Complete Guide to First Call Resolution and Tips to Attain it

First Call Resolution, also commonly known as FCR, is an essential performance metric. Not only does it give you valuable insight into your call center operations, but it’s also a direct link to the customer experience and your bottom line.

Follow along to learn everything you need to know about First Call Resolution and how to achieve it.

What is First Call Resolution?

In layman’s terms, First Call Resolution is exactly what it says: when a customer calls, their issue gets resolved during the first call to your company. That means no repeat calls regarding the same issue. But let’s dig deeper.

First Call Resolution vs. First Contact Resolution

Sometimes, FCR meaning is defined as First Contact Resolution. While it sounds the same, it’s not. So, what is FCR? First Contact Resolution is specifically used in reference to contact centers, which deal with customers across various channels. In that instance, FCR references different contact points. This guide focuses on call centers that primarily communicate with customers by phone. You can learn about the difference between call and contact centers in our post, What is a contact center vs. a call center?

Benefits of First Call Resolution

Measuring First Call Resolution can tell you a lot about your business and should be a primary goal of all businesses, no matter the size. Customers expect on-demand help, and setting up a call center that prioritizes customer service, whether it’s in-house or virtual, can make your business stand out among the competition. Check out these FCR benefits:

• Indicates efficiency: FCR is a direct measure of how well your team delivers quality customer service. In most cases, an effective and profitable business or call center will have a high First Call Resolution rate.
• Measures talk time: Talk time is the average time an agent spends on a call. Being able to resolve customer calls on the first try in a short amount of time is an ideal goal for call centers.
• Promotes customer satisfaction and business growth: A high FCR rate indicates a high rate of customer satisfaction. Think about it: when customers have their problem, question or request resolved within the first call, you are delivering a satisfactory experience. This combo boosts customer retention and loyalty, both of which contribute to business growth.

How to measure FCR success

Your First Call Resolution rate is easy to figure out. While analytics software is an option for companies with larger, more complex data sets, most businesses can calculate their own rate manually using the First Call Resolution formula.

FCR formula

The following formula represents the number of cases resolved from the first call divided by the number of total cases in a particular time frame (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly), multiplied by 100.

FCR rate = (number of cases resolved on the first call ÷ number of total cases) x 100

For example, if you received 200 calls in a single day and successfully resolved 140 of those customer interactions in that first call, then your FCR rate for the day would be:

FCR = 140 ÷ 200 x 100 = 70 percent

While the FCR formula is simple, identifying the right numbers to plug in can be a bit trickier. This is because the definition of what is considered a resolved case can vary across businesses or call centers.

For consistent calculations, you need to set clear standards on how to determine when FCR is achieved. Some examples include:

• Confirmation from the customer through a post-call survey
• Cases closed in a specific period of time
• Internal rules that all team members follow

On the other hand, determining the number of total cases is typically much easier. Most communications solutions can provide you with information on the number of calls received. For instance, you can set up a simple call center with Ooma Office Pro Plus. The Call Analytics feature provides a basic overview of your call metrics—such as how many calls you get a day and when those calls come through—with easy-to-use charts.

What is a good FCR score?

A standard FCR score is between 70 and 79 percent, but, of course, the higher the better. This rate can differ based on things such as your industry, type of call center, technology used, your standards of measurement, and more.

The bottom line is that if your FCR rate is improving, it’s a good sign! That means your operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction are improving over time. Just remember to use a consistent method of measurement and resist fudging figures—for example, not including abandoned calls caused by long wait times—just to achieve a high FCR rate.

Other metrics to measure

Rarely does just one measurement tell you all you need to know about the success of your business. Just because you’re focused on the FCR rate doesn’t mean you should lose sight of other metrics that can affect it. Be sure to also measure and track key metrics, such as Average Handle Time (AHT) and your Net Promoter Score (NPS). These two in particular directly correlate to your FCR rate.

First Call Resolution strategy

Achieving and improving your first call resolution rate will go a long way in helping both your customers and your business. And it starts with a well-planned strategy, outlined below.

Define your FCR goals

First and foremost, you need to define your First Call Resolution goals, which involve:

• Establishing what your organization considers FCR
• Defining external and/or internal measurement methods for determining FCR
• Stating your desired outcomes

Don’t be afraid to be detailed here and consider all possible scenarios. Be clear about your goals so that you can craft an action plan to achieve them.

Set up customer service software

No more manually tracking resolved calls to calculate First Call Resolution. Modern customer service software integrated into your company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system can do this for you. Bonus: Many of these programs can also allow your agents to keep detailed notes, so if a customer calls again (even about a different issue), they have a history right in front of them. Now your support staff will have data-rich context and actionable insights that they can use to resolve cases quicker and improve FCR.

Staff and train your support team properly

There are two parts to this one: having the proper staffing numbers and developing a well-trained staff.

Staffing: To attain First Call Resolution, you must have enough agents to handle your call volume. This avoids strain on your team and long wait times for your customers.

Training: Your agents are the problem-solvers of each call and should be well-equipped to do so. Train anyone tasked with answering calls on your processes, changes to your solutions, products and services, and also what to do if they can’t solve the issue.

Make it easy to find solutions

For common issues, create resources with helpful information that both your agents and customers have access to. This is where a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page comes into play. These self-help resources offer several benefits. They reduce call volume, saving your customers time and effort, allowing your agents to resolve calls more quickly and freeing up your agents to assist with more complex calls.

