First-call Resolution (FCR)

What is First-call Resolution?

A survey reveals that for many of the customer centres, almost one-third of the callers are repeat callers who weren’t satisfied with the service provided during the initial call. Properly addressing the customer queries in the first call itself, is termed as first-call resolution (FCR). This metric has become extremely important for organizations who wish to track the efficiency of their employees as it is one of the top drivers of customer satisfaction. Follow-up calls create an increase in total call volume which in turn requires more employees thus leading to increase in cost.

Factors that affect FCR performance:

Employee Authority

Employees do not have the authority to resolve the issue even when they are capable of providing the solution. Hence the call gets escalated to a senior person resulting in additional wait time for customers.

Employee Access to Information

Employees are unable to access information easily that would help them to provide easy resolution to customer. In such scenarios, employees take a guess at answers or simply fail to provide a resolution resulting in call backs.

Employee Training

Employees lack the ability to resolve customer queries effectively due to lack of sufficient training and knowledge of the product / domain.

Inefficient Systems

The systems used by the employees may not be very efficient, for e.g., if the phone number of the customer is updated by the employee but it doesn’t reflect in the system, then this would lead to call-backs.

The Importance of FCR:

1. Reduced cost: Increase in FCR results in reduced cost as less time and resources are spent on managing follow-up calls.
2. Improved customer satisfaction: Customers are more likely to be satisfied if their query gets resolved in the first call itself. Customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors for the success of any organization.
3. Increased sales opportunities: If the query of a customer is resolved quickly, the employee gets an opportunity for some sales activity with the customer. The customer is more likely to accept the cross-selling offer if his / her query is resolved.
4. Improved employee satisfaction: FCR leads to improved employee satisfaction and satisfied employees are more likely to better resolve customer queries thus leading to FCR. An employee is often irritated if he / she is handling customer’s third or fourth call.
5. Increased customer retention: An organization is most likely to retain its customers with FCR. If the customer’s problem is resolved in the first call itself, the risk of customers going to competitors is reduced considerably.

Measuring FCR:

FCR can be measured using various internal and external methods like post call surveys, call monitoring, call back, voice menu, performance management and quality monitoring tools, call reports by employees, etc. For internal methods, the outcome is determined by the organization whereas for external methods, the outcome is determined by the customers. A best practice would be to use multiple methods to measure FCR as it would present an accurate insight. In order to improve FCR, it is essential for an organization to measure FCR correctly.

FCR is one of the most important metrics to measure customer satisfaction. Higher rate of FCR in an organization leads to happy customers. FCR should be measured accurately and efforts must be taken by organizations to improve FCR on a regular basis. Employees must be made aware of the importance of FCR.

About Author:

Kintu Racca is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at kintu.r@spluspl.com