The Metrics that Matter: Improving your Technical Support Performance

De metriek die ertoe doet: verbetering van de prestaties van je helpdesk

Helpdesk support is a critical function in any business that deals with technology. It’s the ‘front line of defence’ for customers who are experiencing issues with products or services. And make no mistake – the quality of the technical support you give a customer can make or break that customer’s experience! In order to provide effective helpdesk support, it’s important to measure and improve key metrics that impact your team’s performance. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the metrics that matter most in technical support and how to improve them.

The importance of measuring helpdesk support metrics

In a nutshell, customer service metrics tell customer support teams whether their customers are happy or not, and whether their support agents are doing their jobs well. Support metrics are measurable values that highlight your support team’s speed, efficiency and workload. It’ll also show you the progress that has been made towards your business goals. An impressive 89% of businesses nowadays see excellent customer support as a crucial factor in customer retention and building customer loyalty.

The benefits of measuring technical support metrics are significant and undeniable. It firstly allows you to monitor the performance of your support team. It identifies areas where your support team is doing well, but also where they may be underperforming. They’ll help you allocate your resources more effectively, and monitor your customers’ satisfaction levels. Finally, they make it possible for you to compare your business’s performance against industry standards and best practices, highlighting where you need to improve to thrive in the marketplace.

Related content: 10 Best Practices for Technical Support

Key metrics for technical support performance

Here are the key metrics that you can use to measure your technical support performance:

●     First call resolution (FCR)

The FCR metric measures the percentage of customer issues that are resolved during a customer’s first interaction with a support agent. A high FCR shows your support agents are resolving customer issues efficiently and effectively.

●     Average handle time (AHT)

Your AHT measures the average amount of time it takes your support agents to deal with customers’ issues. A low AHT indicates your support agents are resolving customer issues quickly and efficiently.

●     Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

The CSAT metric measures the level of satisfaction your customers have with the support they’ve received. This can be measured through surveys, feedback forms, or other methods. A high CSAT score indicates your customers are satisfied with the support they receive.

●     Call abandonment rate

The abandoned call percentage metric measures the percentage of your customers who hang up before speaking to one of your support agents. A high percentage indicates that many of your customers become frustrated with your support process, so you’ll need to improve their support experience.

●     First response time (FRT)

This metric measures the amount of time it takes for your support agents to respond to customers’ initial inquiries.  A fast response time has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. It demonstrates your company’s commitment to resolving customers’ issues issue quickly. Therefore a low FRT indicates your support agents respond to customer inquiries quickly, efficiently and effectively.

●     Net promoter score (NPS)

This metric establishes how likely customers are to recommend your company. Customers are typically asked to rate the likelihood that they’ll do so on a scale of 0 to 10. The NPS is based on the percentage of customers who are ‘promoters’ (with a rating of 9 or 10), minus the percentage who are ‘detractors’ (with a rating of 0 to 6).

●     Customer effort score (CES)

The CES metric highlights how easy it is for your customers to resolve their issues with your business. A high CES score shows your support function is probably too complex or time-consuming and needs to be improved. A low CES shows your support team are resolving customers’ issues speedily and efficiently, thus making it easy for customers to deal with your company.

Related content: Customer Effort Scores – everything you need to know

Tips on improving your technical support performance

  • Ensure your support agents have excellent communication skills. They must be able to explain technical issues to your customers clearly and without using confusing jargon. Stress the importance of active listening in order to understand a customer’s problem. Agents must ask relevant questions to clarify customers’ issues.
  • Your agents need to have a thorough understanding of your products and services to provide efficient customer support. Make sure they’re kept up-to-date with all the latest technological and software developments.
  • Efficient time management is critical in providing effective technical support. Train your agents to prioritise their tasks so the most important and urgent issues are dealt with first. Sufficient time should also be allocated to each customer to give them the support they need.
  • Train your agents to use patience, empathy and calmness when dealing with customers. Customers often become frustrated and stressed when dealing with technical issues. Your agents must show customers that they understand customers’ frustration and are fully committed to helping them.
  • Make sure your agents have the necessary problem-solving skills, and are able to think ‘outside the box’! They should be able to analyse a customer’s problem and come up with the necessary creative solutions to fix it.
  • Keeping accurate and up-to-date documentation is crucial for providing good technical support. Each customer issue, problem and the steps taken in resolving it must be documented, so it can be drawn on in the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let’s just reiterate that the importance of measuring your technical support metrics to improve your technical support function can’t be overstated! However, we also know that this is a complex issue, so if you need assistance, Digital Customer Care Company’s skilled and experienced team can help!