First Contact Resolution: the most misunderstood service metric

First Contact Resolution is one of the most mis-used and mis-understood metrics in service organisations.

There's no standard industry definition, so nobody really knows what's being measured and how it compares to everybody else.

It's usually captured subjectively by the Agent through a post-call check box, and (especially if it's linked to Agent or departmental performance) there's a strong incentive to tick "yes."

What's usually captured is "did the call get resolved?" which is a very different question to "did the customer's issue get resolved?"

Failure demand calls - where the customer is phoning and chasing for the umpteenth time - should not be marked as FCR when all that's happened is the customer is told that the contact centre will chase up another internal team.

A customer who's been asked to send in more information is not FCR.

What's missing from the FCR capture are two other options - "Pass On" and "Pass Back."

A "Pass On" occurs when the work gets handed off to another team. Sounds bad, but it's a normal part of service delivery in departments like housing repairs, broadband installation or insurance claims.

A "Pass Back" is when the customer has to do something next in order to progress their request - like send in a photo or complete an online form.

Recording FCR and treating it as some sort of holy grail of service is one of the biggest mistakes we see in contact centre metrics.

If the roof is still leaking, it isn't FCR, however quickly the plumber may be due to arrive!