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Nothing feels better than having your issue solved on the spot and nobody likes being put on hold or having to call back about the same issue.
In customer service, first-contact resolution (FCR) has become a crucial metric for companies since it measures the ability to resolve customer issues or complaints on first contact.
Resolving customers’ issues during their first interaction eliminates the need for follow-ups and repeated calls.
Picture this, you call a company about a problem, and it is solved smoothly. There are no transfers, no callbacks just a seamless experience that leaves you happy.
Create a positive experience with your customers by tracking first contact resolution.
In this blog, we will explore the key benefits of FCR, best practices for implementing it, and how to measure first contact resolution.
What is the first contact resolution?
First contact resolution is a metric that evaluates the effectiveness of customer support by tracking the percentage of resolved issues during the first interaction.
It involves resolving customers’ issues immediately after they arise in the first contact, ensuring they get quick and accurate answers to meet their needs.
According to Apizee, research shows that FCR rates vary drastically between sectors, ranging from 44% to 92%, with an industry average of 71% for call centers.
With first-contact resolution, your customers will not have to contact you again for the same issue since it was resolved in one call.
What is a good first-contact resolution rate?
The ideal FCR rate can differ depending on factors like the nature of the business, the products or services provided, and the complexity of the customer issues
A standard FCR rate for a business is between 70-79%. This means 30% of customers would have to call back for the same issues or inquiries because they were not resolved during the first call.
Top-performing businesses often achieve an FCR rate of 80% or higher, which is considered to be world-class.
Benefits of first-contact resolution
First contact resolution (FCR) aims to address and resolve customers’ concerns quickly and effectively, thereby delivering quality customer service.
Below are some of the benefits of first-contact resolution.
Improves customer retention
Customers who have their issues resolved quickly always come to trust the company to meet their needs.
This encourages long-term loyalty, as customers are more inclined to stay with a brand.
Leads to agents’ satisfaction
Research by SQM group shows that for every 1% improvement in FCR, there is a 2.5% improvement in employee satisfaction.
Agents achieve a great sense of achievement when they successfully resolve issues on the first call.
This increases their confidence, minimizes repetitive tasks, and improves the overall customer experience. Agents will feel motivated and perform their best.
Reduces customer effort and increases satisfaction
The purpose of a business is to attract and keep a customer. When users’ issues are resolved during the first interaction with the support team, it makes them feel valued, creating a positive experience.
Furthermore, FCR minimizes the need for customers to make repeat calls to your company. The less effort a customer must put in, the higher their satisfaction levels.
Improves company image
What feelings or associations come to mind when people think of your company?
If your company keeps providing satisfactory solutions within the set first call resolution time frames, without any doubt, customers will have a good image of your brand.
No good deed goes unnoticed. Word will eventually spread about how you meet customer expectations with a prompt resolution, boosting your brand reputation in the long run.
Limitations of first call resolution
Prioritizing speed over quality may result to poor customer experience as some issues need more time and attention when being addressed. Let’s now explore some the cons of FCR when agents struggle for an ideal customer solution.
- Reduces long-term resolution: Agents can increase their FCR rate by solving customer issues in a single interaction. However, this may lead to quick fixes that don’t address the root cause of the problem. As a result, customers may reach out again for the same issue, reducing the chances of finding long-term solutions.
- Diminishes self-service options: When users are discouraged from using self-service resources, they may feel less empowered to find solutions on their own, relying more on customer support, which results in higher call volumes.
- Agents’ level of stress increases: The constant demand to meet FCR target puts agents under pressure to resolve issues during first call. If they encounter more complex issues, they may experience high stress levels, which may result to poor performance or frustration.
- Restricts creativity and innovation: When FCR becomes the priority, agents may focus more on meeting time-related goals rather than engaging in thoughtful problem-solving. This will limit the development of more efficient or creative ways to handle customer service challenges.
How to measure the first call resolution rate
First call resolution is essential for customer service teams and call centers reflecting how well they meet customer needs on their first interaction.
Furthermore, it focuses on providing customers with quick and effective solutions during interaction through phone, email, chat or more.
By consistently monitoring and evaluating the FCR rate, you can gain insights into your team’s effectiveness in resolving customer issues, you use the data to continuously improve customer experience.
To calculate your business’s first contact resolution rate, divide the total number of resolved tickets within the first contact of interactions by the total number of tickets received.
Let’s take an example where a company call center handled 1000 calls in a month, but only 400 calls were resolved on the first call.
FCR rate = (400/1000) *100% = 40%
Conclusion: From the example above, the estimated rate at which the support agents usually respond to customers within the first call is 40%.
Strategies for improving first contact resolution
Achieving first-call resolution is a common challenge for many organizations due to factors such as complex customer issues, insufficient information, limited agents, or system-related issues.
Implementing focused strategies can successfully address these challenges. Below are some of the examples of strategies that can help improve FCR.
