First call resolution (FCR) defined
First call resolution (FCR), or first contact resolution, is a customer service KPI that measures the percentage of customer issues resolved during the customer’s initial contact. In essence, it tracks how often a customer’s problem is solved without the need for follow-up calls, emails, chats, or other interactions.
A higher FCR indicates that a contact center is handling more interactions efficiently and effectively in a single interaction, leading to increased customer satisfaction and reduced operational costs. Beyond being an indicator of customer experience success, it’s also a reflection of the efficiency and knowledge of your frontline agents, as well as the effectiveness of your internal processes and resources.
How to Measure First Contact Resolution Rate
Driving a higher first contact resolution rate enables businesses to reduce operating costs, increases opportunities to sell, and boosts customer experiences.
To calculate FCR:
- Track all interactions initiated by customers within a given period, such as one month.
- Highlight all requests an agent solves on the first interactions by tracking all customer affirmations of a resolution.
- Divide FCR by the total number of calls in a specific time and multiply by 100.
Here’s the formula:
Total Resolved Cases / Total Number of Cases x 100
For example, if 40 out of 120 interactions in a month are resolved on first contact, FCR rate will be 33%.
Accurately measuring FCR in an omnichannel contact center requires the ability to track a single issue across multiple channels and touch points, tie together disparate contacts, and have visibility and insights into the whole situation. To accomplish this, organizations need customer experience management tools that capture all aspects of the customer journey and the actions taken to address the issue at each step of the process.
Why is First Call Resolution Important?
First call resolution is far more than just a metric; it’s a direct reflection of your customer service effectiveness and significantly impacts your business’s bottom line. Measuring FCR provides invaluable insights into your contact center’s performance, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. Here’s a deeper look into its importance:
Enhanced Customer Experience and Loyalty:
- Resolving customer issues on the first contact minimizes frustration and demonstrates efficiency. Customers value their time, and swift resolutions build trust and confidence in your brand. This leads to increased customer loyalty and a higher likelihood of repeat business.
- A positive first interaction sets the tone for the entire customer journey. When customers feel heard and their problems are solved promptly, they are more likely to become advocates for your brand, leading to positive word-of-mouth referrals.
Increased Customer Satisfaction (CSAT):
- FCR directly correlates with customer satisfaction. Customers who have their issues resolved quickly and efficiently are significantly more likely to report high satisfaction levels, driving up overall CSAT scores.
- By prioritizing FCR, you prioritize delivering a seamless and hassle-free customer experience, which is essential for building strong customer relationships.
Improved Agent Productivity and Morale:
- When agents are equipped to resolve issues on the first contact, it reduces the need for follow-up interactions, freeing up their time for other critical tasks. This includes building knowledge bases, participating in training, and proactively engaging with customers.
- Successfully resolving customer issues on the first attempt boosts agent morale and job satisfaction. Agents feel empowered and valued when they can effectively help customers, leading to a more positive and productive work environment.
Reduced Operational Costs:
- Each additional contact required to resolve an issue increases operational costs. By improving FCR, you can significantly reduce the volume of repeat calls, emails, and chats, leading to cost savings in terms of agent time and resources.
- Reducing the need for escalations and transfers also streamlines the customer service process, leading to greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Actionable Insights for Continuous Improvement:
- Analyzing FCR data helps identify recurring customer issues, knowledge gaps, and training needs. Contact center managers can use these insights to refine processes, update knowledge bases, and provide targeted training to agents.
- By reviewing recorded conversations and customer feedback, managers can identify areas where agents may need additional support or training to improve their FCR rates. This data-driven approach allows for continuous improvement and optimization of the customer service experience.
What is an Ideal First Call Resolution Rate?
Customers want replies to their questions instantly and solutions to their issues on the first attempt. Many customers rank the quality of customer service teams on how fast they can resolve problems.
As you measure, and attempt to optimize, your contact center’s first call resolution rate, it’s crucial to keep benchmarks and industry standards in mind. Research from the SQM Group finds that the average FCR across all industries is about 68%. However, research conducted by Freshworks in 2024 indicates that an FCR of about 70% represents a metric in the top 20%.
Ultimately, it’s critical to consider your industry’s particular customer experience challenges and complexities when determining a good first call resolution rate to target. As SQM Group data suggests, industry-specific FCR averages can vary significantly, from 39% to 91%.
It’s also important to evaluate FCR in context of other contact center KPIs such as average handling time (AHT) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) to get a more complete view of your contact center productivity.
What are the challenges of improving first call resolution?
While first call resolution is a critical metric for contact center success, achieving consistently high rates can be challenging. Many customer support teams face obstacles that hinder their ability to resolve issues on the first contact. Understanding these challenges is the first step toward developing effective solutions.
Understaffing and High Call Volume
When contact centers are understaffed, agents are often rushed, leading to incomplete resolutions and increased follow-up interactions. High call volumes exacerbate this issue, creating a stressful environment that negatively impacts agent performance.
