What is FCR, how to increase it and close deals faster

According to a CX SQM study, 95% of customers continue cooperating with companies that resolve their requests during the first call. Address client needs right away, and you’ll increase customer loyalty and accelerate sales. But how to do it? Focus on your call center or sales team’s FCR and strive to improve it. In this article, we’ll tell you what it is, how to calculate it, and how to solve customer problems faster.

What is FCR, and how does it impact sales?

FCR (First Call Resolution) shows the proportion of customer requests that were fully resolved during the first contact. In other words, this is the percentage of cases in which the client did not need to call again or address the same issue via another communication channel.

This speed is primarily beneficial to the business itself. After all, employees do not have to spend time on many conversations within a single transaction. However, a high FCR directly impacts sales efficiency and improves business processes. 

1. When employees solve customer problems on the first try, customers’ propensity to cross-sell increases by 20%. That is, the client is more willing to buy an additional product the consultant offers.
2. Each 1% improvement in FCR increases Net Promoter Score by 1.4 points. 
3. For every 1% improvement in FCR, there is a corresponding 1% improvement in customer satisfaction score (CSAT). 
4. 80% of customers who switched to competitors said they would have stayed if their issue had been resolved during the first contact.
5. A 15% improvement in FCR can lead to a 57% reduction in repeat calls. This saves time for both customers and the team.
6. For every 1% improvement in FCR, there is a 2.5% improvement in employee satisfaction. After all, they can sell faster and don’t have to discuss the same purchase with a customer multiple times.

Is FCR equally important for all companies?

For whom FCR is critical

In general, FCR will be crucial for areas where a customer’s request can and should be resolved in one call. 

1. E-commerce — namely, stores that sell consumer goods. Operators can immediately answer the customer, fill out an application, explain the nuances of delivery and return, etc.
2. Support services. Quick resolution is critical when a customer encounters a problem using a product or service. FCR should be included in telecommunications KPIs. When it comes to communication, internet, or billing issues, customers are not willing to wait long for a solution. 
3. Hotlines. Speed of issue resolution is essential in situations where a customer seeks emergency assistance. This applies to the banking and fintech sectors, security companies, etc.

When FCR is less relevant than other metrics

1. In niches where complex technical issues are being resolved. In this case, it is usually impossible to resolve the issue in one call, and it will require additional time. For example, you need to involve specialists of different profiles, make calculations, visit the production site or the client’s office, etc. This is especially true in industrial and technical equipment and software.
2. Business niches with long-term projects. In this case, it is more important that the client is satisfied with the overall cooperation process. Examples of such areas include construction, engineering, and implementing management systems in a company.
3. Businesses where clients typically need additional advice. In this case, the first call is just the beginning of cooperation. This applies to investment, insurance, medical services, CRM, ERP implementation, and complex business solutions.

How to calculate FCR

To calculate the FCR, you need to:

• collect statistics on the number of requests resolved on the first try;
• divided by the total number of calls;
• multiply by 100%.

Example:

Let’s say that the hotline received 100 calls in a week, and in 80 cases, the customer’s issues were resolved on the first try. Then the FCR will be calculated as follows:

FCR = (80 / 100) × 100% = 80%

This means that 80% of all customer requests were resolved during the first contact.

To calculate the FCR, your operators must record after communicating with the customer that the issue has been closed. This feature is usually available in communication platforms and chats. 

It can also be tracked using virtual telephony data. Let’s look at how to do this using the example of Ringostat, an AI telephony, call tracking, and call analytics platform.

1. Configure the call categories an operator can choose after communicating with a customer. One of these categories can be “Request is closed”.
2. When an employee hangs up the phone, he or she can manually assign this category to the call in the call card or by following audio prompts such as “If the customer’s request has been closed, press 1.”
3. Next, create a report to see how many requests were closed during the first call. Select “The first target call” in the rules to do this.
4. Add the second rule: Category — Equals — Request closed.

This way, you will see only those calls in which the agent solved the customer’s problem during the first call. To ensure this is true, we recommend that you additionally listen to the audio recordings of calls made by the virtual PBX. You can also use artificial intelligence that automatically analyzes conversations and displays a brief summary of them.

4 effective ways to improve FCR

Of course, the main way to improve FCR is to improve the team’s professionalism constantly. Employees need to know the product or service perfectly to answer customers’ questions right away. Otherwise, they must say, “I’ll check the specifications and call you back.” But we will focus on other points valuable for any team.

