Everyone knows how important it is to monitor metrics, but do you know how to pick the right ones, and implement an effective strategy? The trick to successfully manage metrics is to specifically identify which data points are relevant to you, and to analyze what that data means to your organization. What makes this task so daunting for contact centers is the sheer number of metrics to choose from: Service Level, Customer Satisfaction Score, Abandon Rate, First Call Resolution, Average Speed to Answer, and the list goes on.
Ultimately, tracking the right numbers is essential to managing a well performing contact center. However, as call centers serve an increasing number of channels and agents are stretched into new roles, the act of choosing the right metrics becomes even more confusing. Continue reading
Credit unions must be competitive in order to stand out from those big mean banks; they must establish a truly unique offering to attract new membership. One way to successfully accomplish this is through the member experience. Since credit unions tend to serve local communities, it’s important for each member to feel appreciated by their financial institution. Therefore, customer service plays a significant role in the relationship members have with their credit union. For example, if your credit union suffers from long hold times, it’s unlikely your members will feel like you’re taking their needs seriously. Also, it’s nearly impossible to attract new members if they can’t even get a hold of you.
A poor customer experience is something no company can afford to take lightly. Especially since 
Many call center platforms today offer some form of call-back functionality. That means if your hold times are long, your callers have the option to get a call at a later time instead of waiting for an agent. These built-in call-back features work by holding the caller’s place in line (“virtual queuing”) so the total wait time is the same. You can think of this as “ASAP” call-backs.![[Webinar] How to Lower Abandon Rates and Improve the CX with One Solution](https://fonolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/How-to-Lower-Abandon-Rates-and-Improve-the-CX-with-One-Solution-300x200.jpg "[Webinar] How to Lower Abandon Rates and Improve the CX with One Solution")
Consumers today are more demanding than ever, especially when it comes to the call center experience. If you leave callers on hold, they will complain to your agents (leading to longer handle times) and they will vent on social media.
Today’s consumers are extremely demanding and nowhere is their patience shorter than when dealing with your call center. If you leave callers on hold, your agents will hear the complaints (which extends handle times) and your social media timeline will show angry tweets. (Have you looked up your company on ![[Video] Are Your Customers Abandoning Calls?](https://fonolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Video-One-Contact-–-One-Channel-and-Why-it-Matters.jpg "[Video] Are Your Customers Abandoning Calls?")
On any given day you probably sit back and think about your call center metrics. You’ll mull over anything from Average Handle Time (AHT), Service Levels (SLA’s), or the number of incoming calls. More importantly, you’ll likely study the amount of callers that abandon the queue while waiting on hold. You probably even notice patterns in call abandonment and can anticipate when the rates will spike. Perhaps there’s a certain length of time that a customer will wait on hold before they decide to drop a call. Let’s face it, we’ve all been that anxious customer sitting in limbo just wondering if we should hang-up or hold-on. Eventually, patience runs thin and hanging up is the only logical decision, but the result is a frustrated and unsatisfied customer. 
