9 Live Chat KPIs Crucial to Your Business (and How Customer Service Outsourcing Can Help You Improve Them)

Live chat ranks first among all customer service solution platforms in driving customer satisfaction—with a staggering 92% rating. Additionally, due to its convenience, accessibility, and real-time response feature, 53% of customers prefer using live chat to contact a business. To keep up, many companies opt to get live chat solutions through customer service outsourcing.

With the significant role that live chat plays in enhancing customer experience, growing businesses must keep track of how their team is performing in this area. Doing so helps you continuously identify points for improvement and remain competitive. 

We will identify those key metrics in this article. But first, let’s differentiate between live chat and social media messaging.

Although both channels have instantaneous abilities, live chat and social media messaging are not the same. Here are some of the key differences between the two: 

• Engagement. Most live chat apps automatically pop from the webpage, allowing the rep to initiate an interaction with the site visitor. On the other hand, the interactions on social media messaging are mostly, if not always, initiated by the customer.

• Chat History. Social media messaging can keep the conversation history of the customer and the agent. With live chat, once the customer leaves the company’s website, the chat ends without keeping the conversation data.

• Convenience. Unlike social media messaging, live chat apps are built-in on the company’s website, making it easier to cross-check information both on the side of the client and customer service solution agent. It also doesn’t require the customer to switch platforms when they are ready to purchase.

FCR is the rate that describes your customer service solution team’s ability to resolve customer issues on the first contact. An issue is considered resolved on the first contact when no follow-up was needed, and no escalation occurred. 

FCR is an essential metric for determining customer satisfaction. Many consider this as the most important metric as it affects nearly all other KPIs. You would want your rating on this area to be as high as possible—a higher FCR can drive a higher rate of customer satisfaction.

According to RingCentral, the current industry standard for FCR is at about 74%. If you are hitting 90%, you are doing well. However, tracking the metric alone requires a lot of time, making hitting the ideal number even harder if you don’t have enough workforce and expertise.

The best path to take is customer service outsourcing. For small businesses, this is an ideal way to gain access to technology that measures KPI effectively. Through customer service outsourcing, you can also enhance your workforce without the cost of hiring and onboarding additional staff in-house. This approach will help increase your responsiveness. 

Formula for Calculating First Contact Resolution:

FCR = Total Number of Chats Resolved on the First Contact ÷ Total Number of First Contacts X 100

FRT is the time it takes for your live chat support team to make an initial response to a customer’s inquiry or concern. Speed matters in enhancing customer experience, especially in live chat settings. Indeed, 79% of customers prefer live chat because it offers immediate or real-time responses compared to other channels. 

According to Freshchat, the average customer expectation for live chat FRT is between 6 to 15 seconds. If your numbers are nowhere near this range, perhaps it’s time to consider seeking the help of a customer service outsourcing team to boost your FRT improvement efforts.

High FRT gives your customers an impression that you care for them. On the other hand, low FRT implies that you don’t value your customers or your team is too disorganized. Either way, low FRT is terrible for business. 

Most of the time, low FRT is a result of a high volume of chats. Partnering with a company that offers customer service outsourcing for startups will equip you with the staff, technology, and other capabilities to increase your responsiveness. 

Formula for Computing First Response Time: 

FRT = Total First Response Times ÷ Number of Tickets Received x 100   

ART is the average amount of time your customer support solutions agent spends to resolve a customer’s concern. This metric may vary depending on the complexity of the issue. The availability of live chat agents and the volume of tickets received also affect live chat ART.

Just like with FRT, you would want to maintain a high ART. The quicker you resolve your customer’s concern, the better your customer satisfaction rate may be.

Resolving customer concerns via live chat demands time and attention. That’s why it is essential to have a dedicated team to engage and support customers in real-time. However, building your customer service solution staff will require a lot of time and money for recruitment, hiring, and training.

You also have to invest in resources for continuous performance monitoring and improvement. When you partner with a customer service outsourcing provider, you can enjoy all these benefits at a fraction of the cost of running your own live chat support operation. 

Formula for Computing Average Response Time:

ART =  Total Resolution Time for all Resolved Chats ÷ Total Number of Resolved Chats x 100

Chat to conversion rate describes your internal support or customer service outsourcing team’s ability to turn chat interactions into sales. Live chat is no revenue magnet, but it has a convincing ability to increase conversion and sales. According to Forrester, live chat users are 2.8 times more likely to convert than those who don’t use the channel. Repeat purchases are also higher among live chat users. 

Anything above 10% is a good conversion rate. If you are falling way behind this rate, perhaps it’s time to sit down with your team, go back to the drawing board, and strategize. You may also consider acquiring the services of a provider that offers customer service outsourcing for small businesses.

Formula for Computing Chat to Conversion Rate:

Chat to Conversion Rate = Total Number of Chats That Turn Into Sales ÷ Total Number of Chats Received X 100

CSAT is among the critical metrics that you need to monitor to ensure the longevity of your business. Your score in this area describes how satisfied your customers are with their interaction with the live chat agent and your product or service. It is an excellent way to gain customer insights that will pave the way for improvements in all aspects of your business—from customer service solutions to marketing.

