On average, an adult receives 4 calls every day from companies trying to sell their products or services. Business worth $2 trillion is conducted over phones annually. Another interesting study suggests that “it takes an agent 8 calls to get the prospect on the phone”; if we put all the data together and try to make sense of it, we will understand how important measuring outbound metrics are.

Being a manager at an outbound call center is like looking for a needle in a haystack, there’s so much to lose and so little gain. The global average conversion rate is somewhere between 2-3%. The conversion is low for prodigal industries like e-commerce, where people flock to looking for desired products. Now, imagine, how tough it is to sell something to a person who is unknown to you just by talking to them on phone.

Measuring outbound contact center metrics is important because:

• It separates melody from the noise
• Highlights errors and challenges
• It allows managers to optimize processes to make the most of deployed resource
• Offers opportunities to improve the script, add more resources for measurable results
• Helps managers keep a tab on changing customer needs
• It educates about the underlying patterns and customer behavior

What happens When Outbound Call Center Metrics are Ignored?

Outbound call centers are either trying to educate customers about a new product or trying to sell them a service. The end goal in both cases is either to acquire a new customer or upsell to an existing one. Agents are trained, equipped with a sales script, put on a high-speed computer, and offered with requisite customer information, all they are required is to dial and convince users to make a purchase.

Wow, that sounds so simple and linear whereas, in reality, the outbound call center is dramatic and parabolic. Nothing goes as per plan because customer preferences keep wavering and a lot is dependent upon the concurrent state of the customer.

Measuring the contact center metric helps organizations keep a tab on all things that can go wrong and acquiring resources to keep things in check. Missing out on these metrics will lead to chaos.

Also Read: Inbound Call Center Metrics to Measure for Better Customer Service

Some of the things that can go wrong are:

• Inflated cost per call destroying the profitable arbitrage
• Agents wasting their time on unproductive activities
• Failing to improve processes and achieve sustainable growth
• Missing out on improvement and growth opportunities
• Failing to leverage available data to offer a better customer experience

Top Outbound Contact Center Metrics to Measure in 2021

1. Average Sales per Agent

Average Sales per Agent is perhaps the most frequently mentioned contact center metric at the review meetings. This one metric puts into display the performance of agents, teams, and clusters over a specified period. Measuring this particular metric can offer an incredible understanding of how a contact center is performing.

The metric offers a clear understanding of sales made by every agent within a provided timeline. The average sale is a good way of measuring if the outsourced call center is performing as per expectation or not.

Why Average Sales per Agent is an important metric for Contact Centers?

Gauging average sales per agent offers the following insight:

• Understanding of overall performance of outbound contact centers
• Helps agencies identify weaklings and strengthen them
• Offers a platform for future development
• Allows managers to understand the growth rate and arbitrate it against the investment

2. Call Completion Rate (CCR)

Until a few years ago, Call Completion Rate was a metric measured only at outbound centers but with the addition of a recent feature where customers can “request a callback”, even inbound call centers have started measuring it.

This contact center metric refers to the number of calls that were connected successfully in comparison to those that failed. This rate can be calculated by dividing the total number of successfully connected calls during the day/hour by the total number of calls that were attempted during the day.

Factors that influence Call Completion Rate at a Contact Center include

• Individual customer completion results
• Phone call answer rate
• The response rate for answered calls
• The response rate for total calls
• The intensity of the media campaigns

3. Cost Per Call (CPC)

Cost Per Call is a crucial metric; this metric alone can help organizations decide if they want to continue with the existing call center service provider or switch. The metric measures the cost incurred by the call center to call customers for a particular stint. The cost per call is calculated by dividing the total operational cost of the firm by the total number os of calls made by the allocated resources during a given period.

For outsourced call centers, the overall cost includes the cost of hiring, training, and sustaining employees along with additional expenses related to electricity, IT infrastructure, commute, taxes, and a lot more.

Outsourcing companies offering quality outbound services with low CPC is the preferred choice, which makes CPC perhaps the most important outbound call center metric. Measuring this can highlight if the organization is spending more than it is earning or vice versa.

How to reduce Cost per Call (CPC)?

Before “how to reduce”, we must focus on “why to reduce”. Well, reducing cost per call will:

• Bring the overall operational cost down
• Make offered services affordable and sustainable for longer periods
• Bring in unbeatable reputation leading to more contracts
• Drive the outsourcing partnership for shared growth

The following measures can help reduce the cost per call for a contact center:

• Quality Training
• Call monitoring
• Effective scheduling
• Proper management
• Use of knowledgebase management system

Some of the ways to reduce cost per call are:

• Allow agents to work from home and save costs on infrastructure
• Train employees well to reduce recurring calls
• Use high-end IT tech to facilitate quality support
• Keep employees motivated to get their best every time they go on a call

Also Read: 8 Contact Center Metrics to Focus on During Lockdown

4. Average Handle Time

In 2021, customer experience is the key differentiator. How you treat customers when they come back for exchange or refund requests matters a lot. For businesses other than e-commerce, how quickly customers were provided with a solution explains if they will come back or not.

Average Handle Time is an important call center metric, which measures the average time spent in handling customer-related issues or transactions. The Average Handle Time includes the duration for which a customer’s call was put on hold along with the time taken to file their case and resolving it.

