Customer Support Is Not Just About Numbers

Customer support departments tackle hundreds and thousands of queries a day. To improve customer satisfaction and business performance, customer service needs to be measured. Peter Drucker, the father of management, famously said, "what gets measured, gets managed." Data about the customer service department’s activities can be easily gathered. It is not enough to merely look at the number of requests received per day.

Quantitative and qualitative metrics

The challenge is in choosing the metrics to be applied. Although there are potentially hundreds of quantitative metrics that provide undzeniable numerical results, there are multiple qualitative metrics in measuring customer service.

Quantitative customer support metrics such as average reply time, cases handled and the like, often focuses on the numbers rather than the actual content of the interaction. They fail to recognize executives that successfully help customers with a complex problem that may require more talk time or follow ups, but with good reason. Qualitative customer support metrics measure customer experience versus quantitative customer support metrics that measure customer numbers. Both are equally important, but many businesses ignore the qualitative.

Characteristics of a good metric

The characteristics of a good metric are as under:

1. It is meaningful and can be tied back to the objectives of the company.

2. It looks at something which is measurable.

3. It tells the truth about the results and is not misleading.

4. It is contextual.

5. It is to be measured in the long term so that data trends can be analysed.

Key qualitative customer support metrics

Within qualitative data lies the answers to questions like the following:

1. What do our customers think of us?

2. Are our customers going to jump ship?

3. How loyal are our customers to us?

4. Why are our customers continuing to use our product?

5. Do our customers talk about us within their social circle, and what do they say?

Here are some of the most popular customer support metrics that focus on qualitative data:

1. CSAT Ratings – Customer satisfaction surveys (CSAT surveys) are the most hassle-free way to measure customer support. The concept is simple enough. After any interaction with the customer support department, the customer is asked to provide simple feedback on whether their interaction was good or bad. They may be provided with an option to supply more detailed feedback, if they wish to. CSAT ratings can be interpreted in many ways to yield useful information. For example, customer satisfaction can be tracked over time, by channel, by product, and by customer type. Customer service skills of staff can be evaluated by paying attention to average CSAT ratings for a particular executive.

1. NPS survey – Conducting a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey will help in understanding if the customer would recommend the brand to others and whether they are likely to return in the future. It measures the customer’s likelihood to be an advocate for the brand. Measuring NPS also measures the customer’s loyalty to the brand and their likelihood to jump ship to a competitor.

1. Customer success – Customer success refers to how successful a customer is in their desired outcome from the product or service after they have purchased it. The more often they make use of the product or service for their objectives, the better it is working for them. Customer service skills of executives must be honed to assist customers in using products and services for their strategic objectives.

1. Social media-based metrics – Social media is emerging as a customer support channel as many customers take to Facebook or Twitter to post their issues and get them resolved. Metrics such as number of frustrated comments, number of non-technical questions, amounts of positive and negative feedback received, number of positive and negative brand mentions, and others can be analysed to understand customers perception of the business at a more visceral level. Further, using social media enables businesses to engage with customers on a level that customers use to interact with each other.

1. Customer churn rate – Churn metrics are useful in understanding why customers are abandoning the brand or have stopped making purchases. Customer churn rate refers to the number of customers that have been lost over a particular period. When measured per executive, excellent customer service skills can be identified, along with poor skills. Skilled executives can be rewarded, and less skilled ones can be trained. Most importantly the reasons for loss of customers can be organized and solutions devised.

1. Customer feedback – Directly seeking customer feedback is a way to offer customers a chance to voice their concerns. It also contributes to the process of building a meaningful relationship. Although it may be unpleasant to hear negative feedback, it presents the opportunity to rectify customers’ issues and to change their perception. Customer feedback should extend beyond the product to their impression of the business as a whole.

Instead of just focusing on numbers, customer support should integrate qualitative data into their metrics to gain a deeper understanding of customers and deliver better customer service.

Vaishali Gopi is an enthusiastic Digital Marketer who has keen interest towards customer support management and related stuff and voices about it frequently.