Call Center Solutions Quality Assurance and Metrics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'customer effort score' (CES)?
- A measure of how much effort agents exert during calls
- A metric measuring how easy it was for customers to get their issue resolved (Correct answer)
- The number of times a customer had to be transferred
- A score based on the length of a customer's interaction
Correct answer: A metric measuring how easy it was for customers to get their issue resolved
CES surveys ask customers how much effort they had to put in to resolve their issue, with lower effort scores correlating to higher loyalty and lower churn.
Question 2: What is meant by 'agent attrition' in call center management?
- Gradual improvement in agent performance over time
- The rate at which agents leave the call center (voluntarily or involuntarily) (Correct answer)
- The gradual decrease in call quality due to equipment wear
- Agent fatigue measured at the end of shifts
Correct answer: The rate at which agents leave the call center (voluntarily or involuntarily)
Agent attrition (turnover rate) measures how frequently employees leave the call center, which impacts service quality, training costs, and institutional knowledge.
Question 3: What is 'Repeat Contact Rate' and why is it important?
- How often customers call for the same product category — used for market analysis
- The percentage of customers who contact the center again about the same issue within a defined period (Correct answer)
- How often agents place customers on hold repeatedly during one call
- The frequency of automated follow-up calls sent to customers
Correct answer: The percentage of customers who contact the center again about the same issue within a defined period
Repeat Contact Rate measures customers who call back about the same unresolved issue, indicating FCR failures and high-friction experiences.
Question 4: Which metric is calculated as (Calls Handled / Calls Offered) × 100?
- Service Level
- Call Resolution Rate (Correct answer)
- Abandonment Rate
- Contact Rate
Correct answer: Call Resolution Rate
Call Resolution Rate (or handle rate) is the proportion of offered calls that were actually handled by agents, indicating the center's capacity to manage its incoming volume.
Question 5: What is a 'balanced scorecard' approach in call center performance management?
- Ensuring QA scores are evenly distributed among agents
- Evaluating performance across multiple dimensions including efficiency, quality, customer satisfaction, and financial metrics (Correct answer)
- Balancing inbound and outbound call ratios equally
- Using equal weight for all items on a QA evaluation form
Correct answer: Evaluating performance across multiple dimensions including efficiency, quality, customer satisfaction, and financial metrics
A balanced scorecard framework ensures call centers measure performance holistically — not just efficiency (AHT, volume) but also quality (CSAT, FCR), employee engagement, and business outcomes.
Question 6: What is 'call monitoring' in a call center quality program?
- Monitoring the technical quality of phone lines
- Supervisors or QA analysts listening to live or recorded calls to evaluate agent performance (Correct answer)
- Tracking how many calls each agent handles daily
- Using software to block inappropriate calls from entering the queue
Correct answer: Supervisors or QA analysts listening to live or recorded calls to evaluate agent performance
Call monitoring involves supervisors or QA staff listening to agent interactions (live or recorded) to assess adherence to standards, identify coaching needs, and ensure compliance.
