The Customer Care Silver Bullet - First Contact Resolution

The recent economic downturn, coupled with the era of product commoditization in which we now do business, has resulted in the “perfect storm” that has begun to force changes in the customer care environment. Driven by a lackluster economy, contact center managers are being asked to cut costs without diminishing the level of customer satisfaction within their centers – a difficult, if not impossible task. In addition, the commodity mentality of today’s marketplace is making it more important than ever to differentiate a company in the marketplace by creating more memorable customer experiences aimed at achieving higher levels of customer delight.

Studies have proven the direct link between superior customer care ratings and higher levels of corporate market valuation. Simply put, the better the customer experience, the better a company’s financial performance can be expected to be over the years. Today more than ever, providing a high level of customer care will ensure a stronger competitive position and more positive financial results. It logically follows that if the customer’s perception of service is driven by a corporation’s ability to provide a high level of first contact resolution (FCR), a high FCR rate should be a primary goal of every company.

In order to lay the groundwork for a successful FCR monitoring program, there needs to be a change of management mindset. In the contact center the normal focus of monitoring systems and programs is the efficiency of the agent: How are agents doing with regard to schedule adherence, average speed of answer, talk time, hold time, wrap-up time?, etc. Too often the primary goal is to squeeze every second of potential inefficiency out of the agent’s work day.

Seldom do companies focus on factors that evaluate the agent’s real effectiveness, such as up-sell/cross-sell percentages, revenue per call, or other factors such as the customer’s perception of call quality or the overall ability of the enterprise to solve the customer’s problem on the initial contact. As a matter of fact, it is very unusual today for centers to even have FCR programs in place. This is ironic because our research tells us that the one thing customers want most when contacting a customer service department is for their issue to be corrected on the first contact – the fundamental definition of FCR. 

There are three primary gains to be achieved by a well implemented FCR program. The gains include dollar/time savings, revenue enhancements and improvement in customer satisfaction levels. When a customer issue is fully handled on the initial contact, there are no “rework” issues on the part of the agent – or related support of back-office workers – and no additional follow-up calls. With the average cost of an agent-handled call at $5 to $7, even in a relatively small center, this could amount to hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars per year in cost savings. Revenues can be enhanced because once the issue is corrected and closed, the opportunities for up-selling, cross-selling and capturing future sales becomes a reality. Finally, the resulting increase in customer satisfaction caused by high levels of FCR is very likely to lower customer churn rates and increase overall loyalty. In today’s super-competitive business environment these can be cherished results.

Because of its potential for immediate and powerful results, FCR is beginning to gain recognition and acceptance as a major key performance indicator across customer service operations. FCR’s ability to positively affect revenues and boost customer satisfaction makes its implementation a win-win situation for both the corporation and its customers alike.

In summary, customer care rework has been recognized as a major and expensive industry problem which is driving the recognition of FCR as a major key performance indicator. Effective FCR process implementation requires a blend of organizational foresight, information, analytics, incentives, education and training. To any enterprise considering the implementation of a FCR process we recommend the following steps:

Begin by expanding the focus of your customer service KPIs beyond agent efficiency 
measurements and into customer effectiveness

Define the unique FCR measurements of your business and adopt the appropriate algorithm(s) 
required to measure and track these metrics – start simple and enhance the process over time.
Focus on detecting the root causes contributing to your enterprise not achieving high levels of FCR. 

Implement and adhere to an FCR improvement implementation program (e.g., monthly FCR team meetings) to maximize the potential for continued FCR improvement

Finally - don’t waste another minute in starting your FCR program. At minimum, you can begin by ending every customer interaction asking, “Have we accomplished everything you wanted to accomplish today?”