AHT is calculated by dividing the total number of calls handled by an agent by the total of the agent’s total talk time, total hold time, and the total after-call work time.

How to Improve the Average Handle Time (AHT)?

AHT is one of those metrics, which can be controlled and improved by deploying better resources and having a better customer service plan. Some of the other ways of controlling AHT includes:

• Improving the agent training process
• Monitoring calls and identifying weak areas
• Accurate call routing
• Arming with the requisite knowledge base
• Use an internal communication system
• Evaluate employee’s performance

5. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT Score)

Customer Satisfaction is perhaps the most important customer experience metric, which is generated through the CSAT Survey. In CSAT Survey, customers who have made any recent purchase or transacted recently are asked to answer a simple question like “how satisfied were you with your purchase today?

It is indispensable to measure customer satisfaction during a lockdown or when a huge number of agents are working from home because it is a direct reflection of how well agents are catering to customer’s needs. Dipping customer satisfaction means contact center agents are not performing to their optimum levels.

How Contact Centers can achieve a higher Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)?

• A proactive approach to customer service
• Study complaints and learn from them
• Rely on multichannel for customer service
• Control wait time
• Increase first call resolution

6. Conversion Rate

As discussed earlier, the global average rate across all industries is very low and demands ample attention to detail. Organizations cannot achieve greater success just by allocating more resources and skilled employees. Measuring conversion rate allows stakeholders to take account of things that are working in their favor and things that aren’t. Investment in this metric can pay the best dividend.

This contact center metric signifies the number of calls that helped in attaining a positive outcome for the company such as sales or lead generation. The conversion rate can be calculated by dividing the total number of conversions by the number of people who contacted or were contacted by the call center.

How Contact Center can improve Conversion Rates?

• Hire skilled agents or upskill your workforce
• Offer quality support and cater to specifics
• Offer free education to customers
• Do not work with lengthy literature
• Make the most of criticism and implement it for the betterment
• Re-route calls for proper support

7. Calls per Hour (CPH)

The job of an outbound call center manager is one of the most stressful jobs. The managers are liable for answering on the rising CPC and dropping revenue. In short, they are responsible for maximizing revenue and reducing costs. Calls per hour are perhaps the most loved metric of call center managers. This one metric helps managers keep everything in perspective.

Just by measuring this one metric, managers can estimate:

• How well the agents faired
• If they are likely to touch the revenue target or not
• If missed, by what margin they missed the designated target
• How many more calls are required to achieve the target

Why do Contact Centers must measure the Call per Hour metric?

• It is a true reflection of the success of an inbound contact center
• It helps organizations swiftly increase their pool of agents
• Puts business needs into perspective
• Helps organization realize the need of technological breakthroughs

8. Online-to-Schedule (OLTS)

This contact center metric refers to the number of minutes for which an individual was logged on as compared to the actual duration for which he/she was required to be logged on. Factors like breaks taken off-schedule, not-ready, make-busy, and logged-out are not included in its computation. But factors like talk time, idle time, and post-call wrap-up time are included.

How to improve the Online to Schedule (OLTS) metric?

• Set time-oriented milestones and reward agents who adhere to it
• Rely on proven tools for time tracking and stopping agents from wasting time
• Define clear break timings to ensure adherence to schedule
• Publish rules and mention the consequences of failing to adhere
• Restrict movement of agents in groups for a break

Must Read: Productivity Tips for Contact Center Agents Working From Home

9. Agent Utilization

It refers to that part of the day for which the abilities of the agents are being utilized to their fullest. This can be calculated by dividing the number of calls answered within the first minute by the total number of calls answered by the agent.

Agent Utilization is a primary call center metrics to focus on when trying to measure an agent’s productivity. In simple words, agent utilization is defined as the ratio of work completed by the work capacity. For example: If a contact center agent is on call for 6 hours out of a nine-hour shift, then the utilization will be 66.66% for the day. (6 hours of work produced ÷ 9 hours of work capacity).

Some practices through which agent utilization can be improved are:

• Minimize the time between calls
• Equip agents with a script to help them answers call faster
• Provided timely breaks to make busy hours productive
• Provide up to date fast computers to process requests faster

10. After-Call Work (ACW)

Also known as the wrap-up and post-call processing (PCP), ACW refers to the work completed by the agent immediately after completing a call. This may include entering the requisite data, filling out forms, and making the necessary outbound calls to complete the transaction.

How to reduce After Call Work (ACW)?

Several methods a contact center can use to reduce After Call Work includes:

• Use a well-designed customer relationship management system
• Train contact center agents to multitask
• Optimize internal processes to reduce steps
• Create a detailed knowledge base and make it available to all agents
• Collect information, analyze them and make changes in your process

Final Thoughts on Outbound Call Center Metrics

No matter how optimized the push notifications get and how accurate product recommendations become, nothing can replace the magic of a person-to-person sales pitch. The contact center agents will continue to thrive and are likely to outnumber the average CAGR of 8% quickly. Outbound call centers can achieve their revenue target, reduce expenditure, ensure agent adherence, and offer quality solutions, just by monitoring the aforementioned outbound call center metrics.

Outsourcing an outbound contact center can help organizations generate more leads, propagate correct information for brand building and generate upselling opportunities at a lower cost. Since professionally managed contact centers focus on these metrics, they can repeat quality performance quarter after quarter.