8 customer service KPIs you need to measure for success

Customer service performance is more than just productivity and results. It’s about creating an efficient and effective way of working to realise the best customer experience. To measure customer service performance, you need to gather data and insights from your customers and your customer service team. Customer service software helps to generate data and oftentimes includes reporting options. Think about the following questions: 

• What are the actual customer needs and preferences?  
• How is the team currently performing?  

Use the data to set the right goals and KPIs. But think about customer KPIs as well as Operational KPIs.  

4 customer KPIs to improve customer experience

Customer KPIs are measurable metrics used to determine performance, specifically to optimise the customer experience. As customer expectations change constantly, it’s important to analyse customer data and improve your service accordingly.  

In general, customer expectations can be divided into three categories (McKinsey, 2019):  

1. Speed and flexibility 
2. Reliability and transparency 
3. Interaction and care 

From these three categories, we derived four measurable KPIs that will help you improve customer experience.  

1. Speed. How fast can customers expect a response? This KPI can be measured as ‘response time’. 
2. Availability. How available is your customer service team? Can customers reach you anytime, anywhere? Measure this KPI based on ‘coverage’ and ‘presence’ of live interactions. 
3. Effectiveness. Every customer wants to be helped effectively. Clear answers, but also thorough enough to move forward. Set standards to define answers as ‘effective’.  
4. Friendliness. A friendly, human interaction improves customer experience. Use customer feedback like Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure friendliness.  

4 operational KPIs to improve business performance 

Offering a great customer experience is only possible if your customer service department processes are in order. Optimising your customer service department by making it more effective and efficient, with a full focus on the customer, will also save you money. In short, operational KPIs help you measure efficiency and effectiveness. A well-performing customer service team: 

• Is consistent in providing quality customer service 
• Has a customer-driven mindset 
• Is flexible and responds quickly to change 

Keep track of four metrics to reach the above goals. Measure your current performance and set goals to improve.  

The 4 operational KPIs for customer service: 

1. Productivity. How productive are the customer service representatives? Think about the number of conversations handled, the resolution rate, or response time as KPIs.  
2. Engagement. Measure how engaged your team is with your customers. How accessible is your customer service team? How often is Live Chat used or availble?  
3. Contribution. What is the impact of customer service on the bottom line? Measure if and how conversations lead to conversions.
4. Prevention. Prevention is better than cure. When you help customers effectively, you can prevent complaints.  

Setting the right KPIs for your customer service team will provide focus and improve performance. Use data to continuously improve both Customer KPIs as Operational KPIs. Wan't to learm more about measuring these 8 Customer Service KPIs? Get practical examples in our Guide.