Effective customer service is the most important element for the success of any business entity. According to a recent survey, eight in every ten customers indicated they would be less likely to shop from a company again after an unpleasant experience emanating from poor customer service. So, unless you are willing to lose most of your customers, you focus on delivering impeccable customer support.
A question most people ask is —what types of metrics measure customer satisfaction? A vital element of delivering quality customer service is finding the right measures to use when evaluating the performance of customer service agents. This article highlights some of the best practices and metrics for customer service.
Why Is Measuring Customer Service
Before we dive into the tips and best practices of performance metrics for customer service, we need to consider why the evaluation makes sense. One of the main reasons for measuring customer service is that it allows you to find areas for improvement. As an intelligent manager, you want to ensure your customers get the best service possible. Having the correct data shows you the various aspects to focus on as you improve customer service.
Knowing what metrics measure customer satisfaction also allows you to identify those areas you already excel in. You may assume you perform well in the areas that matter, but the reality may differ. Gathering and monitoring customer service data allows you to prove your success areas and give you space to concentrate on your weak elements.
Understand that the satisfaction of your customers is crucial to the success of your business. Knowing how to measure customer service and find improvement areas effectively lets you keep your customers loyal and happy. In the end, your bottom line will improve. Furthermore, you don’t have to do everything independently; you can always get professional virtual personal assistant services.
How to Measure Customer Service: Useful Tips
When it comes to how to measure performance, companies should prioritize understanding the metrics involved. Note that focusing on just one area at a time leaves you with several significant blind spots. To measure customer service effectively, you need to know how to quantify the measurable elements while considering the qualitative aspects of customer service. Here are some critical best practices to remember.
Consider the Average Resolution Time
One of the most important customer service performance metrics is resolution time. Evidence consistently shows that when customers have to repeat contact with a business before resolving an issue, their satisfaction rate reduces by more than ten percent. In other words, customers are often happiest when they resolve their issues quickly and effectively.
You can see how your performance is measured when you evaluate the average time it takes to resolve problems. Finding the average resolution time requires getting all case resolution durations and dividing it by the total number of cases.
Measure the Rate of Customer Retention
Evidence shows loyal customers spend money on a brand and purchase items multiple times. In fact, loyal customers spend more money on every purchase than other clients. At the same time, it is impossible to create loyal customers if you don’t retain the ones you already have. Regarding performance review customer service, note that acquiring a new client costs more than retaining an existing one. These are reasons why measuring customer retention is crucial when evaluating customer service.
Note that your customer service team is always interacting with clients. As such, they have a major impact on retention. Also, a poor customer experience can turn away a client for good. To measure your team’s customer retention rate, you will need to take the number of clients you have at the end of a given period. Then, subtract the number of new clients you got during the mentioned period, and divide the result by the number of clients you had at the start. You then multiply the figure you get by 100 for effective customer service performance evaluation.
Examine Social Media Monitoring
Another important practice for measuring customer service is social media monitoring. This practice implies examining every time someone mentions your company or brand on social media. Evidence shows that most customers talk about their experiences with customer support agents on social media platforms. By examining these social media mentions, you can see how customer opinions are changing.
The Bottom Line
There is no denying that customer service is an essential element of a successful business. To get things right, you need to monitor and evaluate the performance of your support team. It means assessing costs per conversion, average resolution times, and customer effort scores. Successful companies also look at the rates with which clients abandon customer service and retention rates.
