I’ve at all times been a goal-driven individual. When mountaineering, I search for the following mile marker and seek for indicators that I’m nearing the summit. Whoever mentioned that the journey is the vacation spot mustn’t ever have felt the satisfaction of attaining their targets.
I child, after all: Even while you don’t obtain 100% of your targets, the method of setting them and dealing towards them gives tangible advantages.
Customer support targets are not any exception. There is no such thing as a higher strategy to ship persistently nice customer support and problem your group members to develop than by setting good targets.
Under, we provide a framework for setting efficient customer support aims, in addition to various particular, measurable targets you may put into observe proper now to enhance your buyer expertise.
This can be a chapter in our Final Information to Working a Buyer Service Crew. Once you’re prepared, try the opposite chapters:
Why you want customer support targets
Taking the time to set targets on your group and for your self is like taking the time to verify the map: You’ll know the place you’re heading, and also you’ll be more likely to get there.
Targets give your group path and focus. This could result in extra independence; when everybody is aware of the plan, they will make their very own choices and act extra autonomously.
Targets assist to handle group efficiency. Said targets assist facilitate suggestions alternatives and supply a benchmark for brokers to measure themselves in opposition to.
Targets align everybody’s actions. Everybody from brokers to managers to your entire group can work collectively for the corporate’s success. By exhibiting how particular person actions generate success for the enterprise, targets inspire motion.
Targets regularly enhance your customer support. By drawing consideration to areas of alternative, you make sure that everybody in your group is considering bettering the identical factor. A ship strikes quicker when everyone seems to be rowing in the identical path!
The best way to set efficient targets
Not all targets are created equally. To ensure that them to be motivating, they should observe the SMART philosophy: Particular, Measurable, Achievable, Related, and Time-bound.
For instance, you possibly can say that you just wish to obtain 100% buyer satisfaction on all tickets in 2024. Whereas it’s an bold objective, it’s not achievable. As quickly as that first dangerous satisfaction response is available in, your group members will really feel like they’ve failed.
Unattainable targets often look actually good on paper, however they don’t truly foster higher customer support. An achievable objective may as a substitute be that you really want a 20% enhance in buyer satisfaction in 2024.
Retaining your targets particular and measurable will allow you to perceive while you’ve met them. Related targets align along with your group’s mission. Lastly, setting a time restrict will allow you to consider your progress and encourage momentum. SMART targets for customer support are a simple framework to make use of to make sure that your targets meet the entire necessities to be best.
For every of the examples of customer support targets under, we offer an instance of a SMART objective format that will help you create your individual strategic targets on your prospects.
Examples of customer support division targets
Customer support division targets ought to be straight associated to the targets of the broader group. They need to be simply trackable and continuously mentioned throughout the group. Each particular person can contribute to those targets, so guaranteeing that your entire group is on board is essential to attaining them.
1. Improve buyer satisfaction
One of many major causes to supply customer support in any respect is to enhance your prospects’ happiness.
Most, if not all, customer support groups will use buyer satisfaction (CSAT) as certainly one of their key efficiency indicators (KPIs). In spite of everything, in case your prospects are usually not glad along with your service, it’s time to alter what you’re doing.
Rising buyer satisfaction is a worthy objective for the corporate’s development as nicely:
Setting buyer satisfaction targets places your group’s concentrate on offering a persistently nice customer support expertise. This feeds again into the shopper expertise of your product as a complete.
To measure buyer satisfaction, use a easy buyer survey to collect suggestions on whether or not prospects are proud of their service. Subtract the share of consumers who reply positively from 100% to get an general CSAT proportion.
SMART objective instance: We’ll enhance our rolling 7-day CSAT rating from 82% to 87% within the subsequent three months.
2. Enhance internet promoter rating
Whereas CSAT represents the shopper’s response to the customer support that your group offers, internet promoter rating (NPS) displays their relationship along with your model. Whereas customer support is only a small piece of your model as a complete, it has an outsized impression.
Like CSAT, while you set a objective to enhance NPS, it does the heavy lifting of refocusing your whole group. Not solely does NPS gentle a hearth underneath your customer support group, it additionally displays the work of the corporate as a complete.
Together with NPS as a part of your customer support technique is a superb complement to different work that your group is at the moment doing, corresponding to decreasing response time or implementing a brand new social media service channel. As you’re employed towards different targets, you’re additionally in a position to measure the correlative impression that they’ve. As an example, while you work to enhance response time, you discover a rise in NPS. Any such correlation provides you good information for what you may use for future targets, too.
SMART objective instance: We’ll enhance our quarterly NPS from 80 to 90 earlier than the tip of This fall.
3. Cut back buyer wait time
Within the mission to offer nice customer support, velocity is your finest pal. Clients persistently fee fast solutions as an important facet of their customer support expertise.
Responding rapidly is a full group objective. Not solely do brokers should be centered and deal with buyer conversations with urgency, however in addition they have to be supported with the appropriate instruments and correctly staffed.
There are various methods to measure buyer wait time, relying on the expertise you wish to present over totally different channels. For telephone help, it’s possible you’ll measure the period of time prospects spend on maintain. For emails, you possibly can measure the time to first reply or complete decision time. For social media and chat, two of the quickest attainable channels, you possibly can measure by response time as nicely.
To measure first reply time (FRT), take a look at the period of time that passes from when the shopper first contacts you till they get their first human response. FRT is calculated as a mean throughout all tickets.