Connect all employees’ phones to a single company network

Often, FCR can deteriorate due to inconvenient communication within the company. Suppose a customer calls one operator, and a colleague from another department knows his problem better. Suppose the employee says, “This is a question for the technical support department. Their number is listed on the website. Call them back.” Or they dictate the number to the client. In this case, resolving the issue will take two calls, not just one.

A similar situation occurs when the required employee is not in the office. In this case, the client is asked to call back later or given a colleague’s cell phone number. As a result, the customer spends extra time and takes additional actions. Or they decide not to bother at all, and the company loses the client.

To prevent this from happening, you should unite your team into a single telephone network. And it’s better to choose a call solution that works well on desktop devices and smartphones. An example of this is the Ringostat Smart Phone application, which allows you to, among other things:

• see online colleagues and transfer calls to them with a single click;
• transfer calls to separate departments;
• put a customer’s call on hold, talk to a colleague first, and then transfer the call;
• make and receive calls from both your mobile and laptop;
• connect clients with colleagues who are not in the office, etc.;
• see statistics on all calls — this will be particularly useful for management.

This way, the client doesn’t have to call back the right operator or wait for them to return to the workplace. Questions can be easily transferred to colleagues and resolved during the first call, increasing FCR and customer satisfaction.

An additional advantage is that the app also allows you to correspond with users of messengers and chats on the website. The client writes to the messenger or chat, and the messages are sent to the team on Ringostat Smart Phone. You can also seamlessly transfer dialogues to colleagues better versed in specific issues there.

Apply useful insights about the customer

The ideal way to increase your FCR is to know in advance what your customer wants and is interested in. It sounds like magic, but it’s not impossible. There are already solutions that track the customer’s actions before the call and show information that can be used to close the issue.

Let’s look at the example of the Ringostat app. Even before picking up the phone, the operator sees the customer data:

• its location;
• top 5 pages of the website that the client most often visited;
• from which ads he or she came and by which keyword in the contextual ads;
• the last page the customer visited on your website and how long they spent on it;
• number of website visits, etc.

Let’s look at a simplified example of using such data. The keyword will show the query that led the customer to “buy a women’s down jacket.” The location will help you understand which city you need to send it to. The top 5 pages visited by the client will help the operator understand which models the client is interested in and in what price range. If a woman has been on the site several times, she is ready to buy.

Considering all this, the employee can immediately build a proper dialog. In doing so, they will save both their time and the customer’s time. She will be pleasantly surprised that the consultant immediately understood her needs and will be able to place an order right away. 

Use data from CRM if the customer has already contacted you

Not only new customers can contact your company, but also those who have already called or written to you. So why not use the data you already have about them? The key is to do it right during the call. Otherwise, you won’t be able to improve your FCR. 

To do this, use applications that allow you to quickly switch to CRM. Let’s look at how this works again using the example of Ringostat Smart Phone:

• the company receives a call from a client who has already been added to the CRM system;
• during a call, the operator immediately sees the person’s name and can address them by name;
• buttons appear on the screen of an active call to instantly switch to CRM;
• For example, the employee clicks on “Contact” and can go straight to the customer information.

For example, you can see what questions the user has previously asked, what products they have bought, and how much they have spent. All this will help you better understand what to offer the customer now and what questions they may have. As a result, the operator can communicate with the user faster and resolve their issue as soon as possible. 

Use the knowledge base 

When it comes to technical settings, it is difficult for a client to immediately understand what is meant. Therefore, the employee should have a knowledge base with instructions at hand. In this case, it’s enough to upload the necessary article and follow the steps to ensure the user can implement the settings. Or, if the customer understands everything, close the request immediately.

How to create a knowledge base?

1. Create a list of all the features available in your service and describe the customization instructions. It is important that this is done by a technical support team that is familiar with the pitfalls that can occur during setup.
2. Make sure that the knowledge base has enough screenshots to illustrate each step. This will prevent customers from asking additional questions.
3. Collect frequently asked questions from users on an ongoing basis. Write articles for the knowledge base with answers to them.
4. Translate the knowledge base into different languages and keep it up to date as improvements are released.

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Do you want to increase your FCR and solve customer issues instantly? The team’s professionalism may not be enough. Use special tools that make it easier for your team to close requests and deals. Install Ringostat virtual PBX, and you’ll get access to the app and 3 workstations for free. Our app allows your team to be equally productive both in and out of the office.