11 Ways to Improve YourFirst Call Resolution

First call resolution (FCR) is an essential indicator of your call center’s health. Once you have run an analysis to determine your baseline FCR, you should implement

policies to build upon your score. Here are 11 ways to begin improving your FCR:

#1Understand andaddress issues

After you have conducted a first call resolution analysis, it is important to conduct a root cause analysis on calls that were not resolved on first contact. A good root cause analysis will help to identify trends and pinpoint inefficiencies so that you can make data-driven decisions for the future of your call center.

#1 Understand and address issues

You can identify issues by looking into:

• Why was the call transferred?• Who was the call transferred to?• Why was the call escalated to a manager?• Why was the caller followed up with?• Why did the interaction span different channels (e.g. phone, chat,

email, walk-in)?• Why was the caller not satisfied with the solution?

#1 Understand and address issues

Once you have isolated specific problems, you should consider what factors may have contributed to those issues:

• Are there specific products, bugs or issues that are frequently cited?• Are company policies or procedures negatively impacting agent

performance?• Are there edge cases that should be addressed?• Do your agents have sufficient knowledge, training and resources?• Do your agents effectively utilize the knowledge base, follow protocol

and work in line with company policy?• Is your call center operating with obsolete software, plugins or

hardware?

#1 Understand and address issues

You can answer these questions by speaking with your agents, viewing call logs, listening to call recordings, analyzing customer survey responses and examining other call center metrics.

Once you identify common issues, knowledge gaps, training opportunities, inefficiencies and problematic policies/procedures, you should engage in reparative action and take preventative measures to help improve first call resolution in the future. Make sure that this process happens on a regular basis and that you are consistently looking for ways to streamline the support process.

#1 Understand and address issues

#2Analyze customer contact

behavior to anticipate their needs

The more you know about your customer base and why they reach out to your company, the more prepared you will be to address their needs. Doing so will increase customer satisfaction and FCR. You can approach this from a few angles:

• Create customer profiles• Analyze customer demographic data• Group customers by the reason for their calls

#2 Analyze customer contact behavior to anticipate their needs

#3Invest in call center

software that…

Provides comprehensive call history in one interface: Equipping your team with the right tools is essential to increasing FCR. When your agents have a detailed caller history pop up in their browser before they answer the call, they will be able to meet customer needs with more skill and professionalism.

#3 Invest in call center software that…

More progressive call center software will display the caller’s name, company, phone number, email and social media profiles in the browser. Agents will also have access to detailed contact logs from every contact channel (e.g. phone, email, chat, support tickets, sales receipts and events) all in the same interface. With this information at their fingertips, your agents will be prepared to resolve customer issues without having to make transfers or callbacks.

#3 Invest in call center software that…

Has automated tasks: Forgetting to update or incorrectly entering information in CRMs, helpdesks and other back office solutions often results in a decrease in first call resolution. Investing in call center software that will automatically update all integrated systems and perform relevant tasks will dramatically improve your FCR by ensuring that your agents are always prepared to adequately address customer needs.

#3 Invest in call center software that…

Has skills-based routing: Once you have a strong understanding of your customer base, you can better meet their needs by deploying call center with skills-based routing. You can assign tags to each customer and agent so that when the customer calls, they will be routed to the agent that is most capable of meeting their needs.

Has an agent dashboard and metrics: When each agent can access valuable information about how they are performing, they will be more aware of their actions and can aim to improve them, without management having to constantly remind them. Empowering agents to make educated decisions based on data will help to increase their performance.

#3 Invest in call center software that…

#4Optimize your support

structure

Once you have a better understanding of customer behavior and the situations that lead to a decrease in FCR and you have implemented the right tools, you can completely change the structure of your support system to better accommodate the needs of your customers.

You should delegate each issue to different levels of support and then adjust your skills-based routing algorithms accordingly. For example, you can have frontline agents who are most skilled at solving basic problems and support engineers answering technical issues. With both small and large teams, stratifying your support can be a very simple way to increase first call resolution.