Getting a live chat CSAT score usually starts with a survey that asks the customers to rate their satisfaction with the service they get from their last chat, purchase, and other interaction with your brand. Positive ratings are usually classified as promoters, while negative ones are detractors. 

To better enrich the data and understand the customer’s experience, the survey may also include open-ended, multiple-choice, and other qualitative questions.

Depending on the company,  a positive CSAT rating is between 75% and 85%. While CSAT is relatively easy to calculate, achieving a perfect or even near-perfect score is not, since the rating only measures promoter scores.

Many of the other metrics also impact customer satisfaction, particularly those that have something to do with speed and responsiveness. While customers are now more forgiving of slow response provided that they receive quality support, it is still important to balance between speed and quality. 

You can achieve this through customer support outsourcing. Live chat customer service outsourcing providers equip agents with data-driven techniques to achieve productivity and quality targets effectively. 

Formula for Calculating Customer Satisfaction: 

CSAT = Total Number of Promoters ÷ Total Number of Survey Responses X 100

NPS is a metric used to describe how likely your customers are to refer your brand to someone they know. Similarly with CSAT, measuring NPS is a great way to gain customer feedback and insights. It is also an excellent way to measure customer loyalty and value.

Generally, anything between 0-30% is a good indicator of your NPS performance. But if you are aiming for excellence, go for above 70%. This number suggests that most of your customers are raving about your brand. 

Generally, NPS involves just a single question. Although the phrasing and other variables may vary, it is usually like this: Between 0-10, how likely will you recommend the company to your family and friends? Then, the option to share feedback follows. Afterward, the answers are categorized based on the following:

• 9-10 are usually classified as promoters 
• 0-6 are typically classified as detractors 
• 7-8 are on average classified as passive respondents

With the advent of social media, it is easy for word-of-mouth (WOM) to make or break your business. The following statistics compiled by SEMrush speak volumes about the importance of WOM:

• WOM drives five times more sales than paid advertising.
• Word-of-mouth marketing results in $6 trillion annual consumer spending.
• WOM accounts for about 13% of consumer sales.

The quality of your customer service directly impacts your NPS rating. A study shows that 96% of customers will likely promote and repeat business with a brand following a positive interaction. 

If you want to take advantage of the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing, strengthen your customer service solution efforts. But if your business lacks expertise in this area, the best strategy is to partner with an experienced customer service outsourcing company.  

Formula for Computing Net Promoter Score:

NPS = Average Number of Detractors – Average Number of Promoters 

Monitoring the total number of chats your customer service solution team receives is a great way to measure engagement from your website. This metric is vital in generating leads and measuring agent productivity and performance.

Apart from summing up the chat interactions you made within a specified period, you also need to review the content interaction. This process helps you know the common topics or inquiries that your customers make so you can implement improvements.

For instance, if most of your chat inquiries are about the delivery timeframe, consider including the information on your website’s FAQ page. This approach helps your live chat agents focus on more complex issues and avoid buildups on your chat queue. Lastly, knowing the busiest time of your agents will allow you to adjust the staffing schedule accordingly. 

The ideal number of chats will depend on your company. You are the one who sets the target for total chat interactions. If you find yourself lagging behind your target, consider injecting proactive measures into your customer service solution workflow. 

Formula for Computing Total Number of Chats:

Total Number of Chats = Sum of All Chats Received (in a Specific Period)

Every website visitor is a lead. Think of it this way: a potential customer is already on your website. If you can get them to chat with a highly trained customer service solution agent, they are a step closer to conversion.

Tracking the number of website visitors that turn into chat interaction is important in gauging your level of engagement. But this process requires advanced software that may significantly impact the budget of many growing businesses. Fortunately, some companies offering customer service outsourcing for startups provide clients access to their technologies as part of their packages.

You would want every visitor to interact with your in-house or customer support outsourcing agents, and ultimately lead to conversion. If you find yourself underperforming in this area, you need to employ proactive measures to drive chat interaction. You may also review the placement and appearance of your chat widget on your web page. 

Formula for Computing Website Visitors to Chats:

Website Visitors to Chats = Total Number of Chats ÷ Total Number of Website Visitors X 100

Missed chats are the total number of chats left unanswered by your customer solutions team in a specific period. It is important to track this metric because every missed chat is a missed opportunity to engage a prospect and convert them into a customer, even loyal ones. 

Given the significant impact of unanswered chats on your business, you should always be aiming for a 0% missed chat rating. But according to a study conducted by SuperOffice, 21% of live chats were unanswered. Usually, missed chats occur because the customer support solutions team is either away or too busy with other chats or tasks.

One solution to minimize missed chats is to ensure that you have enough human resources to respond to customers round the clock. However, this option is not always feasible for small businesses. The better alternative is to employ the services of a customer service outsourcing firm. Through economies of scale, BPO companies can offer cost-efficient customer service outsourcing for startups and small enterprises. 

How To Compute Missed Chats 

Missed Chats = Total Number of Missed Chats ÷ Total Number of Chats Received  x 100

SuperStaff BPO is your best bet when it comes to live chat customer service outsourcing. No matter the size of your business, you can count on us to effectively monitor live chat KPIs and facilitate continuous improvement measures. Our services are customizable, scalable, and enriched with data-driven strategies and value-adding solutions. Contact SuperStaff BPO today!