer satisfaction, cost per contact, and call resolution to provide a holistic view of your call center's performance. By putting these KPIs and metrics on a web and mobile dashboard, you gain the data visibility you need to deliver the highest quality of service to your customers.

To help get you started, we've put together a list of the top 10 call center KPIs and metrics our customers use to monitor their performance.

Service Level. This call center KPI is the single most important indicator of your ability to deliver a high quality of service to your customers. Your call center's Service Level Agreement (SLA) is your commitment to a basic standard of service - if you are unable to meet your SLA, your call center is in trouble. Service level is typically set using a goal such as answering 75% of calls with 20 seconds, or 75/20. Monitoring this KPI in real-time is essential, as it provides a barometer of your call center's performance.
Audience: Agents, Managers, Executives, Customers
Calculation: % of calls answered within X seconds

Cost per Contact. This call center metric measures how much each contact costs your call center, and is a key part of any cost-benefit analysis. Each time one of your agents picks up the phone or sends an email, it costs you money in wages as well as operating costs. As you might imagine, this call center metric is closely tied in with average handle time, since resolving customer concerns quickly saves your organization money. This metric can be measured on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, depending on the metric's audience and type of call center you operate.
Audience: Executives, Managers
Calculation: # of calls per month / (operating cost + labour)

Customer Satisfaction. This call center metric measures your performance according to your customers, and the data is typically collected through surveys after an initial contact. The example on the left provides a high-level assessment, but you will also want to get more specific details from customers such as call quality, if their issue was resolved, and if their call was handled in a timely manner. It's hard to understate the importance of this metric, since it is at the heart of what you do.
Audience: Agents, Managers, Executives
Sample Question: How satisfied are you with the service provided?

Average Handle Time. This call center KPI measures the average amount of time spent on each call, including administrative duties associated with a call (like a call report). You can use this KPI to measure individual agent performance or use it to measure your call center's performance as a whole. Average handle time can be used as an indicator of call efficiency, agent efficiency, and customer satisfaction. AHT is also an important consideration when looking at the cost per contact metric.
Audience: Executives, Managers
Calculation: Average Talk Time + After Call Work

Call Abandonment. This call center metric shows you the number of callers that hang-up before they can be connected to an agent. No one likes being stuck on hold, and your customers only have so much patience before they will hang up. Your objective is to be able to reach callers before they cross the "threshold." This metric is closely tied to call volume, so use it to determine how many agents you need to have answering calls at any given time (giving priority to typically high volume times).
Audience: Managers, Executives
Calculation: Abandoned Calls / Total Incoming Calls

Call Center KPI: Active and Waiting Calls

Active and Waiting Calls. This call center metric is similar to the above example with the exception that it measures call volume in real-time. This "status" metric should be shared with all of your agents to provide them with insight into their performance. Agents should be encouraged to resolve calls on a timely basis in order to get to the next caller in queue; however, this should not come at the expense of delivering quality customer service.
Audience: Agents, Managers
Calculation: Total # of callers, # of callers on hold

Agent Performance. This mix of call center metrics measures how your agents are performing across several categories. The example on the left provides a snap-shot of the type of metrics which may be relevant to a call center manager. It's also worth noting that this example is designed to be monitored in real-time – performance metrics like agent turnover and occupancy are best measured over a longer period of time.
Audience: Agents, Managers, Executives
Example: # agents logged, # of calls greater than 5 minutes

Call Center Status. Much like the metrics covered in the previous example, these types of call center metrics provide real-time insight into the performance of your call center. The example on the left is about providing some context for your current performance, and includes key call center metrics like average seconds to answer. Like the example above, these metrics should be displayed to everyone in your call center to inspire positive action.
Audience: Agents, Managers, Executives
Example: Total # of calls, average seconds to answer (ASA)

Call Resolution. This call center KPI measures the outcome of each call handled by your call center, and tracking this KPI is essential for gaining insight into customer satisfaction and agent effectiveness. Like many of the KPIs and metrics on this list, you can monitor this KPI at the agent or call center level. As many within the industry will agree, the "holy grail" is to resolve each customer's issue on the first call. In reality, a number of factors outside of your call center's control may influence this number.
Audience: Agents, Managers, Executives
Calculation: # of calls resolved after x amount of contacts / total # of calls

Adherence. This call center metric is used to analyze how well an agent works within their schedule and determine how efficiently they are spending their time. Schedule adherence is an important factor in determining call center costs – it's an accepted fact that high adherence rates can significantly reduce call center costs. Adherence should take into consideration necessary activities like writing up call reports, and not strictly measure agent time on calls.
Audience: Agents, Executives, Managers
Calculation: (Handling Time + Available time) / (Paid hours)

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