Everything you need to know about first call resolution in helpdesk

What is first call resolution?

Let us start with an example to explain this term in detail. When the customer has a problem or a grievance they call you and you take all the details and give them a solution in this call. They are satisfied and have confirmed that their problem has been resolved. This is the first call resolution when the customer gets the solution in the first call and they don't need to call another time to get answers to their queries.

Why is the FCR important?

There are many things that you can gage from the FCR. First of all it tells you how satisfied the customer is and sets basic parameters about your call center staff about how they should handle customers. If there are many instances of FCR you will know that the customer support guys are doing a very good job and this momentum needs to continue on a regular basis. Conversely it will also help you understand if some people are underperforming and if their performance needs to improve. This way you can devise ways and means to improve their performance.

Let us take a look at ways and means to improve FCR

1. Get as much information as you can on the free help desk software

In order to improve FCR it is important to get as much information as you can from the customer about the grievance. If you don’t do this first step well you will be unable to proceed to the further steps and will have to come back to this first step time and time again. Take down all the important details and make sure that you miss nothing at all. This will help you make the first call truly productive and improve the FCR rates.

2. Training the customer support people or agents is important

In order to improve your FCR rates it is highly important that you train your people very well. If a particular matter does not fall in their purview and they choose to take it up, they will definitely falter as they will not have enough information on it. Let them take care of their respective departments and make no mistake about their roles and responsibilities at any point in time. A highly trained staff can add great value to your FCR rates and one should never undermine the effect of training at any given point in time.

3. Track how they are performing

It is important to track how your staff is performing on a day to day basis and use the best helpdesk software as this will help you understand what kind of improvements are needed to improve the FCR rates. If you don’t have the data about the performance of your staff it will be extremely difficult to set training goals for each and every person. If you know who is a great performer you can help other people learn and also make sure that the person concerned is rewarded for their inputs.

4. Your goals should be realistic

There can be many complex grievances which might not be solved in a day or two and need time for resolution. In this case you need to set goals which are realistic and not expect the team to do an FCR on every problem or query which comes their way. They can only push them to an extent to solve customer problems but the processes that have been set and the various systems and checks may sometimes make it impossible to solve a crisis in a first call, and this should be acknowledged.

What are the benefits of FCR

One of the primary benefits of FCR is improving customer satisfaction and dependability upon you and use a helpdesk software. If the customer is satisfied in one go and this happens many times the customer will surely have a very high opinion of you and you will notice that they depend upon you more and more and their dependability will definitely increase with their level of satisfaction. Happier customers definitely mean more people are buying from you and coming to you for your services thus increasing revenues and adding to your profit level. Thus FCR has long lasting and impactful repercussions.

One best practice to improve FCR rates

One of the best practices which can really improve and enhance the way you deal with the customers is to respond to customers and use the best helpdesk software with care and concern and show real interest in their problems. Remember you are dealing with humans with real problems and they will open up to you if they see that you genuinely care and it is not just a job that you are doing. Show them that you care and are ready to help them through their problems. This will show on your FCR rates and you will notice that the customers are opening up to you over a period of time.

Thus these are some of the must-knows about FCR and how they impact you over a period of time and help in increasing revenues and change the way customers look at you and respond to you.