2024 Key Performance Indicators for Customer Service: First Contact Resolution 

With the rise of knowledge bases and other self-service channels for customers, reaching out to support agents has become somewhat of a last resort for 67% of customers. In fact, 73% of customers would much rather solve their product or service’s problem on their own. 

Therefore, the quicker that customer service representatives can resolve customer’s issue, the better. 

In the research that we did for our 2024 Key Performance Indicators for Customer Service ebook, we found that companies with amazing customer service teams were able to resolve 80% of customers’ concerns with just one interaction. While that percentage may seem intimidating and unattainable, it isn’t. Customer service teams worldwide should not only aim to match that benchmark but exceed it. 

The importance of First Contact Resolution 

33% of consumers consider getting their issue resolved in one contact the most important aspect of a good customer service experience. First Contact Resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer inquiries that are resolved in a single interaction. This is a metric that shows you how much effort your customers have to spend to get their issues solved. Some companies also choose to monitor the average number of replies it takes to resolve customer issues.

Benchmarks 

We’ve gone through no less than 300 data points from more than 150 different sources to come up with the benchmarks below for the best, average, and worst first contact resolution rates. How does your team fare against these benchmarks? 

Try these tips for improve your first contact resolution rate 

Develop targeted training. 

Assess which kinds of support tickets have the lowest FCR—and segment that data out by time of day, by agent, or any other relevant filters you have. This will create clarity around which issues take the most replies to resolve, and you can then develop targeted training content that addresses those areas head-on.  

Improve your contact form, chatbot, or IVR system. 

Many tickets that take multiple responses require agents to ask clarifying questions before providing an answer. You can answer those questions up front using your contact form, chatbot, or Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. 

Analyze outliers. 

Your average FCR is probably getting dragged up by the outliers. Do you have some cases that take 10 or even 20 replies to resolve? Dive into them. They might be driven by common bugs or product issues that could be fixed. Or they might be driven by particular agents who aren’t operating efficiently. 

View high FCR rates as a potential for self-service. 

Are your agents able to solve more than 85% of your cases in one contact? That means there’s huge potential for self-service or leveraging artificial intelligence. Resolving these contacts before customers even talk to a human agent means a more scalable support team. 

Resolve customers’ issues the first time around 

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting help. In fact, when a business owner finds the perfect outsourcing partner, they can start to focus on other aspects of the company that need their attention more. When you work together with Peak Support, excellent and world-class customer experiences await your customers. But that’s not all. Our team of experts are also constantly gathering and analyzing data to find ways to solve customers’ various concerns faster and in the first try, while still maintaining an empathetic and professional approach.

Get in touch with our sales team now to discuss how we can help you consistently deliver amazing experiences to your customers.