Great customer support is a key component of a successful business. But what does "great" mean and how can you measure how great your support is?
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help you translate qualitative terms like "great" into numbers and are essential to ensure that your support team is delivering top-notch service. In this blog post we'll explore five vital customer support KPIs that help you measure, analyze, and improve your customer support.
These are the five KPIs we'll cover:
First Response Time measures the average time it takes for a customer support team member to respond to a customer query or issue. A quick response time reflects a commitment to customer service, building trust and reducing customer frustration. Set a benchmark for FRT based on your industry standards and strive to consistently meet or exceed it.
But a fast first response is not everything. Customers not only want a fast initial reply, they mainly want their issue resolved as fast as possible, which leads us to our second KPI.
Time To Resolution - or simply Resolution Time - is the average duration it takes to resolve a customer issue from the moment it's reported. Efficient issue resolution demonstrates your team's expertise and dedication. A lower resolution time often correlates with higher customer satisfaction. Regularly analyze this KPI to identify trends and implement improvements to streamline the resolution process.
If you're looking for ideas to reduce the time to resolution, we've written about three ways to reduce resolution time in Zendesk.
The Customer Satisfaction Score is a metric that measures customer satisfaction based on their feedback after interacting with your support team. Customer satisfaction is a direct reflection of your support team's effectiveness. For example, after an issue is resolved, ask the customer how satisfied they were with the support they received on a scale from 1 to 5. Most support software has an option to collect CSAT scores automatically.
Carefully analyze interactions around low CSAT scores to find out what leads to low customer satisfaction.
Ticket Volume represents the total number of customer support requests received over a specific period. Monitoring ticket volume helps you understand the workload and demand on your support team. Sudden spikes may indicate product issues or increased customer inquiries. Use this KPI to allocate resources effectively, identify patterns, and proactively address potential challenges.
Customer Retention Rate measures the percentage of customers who continue to use your products or services over time. Excellent customer support can increase customer retention. Satisfied customers are more likely to stay loyal and make repeat purchases. Monitor your customer retention rate alongside support KPIs to assess the long-term impact of your team's efforts on overall business success.
Tracking these five vital customer support KPIs can help you understand and improve the effectiveness of your support team. By measuring these metrics, you can begin to understand what works and what needs improvements.
It's a great idea to include these metrics in your weekly or monthly reports to recognize sudden changes.
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