As call centers become more strategically significant in their service to customers, firms that use an outsourced call center service need to measure performance categories that focus on the quality of services rather than on just the standard quantitative measurements. Companies should consider evaluating such categories as frequency of customer complaints and customer satisfaction, retention, and cross-selling rates.
Bloomington, IL-based Afni Inc. offers a checklist of “qualitative metrics” that go beyond standard operational measures such as cost per call, average time to answer, and call abandon rate. To determine their qualitative effectiveness, call centers can use techniques such as joint call monitoring by both users and service providers. Another technique to gauge qualitative service levels is “mystery customer” investigations or post-call customer surveys. The first step in any qualitative measurement, however, should be to collect reliable data on the call center’s current customer service levels. For more information, visit www.afni.com.