In the world of customer service, call centers play an important role in building lasting relationships with customers. When it comes to optimizing call center performance, there are plenty of KPIs you can use to make better decisions and improve.
In this article, we’ve chosen 20 essential KPIs for call centers. We’ve classified them into 5 main categories so you can measure all the key areas of your call center:
- Customer satisfaction KPIs
- Operational performance KPIs
- Agent management and productivity
- Financial indicators
- Employee well-being and satisfaction
So which KPIs do you need to prioritise for your call center? How should you measure and interpret them? You’ll find the answers in this article.
Customer Satisfaction KPIs
For a call center to be effective, measuring customer satisfaction is paramount. Evaluating these KPIs will allow you to:
- Ensure a competitive advantage
- Measure the level of customer satisfaction
- Find areas that can be improved in the customer interaction process
- Adjust strategies as a result
Here are the KPIs for analyzing customer satisfaction in your call center:
| KPI | Definition | Measurement |
| Level of Customer Satisfaction | This allows you to measure to what degree your customers are happy with their interaction with your call center. | Ask customers to grade, at the end of their call, their satisfaction using smiley faces or on a scale from 1 to 10. |
| Customer Effort Score (CES) | Measuring the effort required by the customer to get the answer they were looking for. This allows you to see if the customer service solution offered is simple or if it tends to frustrate customers. | A post-call questionnaire: Ask customers to indicate on a scale from 1 to 7 how difficult or easy they found the process. Then take the average across all customers to find your CES. |
| Net Promoter Score (NPS) | This allows you to evaluate the probability that your customer would recommend your brand or company. For a call center, this is an opportunity to find out if the service creates value or customer loyalty. | Ask customers to grade on a scale from 0 to 10 if they’d recommend your product or service to people they know. To find the NPS, you need to subtract the percentage of detractors (scores from 0 to 6) from the percentage of promoters (scores from 7 to 10). |
| First Call Resolution Rate | The percentage of problems solves in a single call. This allows you to know if the call center is wasting customers’ time or not. | Divide the number of requests resolved in the first call by the total number of calls received. |
| Response in 20s Rate (or 10s or 30s) | This measures the wait time for a customer before they’re put through to an advisor. This allows you to measure your call center reactiveness. | Divide the number of calls picked up in less than 20 seconds (or 10 or 30 seconds) by the total number of calls received. |
| Multichannel Handling Time | This helps you to measure how much time is needed to handle requests and inquiries via other channels: email, chat, socials, etc. | Calculate the average time spent between receiving a request and sending a reply. |
Operational performance KPIs
Beyond accessibility, call center performance also needs to be measured against productivity. The KPIs in this area can help to:
- Reduce call abandonment rates
- Control the time spent on calls by advisors
- Evaluate value creation without forgetting to forecast demand and adjust resource allocation according to flow.