#4 Optimize your support structure

To accomplish this effectively, you should:

• Know what types of calls your frontline support agents can resolve without transferring

• Know what types of calls are typically escalated and to which teams• Know which agents are best suited to handle certain caller types/issues• Know which teams are best equipped to handle specific issues/caller types• Provide targeted training and supervision to agents who will perform new

tasks and handle new callers• Provide agents with access to resources, knowledge bases and live support

#4 Optimize your support structure

#5Engage in “Total Contact

Ownership”

“Total Contact Ownership” is a process that can dramatically increase FCR. It is a system in which the agent who takes the initial call follows the call from start to finish. When you implement this policy, agents will be less likely to transfer calls just to “pass the problem” to another agent, as they will still be required to follow the issue until it is closed.

The agent will be more likely to recruit the resources (i.e. more senior agents, management, technical support agents, etc.) they need to help solve the issue collaboratively. This system not only increases FCR, but also increases professionalism and customer satisfaction.

#5 Engage in “Total Contact Ownership”

#6Streamline your internal

processes

Once you have pinpointed inefficient processes, policies and procedures, you can start to alter or eliminate them. Streamlining your internal processes, eliminating unnecessary red tape and empowering your agents to solve issues that are within their capabilities will go a long way to improving FCR.

#6 Streamline your internal processes

Some policies that you should consider allowing your agents to handle without transferring the call to a manager are:

• Issuing credits, returns and refunds• Removing shipping charges• Adjusting billing cycles and timing• Removing late fees• Applying promotional discounts• Solving warranty issues

#6 Streamline your internal processes

#7Increase automation

and self-service options

An obvious, but often overlooked, change that many companies can make to increase first call resolution is to invest in more automated self-service options. An easy way to do this is to configure your IVR to provide basic information (e.g. account information, business hours, etc.) and put a FAQ, knowledge base and training manuals on your website. This will not only help to increase FCR but will also significantly reduce call volume.

#7 Increase automation and self-service options

#8Optimize your content

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. In the case of FCR, this is especially true. If your agents can provide information that is accessible online or via email that will help guide customers through their issues, customers will be less likely to call back about the same issue.

It is important that the information on your website and in your guides is up-to-date, helpful and easy to understand. The effort your team puts into making sure that your content is optimized will pay off in the long run.

#8 Optimize your content

#9Improve agent performance

Improving agent performance may be the best way to help increase FCR. Here are some tips to help with this process:

Train well: Your agents must be equipped to handle the diverse needs of callers. This means they should be proficient with your software and procedures and be comfortable communicating with all types of customers.

Increase motivation: Employees must be motivated to improve their performance. This can be accomplished through regular performance reviews, gamification and other management techniques.

Empower agents with the right resources and information: Allow technical support agents to drop in on calls to offer support when needed, and make sure managers are available to answer questions.

#9 Improve agent performance

#10Increase agent autonomy

Cut the script and the red tape. Autonomous agents who are not bound by strict scripts and restrictive policies are more capable of effectively meeting customer needs by being flexible, responsive and personal.

When you remove unnecessary restrictions from capable agents (e.g. the power to give refunds, make changes to account information, etc.) you will dramatically decrease the number of calls transferred and increase first call resolution.

#10 Increase agent autonomy

#11 Enhance internal communication

Having an open door policy when it comes to suggestions from staff about how to improve inefficiencies, procedures, etc. is important for increasing first call resolution. Managers should regularly solicit information from inexperienced and seasoned agents about their experience and how to improve it.

Managers should also monitor for agent effectiveness, track FCR and provide feedback to agents daily. When internal communication is a two-way street, the company and the customers win.

#11 Enhance internal communication

Your customers expect an effortless experience when they interact with your brand. Give them what they want in the form of the best phone

support possible.

Find out how with Talkdesk’s cloud-based call center software.

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