5 Customer Support Metrics to Boost Customer Satisfaction

More than 83% of customers^[i] agree that they feel more loyal to a brand after they receive a quick and satisfactory response to their issues. This figure alone is enough to emphasize the significance of efficient customer support. Since efficient customer support boosts customer satisfaction, it is crucial to measure the metrics that drive it.

With the plethora of customer support metrics available, it can be challenging for companies to keep track of each one of them.

In this post, we’re going to provide a detailed rundown of essential customer support metrics to help you choose the right metrics for your brand. Read on!

What Are Customer Support Metrics?

You know your business is flourishing if the number of customers keeps growing. But how do you figure out what exactly is helping you scale?

This is when behind-the-scenes metrics come into the picture. These key performance indicators (KPIs) or factors help you pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses. This helps you work on the areas of improvement and highlight the areas in which you are doing well. Customer support metrics are a guiding light for your team to achieve their maximum potential in various segments.

Why Must You Implement Well-Defined Customer Support Metrics?

Professionals use tools like knowledge management databases, diagnostic tools, ticketing systems, and customer contact systems to resolve customer issues. A wide range of information available to employees like name, contact information, issue, purchase history, etc, can be helpful in resolving customer issues but can be confusing at the same time. This is where you need to re-think metrics and only implement those that will enable you to gauge the effectiveness of every process. Ensure that the metrics provide quantifiable information to effectively resolve the issues. A well-thought set of customer support metrics will help you:

• Understand to what extent your support processes are satisfying your customers.
• Visualize the gradual improvement in your service team’s performance.
• Locate improvement opportunities to enhance cost-effectiveness.
• Establish realistic and measurable goals.
• Identify loopholes and create improvement plans.

5 Essential Customer Support Metrics that Matter

With countless metrics available, it can be hard to choose the important ones. Let us dive into the key metrics that matter and understand the right ways to measure customer service success accurately.

1. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Mostly based on a survey, CSAT is an essential customer support metric. It evaluates the degree of satisfaction that your customers experience after interacting with your support team. Survey questions can vary but the ultimate goal is to allow your customers to rate the support service that you delivered and ask for areas of improvement.

Here’s the formula to calculate CSAT –

Let’s suppose the highest rating on your scale is 10. This means on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 is rated as the best experience while 1 is rated as the worst. If the average score is above 5 then it is a positive response while anything less than 5 is negative.

2. First Response Time (FRT)

First response time is the measure of time taken by your customer support staff to get back to your customers after they’ve raised their queries. It helps you evaluate the efficiency of your support team because it indicates how long a customer has to wait before they receive an initial response. Longer wait intervals indicate a problem and can affect the quality of the support service you offer.

Here’s the formula to calculate First Response Time –

Ideally, companies measure this time in business days and leave out the off-hours and weekends. For a single ticket, the first response time is the number of hours or days between the first query raised by the customer and the initial response offered by a support rep.

3. Average Resolution Time (ART)

As the name suggests, it is the average time taken by your team to address a support ticket from when it was first reported by the customer to when it is first resolved and closed by the customer rep. It is imperative to respond to your customer’s queries in real-time for a consistent support experience.

Here’s the formula to calculate Average Resolution Time –

To calculate ART, divide the sum of the time to resolution by the total number of cases resolved. The lower the resolution time is, the higher the CSAT will be. It is typically calculated in days or online hours.

4. Average Conversion Rate (ACR)

As reported by Forrester, 44% of customers^[ii] agree that having a support agent to answer their questions during their buyer’s journey is essential. Typically, the conversion rate is the number of visitors that completed their actions successfully on your website. Naturally, a higher conversion rate indicates a successful marketing campaign. So, how is it a customer support metric? Failing to provide answers to your customer’s queries during their buyer’s journey is what leads to a bounce instead of a sale. Thus, the conversion rate is an essential yet most overlooked customer support metric.

Here’s the formula to calculate Average Conversion Rate –

To measure the conversion rate, divide the number of positive conversions by the number of total visitors and multiply it by 100. Let’s say, you had over 100,000 visitors and 5,000 conversions last month, this would make your conversion rate 5%.

5. Customer Retention Rate (CRR)

Acquiring new customers is essential for any business, but retaining existing customers is what keeps a business afloat in the long run. Moreover, the cost of each lost customer on the global level is $243^[iii], on an average. Since quality customer service is the key to a higher CRR, you must measure your customer retention rate. Delivering consistent and expected customer service can extend the lifetime value of your customers. The whole purpose of customer support is to retain customers and this metric will help you, as a brand, measure how successful you are.

Here’s the formula to calculate Customer Retention Rate –

To measure CRR, subtract CN with CE divided by CS multiplied by 100.

Customer support metrics are more about customers instead of mere numbers. If done right, it can help you transform your business into a customer retention powerhouse. When you know where your services are lacking and at what point they require assistance, you can provide optimized support.

Wish to Create a Solid Customer Support Strategy That Brings a Higher CSAT? Talk to Us!

Team Grazitti is adept at crafting killer strategies that engage and retain your customers. To know more about our services, drop us a line at [email protected] and we’ll take it from there.

Statistics References:

[i] https://khoros.com/blog/must-know-customer-service-statistics
[ii] https://web.archive.org/web/20120115025209/http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/making_proactive_chat_work/q/id/57054/t/2
[iii] https://neilpatel.com/blog/retaining-customers/