The 4 Most Important Help Desk Metrics

Customer support has been the prime focus of businesses today, and many have turned to Help Desk systems to automate their customer support experience and improve their end game. Though a Help Desk system identifies customers or their tickets as a number in a queue, businesses have identified that a customer can be satisfied only when their support staff treats them with dignity, listening to them and displaying patience while they resolve their issues.

In the aforementioned scenario, focusing on numbers can be counter-productive. However, there are other important numbers that need consideration to help improve your business’ customer support experience and your support staff’s efficiency. Here is a list of the 4 most important Help Desk metrics that you need to keep a close watch on:

Ticket Volume

The fundamental element of a Help Desk is Tickets. A high Ticket Volume could be considered a good sign since it means that your product is being used by customers, creating more issues or doubts (tickets) on the Help Desk. However, this is good only if you have just started your business. Gradually, you would expect the ticket volume to dwindle down, giving you an indication that issues in your product are being resolved.

So, with the ticket volume metric, the “Less Is More” philosophy is quintessential. If for any reason you see a sudden rise in the ticket volume metric, it means something needs fixing. If the nature of the rise in tickets is the same, you will be able to identify the real issue that needs permanent dowsing. Sometimes, the issue could simply be an influx of auto-replies tickets in your system. Whatever be the case immediate attention to the problem is necessary, since in the long run, your objective should be minimizing this metric as much as possible. A low ticket volume would mean more time available to improve documentation and your product.

Response Time

How would it be if you get what you are asking for even before you have finished asking for it? Awe inspiring, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, this is not possible in customer support. But, the least that customers expect is that their ticket gets quick attention or response, if not resolution. To ensure that you are at par with your customers’ expectations you can focus on the Response Time metrics.

The First Response Time (FRT) metric can help you discern the average time taken for your support staff to respond to a ticket that comes into the Help Desk. This metric has a direct influence on customer satisfaction. Good FRT would result in good customer relationship or satisfaction. The Mean Resolution Time (MRT) metric shows how long your support staff takes to resolve an issue once the ticket has landed on the Help Desk. Of course, the overall time taken depends on the complexity of the issue. However, by setting realistic deadlines, your support team can be trained to minimize MRT over time.

Channel-wise Distribution

Your Help Desk system or support network may have multiple channels that could be used by your customers. It could be email, live-chat or voice calls. A channel-wise distribution of your incoming tickets can help you see which channel your customers prefer and which is least used. This data can help you decide where you need to divert your resources and whether a channel of communication is needed or not.

Real Customer Satisfaction

Numbers can certainly help you improve your customer service. However, at the end of a day, real customer satisfaction depends on what the customer feels about your service. You may have a good Mean Resolution Time metric, but it would be presumptuous to assume that the customer is happy with the resolution.

Ask your customers directly for feedback or suggestions on improving customer service. You could simply provide a form at the end of the resolution email asking the customer whether he liked the experience or not. This will help you to identify any room for improvement that would have otherwise gone unsaid or unnoticed.