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5 Customer Support Metrics You Should Track

Business Development

Customer support is an essential component of any business. It’s how you address questions and solve problems so that consumers continue to use your product or service. But, many customers despise contacting customer service. 

According to a Zendesk survey, 60% of customers are concerned about long hold times, and 59% are worried about being moved to multiple departments and repeatedly restating their problems.

You may reduce friction for customers by increasing the efficiency of your support team so that they leave support interactions feeling happy.  

Measuring customer support metrics, which provide a clear view of your team's performance and your customers' experiences, is the first step toward increased efficiency.

However, choosing which customer support metrics to emphasize might be difficult, with dozens to pick from. That's where we, at Digital Resource, can help!  

Our Florida SEO services team has chosen five indicators to assist you in tracking your team's efficiency, keep track of support tickets, and assess customer happiness.

First Response Time

first response time vector written on a chalkboard

The time between when a client opens a support ticket and when a customer support agent provides a first response is referred to as first response time. Because it reflects how long a customer has to wait before being helped, first response time measures your support team's efficiency.

No one wants to be kept waiting for an answer to a problem, thus keeping response times short can lead to higher customer satisfaction. A quick first response can also put you on the right track for an excellent first impression.

You may track the first response time of each customer support person as well as the team average. If the bar is set too high, tracking timeframes for individual agents may aid in determining which agents require additional assistance or training.

Zendesk recommends an email initial response time of 12 hours, a social media response time of two hours or less, and a live chat response time of one hour or less.

Computing Your First Response Time

Sum of first response times / Number of tickets = Average first response time

The duration of hours or days between a customer's initial help request and the first interaction from a support representative for a single ticket is the first response time. Companies usually measure this time on business days, so weekends and after-hours will not affect your average response time.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

customer service checklist

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) is a metric that assesses how satisfied your customers are with your products or services. It is based on a survey that customers often fill out after contact with your customer service team. 

Though the specific questions differ, the survey asks clients to assess their experience on a scale, allowing you to quantify the often-qualitative indicator of customer happiness.

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) is an important customer service metric. The ultimate goal of customer service teams is to assist customers and ensure their pleasure. CSAT measures the success of these efforts and gives direct client feedback.

Computing Your CSAT

[Number of positive responses / Number of total responses] X 100 = CSAT (%)

The definition of a "positive response" will vary depending on your questions and the scale you use. Suppose the consumer can rate their experience on a scale of one to five, with five being the greatest. In that case, a four or a five is likely to be considered a positive reaction. A three is deemed to be neutral, whereas a two or one is considered to be negative.

Consider segmenting CSAT by support channel to discover if consumers are more or less pleased to contact your staff via phone rather than chat, email, or other methods. If your CSAT is poor, looking at specific sources may help you choose where to focus your improvement efforts.

Average Resolution Time

The average resolution time (ART) is the amount of time it takes your team to resolve a support ticket, from the moment it is opened to the time it is resolved and closed. Long resolution times imply long wait periods for customers, which can influence satisfaction and, ultimately, client retention.

Though resolution time varies for every company, you can use industry benchmarks to examine how your average resolution time compares to other companies in your industry.

If your ART increases week after week, it could mean that your present support systems are inefficient or that your agents' workloads are too heavy.  

Speak with your support team to learn where they are having issues and what you might do to expedite the ticket resolution process. 

You may also consider the average resolution time per agent for the entire team. This will allow you to see if any team members are having difficulty.

Computing Your Average Resolution Time

[Total resolution time for all resolved tickets / Number of resolved tickets] = Average resolution time

Check the average resolution time regularly to see whether it has changed. A consistent increase over time may suggest that your support team requires further assistance or training to deal with new, more complex issues raised by consumers.

Average handle time is a similar customer service metric that you may want to monitor (AHT). This is the average amount of time an agent spends on a single phone conversation or chat interaction with a customer.

In contrast to average resolution time, AHT does not account for a client's time waiting for an agent to respond to their ticket and establish initial contact.

Ticket Backlog

unopened files in a drawer

The amount of unresolved tickets in your queue after a certain period is referred to as the ticket backlog.

Let's say your support team works Monday through Friday. In that case, you may check the ticket backlog at the end of the day to see how many customers will need to wait until Monday to have their issue fixed.

Customer support indicators such as ticket backlog provide a view of potentially disgruntled customers – each open ticket indicates someone waiting for your staff to respond and resolve their issue.

Computing Your Ticket Backlog

Sum of open tickets = Total ticket backlog

To determine the percentage of submitted tickets that remain unresolved at the end of the week, compare ticket backlog to overall ticket volume. If the ratio remains high week after week, you may need to increase the size of your support crew.

Ticket Volume

The total number of support tickets received by your team during a specific time period is referred to as ticket volume.

Monitoring ticket volume is critical for planning task distribution among support agents, establishing time frames where extra agents may be required and finding present coverage gaps.

The entire conversation is a variant of this metric that counts every customer involvement, whether through an official support ticket or a message from any of your social media pages.

Our Florida SEO services team suggests to examine changes in ticket volume over time to learn what times of day and days of the week your team receives the most support queries. With this information, you can more effectively schedule shifts and assign assignments.

Computing Your Ticket Volume

Total ticket volume = sum of all tickets

Obtaining ticket volume is as simple as summing up all tickets submitted during the time in question. That may be one day, a week, or a month.

Track Your Customer Support Metrics Now

At Digital Resource, we understand that your customers are essential for your business. That’s why we encourage every business owner to invest in the growth of their customer support team.

Call us today to learn how we can help you track your customer support metrics.

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