Tracking certain metrics is essential to your outbound calling success.
This will help inform you what points in your strategy are working well and what areas need improvement.
Once you can track your metrics, you can plan your marketing campaign better to make it more efficient and profitable.
What is outbound calling?
Outbound calling is the act of making calls to close deals, provide customer service, or perform market research. This is an alternative to inbound calling which only receives calls from clients.
An outbound call is originated by the company to prospects that focus on sales, lead generation, telemarketing, and fundraising.
What are the usual metrics used to measure your outbound calling strategy?
Companies that use outbound calling as their marketing strategy usually track certain metrics to measure the efficiency and profitability of their process. There are many metrics to monitor, so choosing the right ones to track that fit your business can be complicated.
Here is a list of common metrics used in an outbound calling strategy:
Average Handle Time (AHT)
Average handle time, or AHT, refers to the average duration of customer interaction. It starts when the call is answered by the client until any of the parties on the line hangs up.
An ideal AHT range depends on the goal of a call. For example, a low AHT may mean that an agent is ineffective in a sales call while a low AHT average on a notification call is a positive indicator.
There are also cases where if the AHT is high, an agent may be struggling to locate the data or navigate the customer database in a customer service call, but a high AHT in a survey call might mean a successful survey completion.
The average handling time can be a very informative statistic that is unique to the types of calls your agents are making.
First Call Resolution (FCR)
First call resolution evaluates if the caller’s inquiries are resolved in the initial interaction. A good FCR rate means few transfers, hold calls, and callbacks for customers.
When there is a huge number of transfers, holds, and callbacks in your tracking, it often indicates that the customer is more likely to be unsatisfied with their experience.
Tracking the first call resolution can also pinpoint your agent training. If the employee has to pass calls often because of a lack of knowledge about the issue raised by a customer, this may point to training issues.
FCR is important in outbound calling statistics as it factors in other metrics including customer satisfaction.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is crucial in an outbound call center environment. Any type of activities completed during a call, whether it be completing a survey, setting an appointment, or making a purchase, could be considered converted customers.
The focus of this metric is the number of calls your agent has to do to make a deal. This also indicates whether a call list is performing well so you can make strategic decisions about changing or maintaining the list.
Occupancy Rate
Occupancy rate measures the productivity of agents in all call-related work. If occupancy rates are low, your agents may be spending a lot of time on non-work-related tasks. It may also point to other issues within the organization that is holding up an agent’s productivity.
It is important to ensure everyone in your team stays on track and remains productive, especially now when working from home.