SMART objective instance: We’ll lower common first reply time for electronic mail help from 11 hours to eight hours by October thirty first.
4. Cut back value per contact
In case you had a vast price range, decreasing buyer wait time and rising buyer satisfaction could be simple — simply rent extra folks and provides your whole prospects a pet! Sadly, you at all times have to steadiness your need to develop the group along with your price range restrictions.
Decreasing the price of supporting prospects (whereas protecting high quality excessive!) is a crucial enterprise objective and one thing your entire customer support group can contribute to. If it prices extra to help your prospects than they’re paying you, your online business won’t be worthwhile. Nevertheless, in case your prospects pay you nicely and also you present crummy help, your buyer expertise will undergo.
To measure value per contact (CPC), divide the full value of offering help (labor, instruments, and different prices) by the variety of contacts acquired. You possibly can phase this calculation by various totally different standards, together with the contact channel and the kind of customers.
CPC is impacted by various issues. To scale back CPC, you may attempt to direct prospects to decrease effort channels (for instance, chat and social media are more cost effective than telephone help) or turn into extra environment friendly at answering tickets.
SMART objective instance: We’ll cut back value per contact by 10% at no cost plan customers by the tip of Q1.
5. Channel-specific metrics
Whereas the objective of organising a selected channel doesn’t essentially match the SMART objective framework, your group may arrange targets round particular channels.
As an example, even when your group doesn’t at the moment provide social media help, prospects definitely attain out on your help there. So as to create one of the best buyer expertise, your customer support group ought to be the one responding to inquiries. Getting your prospects on to one of the best supply for assist permits your group to decrease response fee and enhance key metrics like NPS and CSAT.
So, to create a objective for social media, you may concentrate on one thing just like the variety of responses straight out of your help group.
SMART objective instance: We’ll workers a social media customer support group and reply to 85% of social media service inquiries inside 25 minutes by the tip of Q3.
Examples of customer support supervisor targets
Customer support managers have to maintain prospects and their groups of brokers. Their targets replicate the twin nature of their duties — to each the folks on their groups and to the individuals who buy from their companies.
6. Improve high quality of customer support responses
Clients continuously rank consistency as a major driver of excellent customer support. To watch the standard and consistency of your group’s replies, take into account implementing high quality assurance or dialog critiques. Offering ongoing suggestions by critiques can be certain that your whole group is delivering wonderful customer support.
To measure high quality, you first have to outline what high quality means to you. What sort of tone do you employ? Do brokers want to offer extra assets of their responses? Klaus has an ideal information to growing a high quality assurance rubric on their weblog.
As soon as the rubric has been developed, you may grade a random collection of conversations to find out your high quality rating. Taking the time to offer suggestions on every evaluation will assist your brokers know what they will do to enhance their very own high quality, thus boosting the group’s high quality (and your buyer expertise) as nicely.
SMART objective instance: We’ll enhance the common high quality rating from 3.5 to 4.2 by the tip of the 12 months.
7. Enhance agent happiness
Comfortable staff equal glad prospects. Or, on the very least, sad staff will make it loads more durable to offer empathetic, considerate service to your prospects. Bettering the expertise of your customer support group ought to be a high precedence for all customer support managers.
Measuring agent happiness can take various totally different types. One of the direct methods is to only ask your brokers how they really feel.
Worker NPS makes use of the identical query as internet promoter rating to ask staff how doubtless they’re to advocate your organization as a spot to work. This survey may also present some qualitative suggestions on what you’ll have to do to perform your objective.
Alternatively, you may measure agent happiness by taking a look at worker churn and retention charges. If brokers are staying round for longer, they’re doubtless happier.
SMART objective instance: We’ll enhance worker NPS by 20% between the September and December worker surveys.
Examples of customer support consultant targets
Particular person targets assist brokers increase their talent units and develop their careers. Whereas all brokers may share some targets (corresponding to attaining a sure CSAT), setting particular person targets which might be tailor-made to every agent’s skilled targets will present extra motivation.
8. Enhance troubleshooting expertise
All buyer help brokers have to have a robust grasp of the right way to troubleshoot points. Fortuitously, identical to different expertise, troubleshooting is a muscle that you could strengthen over time. If you’re struggling to rapidly and precisely diagnose issues, bettering your troubleshooting expertise could also be an ideal objective.
Troubleshooting expertise could be measured in a number of methods, together with as a part of high quality assurance critiques or as a part of one other metric. For instance, bettering troubleshooting might cut back the variety of responses it takes for tickets to be resolved. It could additionally enhance time to decision and the variety of tickets the agent is ready to resolve.
SMART objective instance: I’ll enhance my troubleshooting standards rating on high quality assurance critiques from 2.4 to 4 by December thirty first.
9. Enhance management expertise
Whether or not you wish to turn into a folks supervisor or simply tackle extra duty in your particular person contributor function, management expertise are a key a part of rising as an agent. By together with management expertise as a objective for brokers, they keep motivated and challenged with new alternatives.
Management expertise aren’t essentially measured by metrics and quantitative outcomes. As an alternative, management targets are sometimes represented as initiatives and duties that require new expertise to perform. Offering suggestions on the execution of those duties will assist cement new capabilities.
SMART objective instance: I’ll lead two product coaching conferences in This fall and meet with my supervisor for suggestions and evaluation on periods.
Use customer support targets to maintain your group motivated
Setting nice targets will hold your group shifting ahead. Use the examples above to set your individual SMART targets to raise your group’s efficiency.