Define your FCR and focus on customer expectations
For any support team to successfully say they have resolved issues within the first contact with customers, they need to know what can pass as an FCR. You can discuss with your agents and decide on the estimated resolution times.
Understand your users’ needs and expectations during the interaction process to provide the right solutions quickly, prevent misunderstandings, and avoid follow-up calls from them.
Don’t forget to keep customers in the loop in case of failed FCR or if potential follow-ups or escalations is needed, to ensure transparency.
Additionally, when there is an unresolved issue, your agents should communicate the expected timelines for resolutions to enhance the customer experience.
Monitor and analyze all customer engagements
The purpose of tracking is not just to collect data but to analyze insights that drive improvement in your business.
Businesses can store, manage and maintain all customer information and conversation history in a centralized customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
This will allow agents to access the information in a minute and fix issues quickly instead of constantly asking customers to repeat their details.
You can also monitor conversations within an omnichannel inbox, which ensures access to all interactions, irrespective of the channel used, in a single unified inbox for future reference.
Invest in technology and tools
Customers expect instant solutions to their problems. Integrating technology into your support processes is the key to achieving a high first-call resolution rate.
Provide live chat software that will enable real-time communication with customers, hence faster problem-solving.
Empower your agents with the right internal knowledge base that will provide self-service options to quickly find solutions to common questions.
Not all issues can be solved during the first call, especially if they are complex, need expertise, or require additional information.
In such instances, a help desk ticketing system can come in handy to convert those support converts those support issues to tickets and automatically routes them to the right agent to solve the issue as soon as possible.
It also allows these agents to easily monitor the tickets’ progress, escalate issues when necessary, and generate reports to evaluate overall performance.
Handle queries fast and provide instant solutions with AI Copilot assistance to generate ideas, suggestions, or solutions to common issues.
You can also use it to analyze customer sentiment so you can tailor your resolution to their satisfaction.
Diagnose the root cause of delayed FCR
What gaps can lead to your failed FCR? The reasons are endless, with factors such as third-party involvement, technical issues like troubleshooting errors, or even issue tracking and ticket triaging challenges.
Your company can get to the bottom of it and pinpoint the exact causes for not resolving the issues within the first call through:
- Analyzing customer interaction data.
- Identifying common patterns or recurring issues.
- Assessing agent training and knowledge gaps.
- Reviewing system or process inefficiencies.
- Gathering feedback from customers.
Once you identify these causes, you can understand where the resolution process is breaking down and know the areas to improve.
Use a service self-service approach
Your company should empower both the customer support team and users with the right tools to solve common queries.
Customers who have easy access to self-service tools are most likely to solve issues on their own, reducing the number of support tickets generated without needing to contact agents.
On the other hand, agents who use a well-structured knowledge base act as a reference, offering easy access to articles, troubleshooting guides, and FAQs to address common issues.
This enables your agents to quickly and accurately resolve customer inquiries.
Train and encourage collaboration among teams
Great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people.
Empower your customer service agents with deep product knowledge skills on how to handle and resolve customer issues on first call.
To improve first-time resolution, your company can train your support team on incorporate soft skills such as communication, empathy, patience, and stress management.
Your organization should encourage the use of collaboration tools such as knowledge base, ticketing system, AI assistance, or collaboration platforms.
You can equip your agents with self-help resources such as a self-service portal where they can track tickets to get solutions.
Identify resolved cases and track follow-up interactions
Great customer service is knowing when to mark issues as fully resolved and when to follow up. Your company should conduct follow-up on customer interactions.
You can track the number of customers you contacted more than once for the same issue to determine how often customers need to reach out for unresolved issues.
This will help you identify areas of improvement needed to achieve FCR and enhance overall customer satisfaction.
Achieve excellent customer service with first-contact resolution
Today, every second counts; first-contact resolution shines as the benchmark of exceptional customer service.
Your business can prioritize FCR to minimize the frustration of repeat calls and follow-up, ensuring customers feel satisfied during the interaction.
Improve first-call resolutions to boost customer satisfaction, streamline operations, swiftly address issues, and leave customers happy by solving their issues quickly.
You can sign up for an account with BoldDesk® to provide exceptional customer service by monitoring and achieving first-touch resolution. Contact us to schedule a live demo or start a 15-day free trial to test our amazing features.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why is first contact resolution important?
First-contact resolution is important because it enhances customer satisfaction, improves agents’ productivity, and reduces operational costs by effectively solving issues in a single interaction.
How does technology impact first contact resolution?
Technology such as a knowledge base, AI chatbots, ticketing systems, or live chat helps agents find information quickly and solve issues quickly.
How does first contact-resolution reduce customer effort?
First contact resolution minimizes customer effort by eliminating the need to repeat themselves, resulting in a smoother and faster experience.
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