Long Hold Times and Customer Frustration
Extended hold times not only frustrate customers but also contribute to a negative initial impression. Customers who have waited a long time are often less patient and may require more detailed explanations, making it harder to achieve FCR.
High Customer Attrition Rates and Knowledge Gaps
High customer attrition can lead to a constant influx of new customers with diverse and complex issues. This can overwhelm agents and create knowledge gaps, making it difficult to provide accurate and timely resolutions.
Inadequate Agent Training and Knowledge Base
Insufficient training on products, services, and problem-solving techniques can hinder an agent’s ability to resolve issues efficiently. A poorly maintained or incomplete knowledge base also limits access to critical information, leading to repeat contacts.
Lack of Agent Authority and Empowerment
Agents who lack the authority to make decisions or offer solutions without escalating to supervisors are less likely to resolve issues on the first contact. Empowering agents with the necessary tools and autonomy is essential for improving FCR.
Complex or Fragmented Systems and Tools
Agents that have to use multiple, unintegrated systems to find customer information or process requests can be slow and inaccurate. A unified, easy to use system is necessary.
Inability to Track and Analyze Customer Interactions
Without proper tracking and analysis of customer interactions, it is difficult to identify trends and root causes of repeat contacts. This lack of data-driven insights prevents contact centers from making informed decisions to improve FCR
Best practices and tips to optimize your FCR
There’s no one quick fix for improving FCR. It requires a multifaceted approach that addresses both agent performance and operational efficiency. By implementing these best practices, you can significantly enhance your FCR rates and elevate the overall customer experience.
Use the right tools to effectively track performance
Accurate tracking is essential for improving FCR. Implement a CRM that integrates with your contact center, providing agents with complete customer history. Utilize analytics tools for real-time dashboards and call recording for detailed interaction analysis.
Identify and understand customers’ most common concerns
Proactively address common customer issues to boost FCR. Analyze feedback from surveys and social media to identify recurring problems. Categorize call reasons and develop solutions for the most frequent inquiries. Here, generative AI can play a critical role in accelerating analysis. A tool like Calabrio’s Trending Topics will automatically analyze and sort your interactions into a manageable list of around 100 prioritized topics.
Evaluate more (or all) of your inter actions
Going beyond manual evaluation and sampled data, not only saves time but it provides more consistent, targeted insights into agent performance during interactions. Ditch the spreadsheets and leverage automated contact center quality management software to help enhance your FCR.
Identify bottlenecks and issues that delay resolutions
Pinpoint and eliminate bottlenecks to streamline agent workflows and enhance customer service. Map the customer service process and conduct root cause analysis with the help of desktop and process analytics. With a view of each interaction—from the point of view of both the agent and the customer—you can determine what’s holding your contact center back from a higher FCR.
Provide targeted agent training
Investing in targeted agent training is essential for equipping agents with the skills and knowledge they need to resolve issues on the first contact. Focus on leveraging your QM program’s insights to deliver:
- Product and Service Training: Provide thorough training on products, services, and troubleshooting techniques.
- Soft Skills Training: Develop agents’ communication, problem-solving, and empathy skills. (Even better if this training is supported by sentiment analysis insights.)
- Continuous Learning: Implement a continuous learning program to keep agents up to date on new products, services, and best practices.
Develop effective self-service options
Improving FCR doesn’t all have to fall on the plate of your agents. Empower customers with self-service to reduce contact volume. Create a comprehensive knowledge base and utilize IVR systems. Implement chatbots and virtual assistants for instant support—and simplify chatbot management and optimization with a robust chatbot analytics platform.
A real example of how to improve first call resolution rates
Delta Dental of Minnesota places an incredible emphasis on customer satisfaction scores—translating their efforts into a 98% customer satisfaction rate. However, shortly after opening a new operations center, they needed to determine what was driving an increase in negative experiences as well as agent effort.
Combining a Six Sigma approach with powerful speech analytics tools from Calabrio ONE, they quickly identified that just four issues—assistance finding a dentist, inquiries about dental treatment, questions about dental insurance benefits and confusion regarding the claims process—represented about 60% of all dissatisfied calls and high effort.
Among other positive changes, the team leveraged these insights to modify its training and quality evaluations to emphasize specific behaviors. They also created a custom dashboard with updated FCR metrics to monitor progress. All told, Delta Dental of Minnesota drove incredible results, including:
- 20% Increase in First Contact Resolution
- 40% Decrease in Six Sigma defect rate
- 40% Decrease in Customer and agent effort
- Increase in Customer and agent satisfaction
Learn more about Delta Dental’s efforts to apply the lessons to your own contact center.
And book a free demo of the Calabrio ONE suite to see how our leading contact center workforce engagement management solutions can help you empower agents and elevate the customer experience.
