Tracking customer experience metrics

So you have successfully created an array of reports and figures that can tell you everything about every aspect of every call ever logged. Great! You now have a lot of interesting information that will take time from what you should be focusing on: the customer. Customer experience metrics help you with this.

I've noticed that there's a tendency in some Service Desks to drown in statistics, focusing too much on what can be measured and not what should be measured. You have probably heard the phrase “If it can be measured, it can be managed”. It's a firm favorite for many Service Desk Managers, but this is missing one key consideration, which is this: ‘just because you can, it doesn’t mean that you should’.

My problem with this approach: if you measure everything you can find, how do you find the time to prioritize and focus on adding value and benefits to your customer base?

Focusing on the Customer

A Service Department underpinned by metrics runs the risk of compromising customer experience to satisfy a stat or two. The bottom line is that you work at a service desk. You probably do value and encourage customer satisfaction, but for many staff, when their job requires them to do 10 things, but they are only measured on three of those … how much do think they really care about the other seven? 

For most Service Desks, those seven missing things tend to be all the micro tasks that need to take place in order for a job to be done well and delight the customer. If things like your approach to problem solving, the time you spend educating a customer or passing on what you learn to other team mates isn’t recognized and rewarded - but finishing up a service desk call in less than five minutes is - unfortunately finishing up a call quickly will always win.  

Consider your average call time, first time fix rate and how many tickets closed in a week. Now ask yourself, are you actually reporting on these things to help your customers get better service, or are you just trying to make sure you can turn to them and say how well your team is doing? Like my colleague Will said in his blog post, make sure your reports are actionable.

Take a good look at your reports. Maybe there are some reports you can cut, and save yourself time to focus on delivering better services.