First Call Resolution: What It Is & How to Improve It

Introduction

In a world where customers are able to talk directly to the company they’re trying to reach, it’s important for companies to have a good first-call resolution rate.

First-call resolution is the process of resolving a customer’s complaint or problem with the first interaction between the customer and the company. A quick, easy, and friendly resolution can prevent a customer from becoming irate, which could lead to a long-term relationship with the company.

If you’re not getting a good First Call Resolution rate, you may be missing out on all the money these clients could be spending with your company. But what is a good First Call Resolution rate? And how can you improve it?

In this article, we’ll take a look at what it means to get a good First Call Resolution rate, and we’ll discuss some best practices for improving it.

What Is the First Call Resolution?

First call resolution is a measure of how well an organization handles customer inquiries. It’s a way to determine whether your call center is handling customers’ needs quickly and efficiently or not at all.

First call resolution is a process that helps you get a hold of your customers in the shortest possible time. This can be achieved by taking care of a few simple things:

First, you should ensure that your agents are trained to handle customers quickly and effectively. You can do this by giving them regular training sessions on how to deal with different kinds of customers in different situations.

The second thing is to create a culture where agents feel encouraged to solve problems for their customers as soon as it comes up. This way, they will be able to resolve issues quickly and efficiently, which will lead to higher FCRs for your business.

First call resolution has two parts;

First Call Resolution Ratio (FCR) and First Call Resolution Rate (FCSR). The former refers to the percentage of calls handled by agents in total that are resolved on the first attempt—that is, you divide the number of cases resolved the first time by the number of cases handled by agents in total.

You can multiply this number by 100 to get a percentage, which you can use as an indicator of how well your organization is doing at resolving calls. The latter is similar but uses more data to calculate it: FCSR refers to how many cases are handled per agent per month.

Why is FCR Important?

FCR is a key indicator of how well your agents are performing, but it is also important because it can help you identify areas where you may need to make improvements. If you see high FCR rates in certain departments or regions, then you may want to look into those issues more closely so that they don’t continue to affect the overall effectiveness of your business operations.

First call resolution allows you to get your customers in the right hands quickly, and it also helps you resolve problems before they become more complex or costly. Not only that, but it’s better for your agents and your company overall if there are fewer errors and fewer cases that need to be escalated.

First call resolution is an important metric because it shows how well your agents are doing at resolving customer issues, and it can also be used as a benchmark for future improvements. FCR is also important because if customers can’t get through on the first try, then they might be less likely to use your company again or even tell others about how bad your service was in general.

How To Measure FCR

FCR can be measured in various ways including the number of cases resolved the first time divided by the number of cases handled by agents in total; multiplied by 100; or by taking a percentage from those two numbers (for example, if there are 50 cases resolved first time but only 10 handled by agents in total, then we would take 50/10 = 5).

For instance, if 15 calls out of 40 were handled the first time, your FCR rate is 37.50%. While there may be some variability based on circumstances, generally speaking, an FCR above 50% is considered “good” while anything below 30% requires immediate improvement.

What Is a Good First Call Resolution Rate?

It’s no secret that first-call resolution rates vary from industry to industry and from call center to call center. As a result, it can be challenging to determine what constitutes a good first call resolution rate for your company.

The first call resolution rate is the percentage of resolved calls within the firs t 24 hours. This statistic gives you a sense of how quickly your company handles customer calls and what kind of work gets done on the phone. If you’re hoping to improve your First Call Resolution rate, here are some ways to think about it:

Does your team work in sync? If not, try encouraging them to do so.
How well does your team handle incoming calls? If it’s not up to par with industry standards, take steps to improve that area.
Do you have enough staff on hand to handle all incoming calls? Consider hiring more people if needed.

Furthermore, in order to improve your First Call Resolution rate, it is important that you are able to identify what is causing your customer’s issues and then solve them efficiently so they can focus on more pressing matters.

First Call Resolution Best Practices

A good first call resolution rate is one that allows customers to solve their problems quickly and easily. This means that the company must be able to communicate clearly, respond promptly, and provide excellent customer service.

The best way for a company to improve its first call resolution rate is by following these best practices:

Communicate clearly: Customers want information about what they can expect from your business and how they can reach you if they have questions or concerns. Make sure you clearly outline your policies so that any confusion about what’s expected of you is minimized.
Respond promptly: If there’s an issue with your product or service, customers need a prompt response from someone who has authority over the situation so that they don’t have time to think of alternatives or go elsewhere for help. Having someone available 24/7 helps make sure you’re always available when needed.
Provide excellent customer service: This means communicating openly and honestly with your customers while also being professional and courteous at all times—even when you’re dealing with difficult situations like billing disputes or refunds.

Conclusion

First Call Resolution is a process that helps you to identify the issue, fix it, and resolve it as quickly as possible. The rate of First Call Resolution plays a key role in determining how successful your company will be at resolving customer complaints and complaints about your products.