In this post, we discuss 7 key help desk metrics you need to track if you’re using a service desk or internal help desk.
These seven KPIs will help you understand:
- What works and what doesn’t
- How to measure help desk performance
- Where are the gaps in your process
- How to further improve your customer support
- Lots more
So if you want to know how to measure, analyze and evaluate your help desk support, then this post will help you.
Let’s start.
#1 Ticket Volume
Ticket volume refers to the number of incoming support tickets.
You can track it by using a ticket creation report in your help desk or customer support software.
It shows the ticket volume ITSM or support team is managing during any given time period.
This will give you a sense of how many tickets your team can handle in a day, week, or month.
It makes it easier to pinpoint when the workload is increasing beyond a manageable point.
That’s why this metric will be incredibly important to plan staffing.
#2 Opened vs. Solved Support Tickets
In a good help desk and service desk, tickets opened and tickets solved rates should be parallel.
Tracking tickets by status is useful to evaluate technician performance and responsiveness.
By looking at these metrics every week, you can make sure you’re keeping up with demand.
If the rate of solved tickets is always behind, you may need to add more staff.
If there’s a sudden increase in opened tickets, it can alert you to a service delivery issue. Or any other disruption, for that matter.
#3 First Contact Resolution
First contact resolution refers to the amount of tickets resolved without being reassigned.
It shows how many requests are handled in one rather than over multiple interactions.
High rate of first contact fits hand-in-hand with customer satisfaction.
It means customers get an answer quickly and painlessly, improving their customer experience.
At the same time, resolving tickets on the first try can improve your efficiency.
This is simply because, with high first contact rates, fewer agents have to touch the ticket.
#5 Average Response Time
Average response time is also referred to as first response time.
It’s the time between a support request being made and the first documented action taken.
Tracking this metric is essential for ensuring agents are responding in a timely manner.
The longer the first response time is, the more you risk harming customer satisfaction.
Most people simply want their requests acknowledged and need to know what to expect.
If you’re transparent about longer than normal wait times, people will usually be understanding.
#4 Resolution Time
Resolution time is one of the most important help desk performance metrics.
It tells you how long an employee or customer must wait for their issue to be resolved.
Resolution time starts from the time submitted, to when it was closed by the agent. Ideally, you want this period to be as short as possible.
That ‘s why resolution time is an important aspect of the overall customer experience.
Also, tracking this metric over time is a helpful way to assess staffing needs.
#6 Backlog
If your internal service desk receives too many tickets, that can lead to an extensive backlog.
Backlogs can hurt customer satisfaction, overwhelm agents and increase turnover.
Creating a good knowledge-base or using automated workflows can help deal with backlogs.
Tracking backlog metrics helps uncover opportunities to reduce workloads.
#7 Support Agent Performance
Tracking the agent utilisation or performance is important to evaluate team efficiency.
Individual performance rates can help you identify which agents are top performers.
Also, it can show opportunities for additional training.
These help desk metrics assist you to pinpoint where agents perform well and where ticket volumes are high.
Get started with help desk performance tracking
So, we got you through the key help desk KPIs.
Still, there are many more that should be tracked. And it’s hard to keep a good eye on all of them.
Are you thinking about hiring help desk professionals?
Outsourcing a help desk could get you more time to focus on your core business.
Contact us at Demakis Technologies and reach out to one of our Support Helpdesk experts.