What gets measured in an outsourcing contract tends to be what gets delivered. Choosing the right metrics and writing them into your service level agreement (SLA) is one of the most useful things you can do before you start. Here are the measures that matter and how to use them.
Customer support metrics
- First-contact resolution (FCR): the share of issues solved on the first interaction. It is one of the strongest indicators of both quality and customer effort.
- Average handle time (AHT): how long a contact takes. Useful for planning, but dangerous as a target on its own, because pushing it down can hurt resolution.
- Service level and speed of answer: how quickly contacts are answered, for example a set percentage within a set number of seconds.
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT): a post-contact rating. Look at the trend and the comments, not just the score.
- Quality assurance (QA) score: how well agents follow process and communicate, based on sampled and calibrated reviews.
- Abandonment rate: the share of customers who give up before being served.
Outbound and sales metrics
- Contact rate: how often a call reaches the right person.
- Qualified leads or appointments: results measured against a clear definition of "qualified".
- Conversion rate: how many leads become opportunities or sales.
- Compliance rate: adherence to calling rules, scripts and consent requirements.
Recruitment (RPO) metrics
- Time-to-fill and time-to-hire.
- Submission-to-interview and interview-to-offer ratios.
- Quality of hire, often judged by early retention and manager feedback.
- Offer acceptance rate.
- Source effectiveness: which channels produce hires.
Back-office metrics
- Accuracy rate measured by sampled audits.
- Turnaround time per batch or transaction.
- Rework rate.
- Throughput against forecast.
Operational health
- Attrition: high turnover hurts quality and consistency.
- Schedule adherence and occupancy: whether staffing matches demand.
Writing a good SLA
- Define each metric precisely, including how and when it is measured and who owns the data.
- Pick a small set: five to eight measures that reflect the outcome you want.
- Balance speed and quality so that one cannot be gamed at the expense of the other.
- Set targets with the provider, based on a baseline from the pilot.
- Agree remedies: what happens when targets are missed, and what rewards exist when they are beaten.
- Review regularly: adjust targets as the operation matures.
Reporting you should expect
Weekly operational reports, monthly business reviews, access to recordings and QA forms, and a clear escalation path. Good providers raise problems before you find them.
Not sure what to measure? We can help you set baselines and targets during a pilot. Visit our services or contact us.