What is a first contact resolution rate?
Definition: First contact resolution rate (FCRR) is a metric that measures the percentage of customer inquiries resolved on the first interaction with customer support.
It helps companies analyze the efficiency of customers’ first contact with the support and determine if it needs improvement.
Having a high FCRR means more tickets are solved on the first try leaving the customer satisfied and support open to work on other tickets.
How is the first contact resolution rate calculated?
FCRR is calculated for a specific period of time (month, quarter, year).
It is calculated by dividing the total number of inquiries resolved on the first contact with the support by the total number of inquiries requested by customers and multiplied by 100.
FCRR = Number of Inquiries Resolved on First Contact / Total Number of Inquiries x 100
Example:
A company is measuring its FCRR for Q1.
Their customer support team received 354 customer requests to solve their issues. The support team resolved 246 inquiries over the first call, email, or live chat.
FCRR = 246 / 354 x 100
FCRR = 69.5%, which is considered an average FCRR.
Note that self-service channels don’t count toward the FCRR.
Pros and cons of tracking first contact resolution rate
Pros:
- Cost reduction due to less time being spent on one customer inquiry letting the support handle more customers.
- Increased customer satisfaction as improving the FCRR means solving their problems fast and without delays.
- Increased team member satisfaction due to them not needing to deal with the same customer over and over about the same issues.
Cons:
- Decreased quality if the team only strives for higher FCRR by finding shortcuts that sacrifice detailed explanations for faster answers.
- Blindisgtedness towards other support channels if the FCRR as some questions can be solved by self-service channels or automation, but are handled by the support unnecessarily.
- Limited scope if the team solely focuses on increasing FCRR and ignoring other important support metrics.
First contact resolution rate vs. First response time
Both of these metrics are used to calculate different aspects of the first contact a customer has with the support.
FCRR measures the percentage of inquiries resolved on first contact, while FRT measures the time it takes a support representative to respond to a customer inquiry.
FCRR measures the support team's efficiency, prioritizing that the response to the customer is thorough and solves their problem. In contrast, FRT measures support responsiveness prioritizing speed in answering the customer.
They are, in a sense, contradictory measurements, as a higher FCRR means slower responses, and a lower FRT results in lower FCRR.
They are both important metrics, and support teams need to work on balancing them by having a high enough FCRR and low enough FRT that they don’t interfere with one another in a major way.
