What Metrics Are Important to Contact Centres?

In our ‘What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now’ 2022 survey report, sponsored by NICE, we asked 294 contact centre professionals ‘What Are the Most Important Contact Centre Metrics?’

What Are the Most Important Contact Centre Metrics?

Contact Centres Are Changing Their Priorities

This year our survey results seem to suggest that contact centres are changing which metrics they feel are most important.

The popularity of metrics to measure customer effort has dropped by 19.6%, and now only 44.8% of
respondents believe it is “very important”.

This is more in line with the results from 2018 to 2020, and a stark difference from last year’s jump to 55.7%. However, despite the drop in opinion that it is “very important”, just 12.8% said it was “not important”.

Similarly, the number of contact centres that consider Average Handling Time (AHT), First Contact Resolution (FCR), and customer complaint volumes “very important” has also decreased by 5.3%, 7.9%, and 7.9% respectively since last year.

If we combine the percentages of contact centres that rated these metrics as “very important” or “quite important”, we can conclude that they remain significant, but reflect a change in priorities.

For example, 82.2% of respondents consider AHT to be “very important” or “quite important”, 92.4% for FCR, and 93.0% for customer complaint volumes.

Focus Moves to Attrition Rates

59.5% of contact centre professionals rated agent satisfaction as “very important”, and only 5.6% claimed it was “not important”.

With 94.4% seeing it as important in one form or another, it remains a significant metric. However, with the staffing and recruitment problems facing contact centres, we expected an increase back to at least the 2020 levels of 66.9%.

Interestingly, the percentage who see attrition rate as a “very important” metric has risen 7.9% to 49.3% from 45.7%. This suggests that contact centres are viewing this as a vital metric, despite reducing the significance of agent satisfaction.

Previously Important Metrics Drop in Popularity

This year’s results do appear to show a change in contact centre perspective on previously “very
important” metrics, especially those aimed at staffing and predictions.

Although the reduction in the importance of metrics for occupancy, utilization, schedule adherence, shrinkage and forecast accuracy from last year is difficult to explain, a possible reason is that increased attrition and staffing issues are making these metrics less accurate and harder to predict.

This survey was done in partnership with NICE

Author: Robyn Coppell