Leverage automation

To boost the efficiency of your call center, leverage features that automate routine call interactions.

Ooma offers two ways to automate routine calls: a Virtual Receptionist for small businesses, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) through the Ooma Enterprise VoIP solution for larger businesses. In both cases, you can create custom messages that instantly address common inquiries, such as business hours or return policy, and call routing to the department or employee best suited to solve the caller’s issue. IVR best practices can also handle simple queries that don’t need a live agent, such as checking a bank account balance. Using call center solutions like these to automate common and easy-to-resolve requests allows your agents to handle more complex matters.

Analyze call trends regularly

Now that you’re up and running, you must continuously track your FCR results and analyze call trends. This gives you an idea of your success and identifies areas that need improvement.

For example, if you notice that an agent is reporting a low FCR compared to their coworkers, reach out and see if they need extra help or training. Or maybe it becomes clear that a certain day of the week receives a large number of calls. By identifying that trend, you can schedule your customer service team to support your customers better that day.

Be sure to also analyze the kinds of calls that come in. Is there a specific issue that customers often call about? Maybe you could have a dedicated team deal with the issue more efficiently, or make it possible for customers to solve the issue on their own online without having to call.

Seek out customer feedback

The real test of First Call Resolution lies within your customers. Was their issue resolved? Did they feel rushed on the call? Do they need anything else? Don’t let FCR distract you from the ultimate objective—delivering exceptional customer service. Reach out to your callers and get feedback on their experience to gauge effectiveness.

Make improvements along the way

FCR can continually be improved. To do so, regularly revisit these steps and make changes along the way. Always be on the lookout for opportunities for improvement, such as updating your agent training program or investing in the latest call center software and technologies.

Dos and don’ts to improve FCR

Now that you have a First Call Resolution strategy in place, it’s important to be aware of the actions that have a positive and negative effect on your FCR rate and overall business performance. Check out the following dos and don’ts.

Don’t: Allow long hold times

While putting your customers on hold is necessary at times, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is forcing them to wait too long. You don’t want them to become frustrated and hang up altogether, which would hurt your FCR rate.

So, what’s considered too long of a wait? According to one survey, two-thirds of respondents were willing to wait two minutes or less. Some – 13 percent refuse to wait on hold at all.

If you want to deliver a positive customer experience, take care to:

• Eliminate hold times as much as possible
• Ensure calls are answered within seconds
• Equip your customer service agents with the skills and resources to resolve issues quickly
• Have agents check in frequently on longer hold times to reduce the number of abandoned calls
• Offer to call back with the answer—a second call resolution is better than an unhappy customer

Do: Adopt empathy

Using empathy during a customer call builds trust and rapport. That empathy can go a long way in not only improving your First Call Resolution rate, but also in enhancing your customer satisfaction. Ultimately, even if you don’t resolve the issue in the first call, customers will hang up happier and more satisfied if you use empathy. And empathy can be as easy as repeating the problem back to the customer so they know you understand the issue. Incorporate empathy training into your agent development so that they’re using it in all calls they handle.

Don’t: Make multiple call transfers

No one likes to constantly repeat themselves, which is exactly what tends to happen when your customers are bounced from one employee to another.

Automated routing features that rely on customer input can ensure that each issue is routed to someone who can solve it the first time around. If a transfer is needed, make it a warm transfer by giving the new agent as much information as possible so that the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves. Avoid cold transfers (those without explanation) like the plague.

Do: Emphasize the customer experience

Whether the call gets resolved on the first call or the third call, each call should focus on delivering a positive customer experience. This means that you put the customer first and make sure they don’t have to put in extra effort to find information or to get you to understand their problem. By focusing on the customer experience, you are enhancing your chances of FCR and cutting down on the need for long wait times and call transfers.

Don’t: Forget about transparency

First Call Resolution is a team effort, and your team needs transparency. Be sure everyone from the top managers to the call center agents knows how you measure FCR, your strategy to improve it and how it reflects their efforts. Being transparent empowers your team to take ownership of and care about your rates.

Do: Follow up

When a customer calls in, they’ve already interacted with your brand, whether it’s through buying a product or using a service. The call to you is a part of the cycle. It’s not the end of the line. You can increase FCR by closing the loop on the call with a follow-up email. This can be as simple as an automated email that directs them to other resources, confirms that their issue has been addressed and shows them where they can reach out again if needed. You can also take this opportunity to provide the follow-up survey to confirm FCR was achieved.

Motivate employees to boost FCR

Your FCR rates are dependent on your employees, and sometimes they need a nudge of motivation. Try the following:

Empower your agents

Agent empowerment comes from providing them with the tools they need to be successful, such as proper training and detailed resources. With the proper tools, they should be motivated and empowered to resolve customer issues without having to constantly get their actions approved by you.

Introduce incentives and challenges

Consider implementing incentive programs or motivational challenges to spotlight the importance of FCR to your organization.

When an employee delivers an impressive performance, recognize it. Simple recognition for hard work is very motivating. You can also set First Call Resolution team goals to foster a sense of camaraderie and encourage employees to collaborate on achieving a shared objective.

What if you can’t attain FCR

First Call Resolution is always the goal, but not always possible, and that’s okay. In these situations, remember to be transparent and prioritize the customer experience. Explaining what happened and how you’ll solve the issue will still give your customer a positive experience.

Ultimately, though, by prioritizing FCR as a performance metric and implementing these best practices, you’ll be on your way to increasing call center performance and customer satisfaction.

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