Here are the main call center operational performance KPIs:
| KPI | Definition | Measurement |
| Service Quality Rate |
It allows you to understand the call center’s capacity to deal with most calls. | Divide the number of calls handled by the total number of calls. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Average Talk Time (ATT) | This provides you with information on the average time for a call between an agent and a customer, without hold time. | This can help you see if agents are chatty or succinct. Divide the total conversation time by the number of calls handled. |
| Average Call Time (ACT) | This measures the total time of a call including hold time. | Divide the total call time by the number of calls dealt with. |
| Average Handling Time (AHT) | This measures the average handling time and any after-call work involved excluding hold time. | Divide the total handling time, without hold time, by the number of calls handled. |
| Abandonment Rate | This measures the percentage of calls abandoned by customers before they're dealt with. This allows you to evaluate a call center’s capacity for effectively dealing with a significant number of calls. | Divide the number of calls abandoned by the number of calls received. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Flow Forecast Accuracy | This allows you to measure a call center's ability to anticipate a given volume of calls and adjust resource allocation as a result. This allows you to avoid call center overflow. | Subtract the real number of calls from the number of calls expected. Divide the result by the number of calls expected and multiply by 100. |
Agent management and productivity
To manage inquiries effectively, call centers need to rely on their most precious resource, their advisors. To better evaluate and boost agent productivity, you need to use KPIs that allow you to:
- Monitor agent workload in real-time
- Evaluate their performance levels and competency
- Boost their motivation and increase their level of training
- Reduce absenteeism and improve working conditions
- Promote collaboration and communication between team-mates
Here are the KPIs for managing agent productivity:
| KPI | Definition | Measurement |
| Agent Occupancy Rate | This indicates the percentage of time during which agents are online and able to handle calls. It allows you to know if advisors are busy, overworked, or underutilized and to what extent call center automation could be used. | Divide the handling time of calls by work time. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Number of Monitored Calls by Agent | This allows you to see how often agents’ calls are monitored and evaluated by supervisors. This can help you understand to what extent they’re appropriately monitored or given autonomy. | Count the number of calls monitored for a given agent over a specific period. |
| Team Training Levels | This measures how much time agents dedicate to further training. | Divide the training time by the total work time. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Absence Rate | This measures the percentage of agents absent for calls. This will give you an idea of how engaged advisors are and whether or not they’re frequently absent or unmotivated. | Divide time off by total work time. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Break Time | This measures the average break time taken by agents. This can help you to see if agents get enough time for breaks or if they’re tired. | Divide the total number of time taken for breaks by the number of agents. |
Number of Formal Team Meetings | This measures the frequency of team meetings for discussing results, problems, etc. This allows you to see if agents are involved or neglected. | Count the number of team meetings organized over a given time. |
| Employee Satisfaction Level |
It can help you understand employee well-being and whether they’re satisfied or unhappy with their work. | Ask employees to grade their satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 10. Methods: Satisfaction surveys, questionnaires, individual interviews, etc. |
Management and Financial KPIs
Financial and management KPIs are essential for understanding the economic performance of call centers. Focusing on these call center KPIs will allow you to:
- Estimate the average cost of handling a customer inquiry
- Analyze call traffic
- Quantify revenue per call
- Optimize sales opportunities
- Improve lead conversion rate
These are the main financial KPIs for managing a call center:
| KPI | Definition | Measurement |
| Customer Enquiry Handling Cost | This measures the average cost of handling a call, including variable costs (internet, telephone, etc.) and fixed costs (salaries, administrative fees, etc.). It allows you to evaluate the profitability of the call center while also establishing the break-even point. | Divide the total cost by the number of inquiries handled. |
| Cost Per Outgoing Call | This measures the average cost of an outgoing call including fixed and variable costs. It lets you know if the call center is on top of its costs or not. | Divide the total cost by the number of outgoing calls. |
| Revenue Per Outgoing Call | This lets you evaluate the average revenue generated per outgoing call. | Divide the revenue by the total number of outbound calls. |
| Conversion Rate | This lets you estimate the percentage of leads converted into customers. | Divide the total number of conversions by the total number of outgoing calls. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Reactivation Rate | This measures the percentage of inactive customers successfully reactivated. It allows you to understand the call center’s capacity to create loyal customers or win them back. | Divide the number of customers reactivated by the number of inactive or lost customers. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Traffic and Demand Analysis | This lets you study the volume and type of customer inquiries. | Use statistical analysis tools, spreadsheets, etc. |
| Customer Relationship Digitalization Rate | This measures the proportion of customers from digital channels (chatbots, vocal digital assistants, email, mobile apps, etc.). | Divide the total number of digital interactions by the total number of interactions. Multiply the result by 100. |
| Next Best Action (NBA) | This evaluates the effectiveness of personalized recommendations for clients following calls. It lets you see if the call center can simply follow a script or if it can create more value. | Use artificial intelligence tools and predictive algorithms. |
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