10 Best Practices to Improve First Call Resolution Rates

The first call resolution (FCR) rate or first contact resolution rate is an important metric in a contact center environment.

It measures the percentage of customer issues that are resolved on the first contact without requiring a follow-up. It applies to all channels like voice, email, live chat, mobile, social, and web.

How Do You Calculate FCR?

FCR is calculated using this formula:

First contact resolution (%) = (Total resolved cases on first contact/Total cases) * 100

For example, if a contact center handles 10000 inquiries in a month and resolves 7500 of them on the first attempt, the FCR rate would be 75%.

What Is a Good FCR Rate According to Industry Standards?

A good FCR rate varies by industry and communication channel.

The average FCR rate across industries is between 75 and 80%, whereas the top-performing contact centers achieve FCR rates of 80 – 85%.

The industry benchmark of FCR rates for different channels include:

• Voice calls: 70 to 75%
• Live chat: 55 to 65%
• Email: 50 to 60%
• Self-service chatbots and FAQs: 30 to 50%

Why Is FCR an Important Metric in Customer Experience?

FCR is one of the key metrics that every contact center should look at as it directly impacts customer experience.

Look at this for the impact:

• If an issue is resolved in the first contact, CSAT scores are typically 35% higher compared to cases requiring multiple interactions.
• A high FCR rate means fewer repeat contacts, reducing frustration and increasing customer trust.
• Each additional contact costs businesses $12 per call on average. A higher FCR means reduced costs related to repeat contacts.
• Agents who consistently resolve issues in the first interaction experience 15-20% higher engagement levels.
• 81% of customers who experience multiple failed service interactions consider switching brands.

What Are the Factors That Affect FCR?

• Agent knowledge and training: Trained agents resolve issues faster, reducing the need for escalations.
• Omnichannel infrastructure: CRM and other internal IT systems integration help improve FCR by 20 to 30% by giving agents access to real-time customer data.
• Self-service capabilities: 60% of customers prefer self-service for simple inquiries. Inadequate self-service can increase repeat calls.
• The complexity of customer issues: Imagine if you are calling up for healthcare insurance claims, financial disputes, or technical issues. They typically have lower FCR rates, as these issues require intervention and probably multiple contacts. 
• Call routing and IVR systems: Poorly designed IVRs increase call transfers, negatively affecting FCR.
• Agent turnover rates: High staff attrition leads to knowledge gaps, decreasing FCR rates.
• AI automation: AI-powered agent assist tools improve resolution accuracy by up to 25%.

These are some of the factors that affect FCR. How do you go about improving FCR rates? Let us spend some time understanding the practices that would allow you to improve FCR.

Top 10 Best Practices to Improve FCR Rates

1. Agent Training and Knowledge Management

• Train your agents on product/service knowledge, troubleshooting, and soft skills.
• Implement a knowledge base with FAQs, scripts, how-to videos, and resolution guides.
• Use AI-driven agent assist tools in suggesting solutions in real time.

2. Intelligent Call Routing

• Evaluate different routing methods, such as skills-based, time-based, geographic, and IVR systems, based on their suitability for addressing identified needs and objectives.
• When selecting routing methods, consider the nature of incoming calls, agent skill sets, and organizational structure.
• Customize routing parameters and rules to align with specific business requirements and priorities.
• Define criteria for routing calls, such as caller ID, IVR menu selections, or geographic location, to ensure accurate and efficient call distribution.
• Implement dynamic routing strategies to adapt to changing conditions and optimize resource utilization in real-time.

3. Optimize Self-Service

• Begin with FAQs, which would always be the starting point for any customer. Ensure that you answer all the foundational questions like who, what, where, why, when, and how (the six honest serving men of Rudyard Kipling) across the customer journey. Keep them updated on a daily basis or a few times every day, as this would be the foundation of your self-service journey.
• Create a knowledge base in a dedicated space on the website. It should have support documentation, user manuals, how-to videos, and support articles. These can be linked with your product pages or provided as suggestions when customers are looking for specific information.
• Create an online community where all your customers interact with each other. This can be in Quora style, where customers can post their queries, and other customers can provide possible answers to them.
• Create a chatbot that is AI-driven. It would be able to understand your questions and provide the right answers contextually. It would get all the transactional queries right most of the time, and for complex questions, it would lead you to the most appropriate FAQ, knowledge base, or community portal query. The chatbot should be capable of qualifying a query and seeing if this is something that the bot itself can serve or if it should divert the customer to a human agent.

4. Leverage CRM and Other Customer-Facing App Integrations for Customer Context

• Integrate customer history and past interactions into your CRM system. Ensure your contact center platform is tightly integrated with your CRM and other customer-facing apps. 
• Equip agents with real-time access to customer information for faster resolutions.

5. Conduct Root Cause Analysis on Repeat Contacts

• Analyze why customers call back. Are issues not being resolved correctly? Conduct a feedback survey after every customer interaction to understand quantitatively as well as qualitatively.
• Identify common pain points and address them proactively. If there is a problem with your offering, fix it there. Otherwise, have them included in the knowledge base.

6. Improve First Contact Documentation and Call Notes

• It begins with agents logging in all details of an interaction properly.
• Provide structured templates for agents to capture resolution details.

7. Measure and Monitor Progress Effectively

• Track FCR rates across different channels and customer segments. Make the monitoring actionable and ensure that the rates increase with time for all identified segments and channels.
• Use customer feedback surveys and measure metrics like CSAT and NPS to assess resolution effectiveness.

8. Reduce Agent Turnover and Improve Engagement

• Empower agents with the right tools, technology, and training to make decisions.
• Implement incentive programs for high FCR performance.

9. Improve Supervisor Support and Escalation Handling

• Offer real-time supervisor assistance for complex issues.
• Reduce unnecessary escalations by training agents to handle higher-level queries.

10. Optimize IVR and Call Flows

• Simplify IVR menus to reduce frustration and call abandonment.
• Offer callbacks to prevent long wait times and abandoned calls.

First-call resolution is not just a metric, but it is a measure of how effectively a business resolves customer concerns while optimizing operational efficiency.

The most important component of ensuring a good FCR rate is housekeeping, like empowered and trained agents, appropriate technology and tools, and real-time supervisor intervention.

Besides, you need to ensure AI adoption, self-service channels, tight integrations with CRM, and other customer-facing apps to ensure high FCR rates.

Implementing the practices listed in this article will ensure happier customers, engaged agents, and higher profitability.