A Complete Guide to Call Centre Metrics

Is your outsourced contact centre struggling to keep pace with rising customer expectations and tightening margins? You’re not alone. A large number of BPO leaders are feeling the pressure.

Many BPO leaders also struggle with the challenge of accurately measuring and improving performance. Benchmarking offers a powerful solution, but knowing where to start can be overwhelming.

In this guide, we’ll explore the art of benchmarking for outsourced contact centres, helping you identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.

What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is your secret weapon for growth. It’s a simple idea: compare your performance against industry standards to identify where you perform well and where you need to improve.

There are two main types:

1. Competitive benchmarking: How do you stack up against direct competitors?
2. Process benchmarking: What can you learn from other industries’ best practices? (this one is less commonly used)

The Benchmarking Challenge

BPOs are often faced with inconsistent data, varying KPI definitions and a lack of clarity when it comes to industry standards. The fast-paced nature of the contact centre environment, coupled with intense competitive pressures, makes it difficult to establish reliable benchmarks.

Despite these challenges, benchmarking is essential for BPO survival and growth. Here’s why:

1. Measuring important metrics is about quality control. It tells you what you’re doing well and what you could be doing better.
2. Benchmarking gives you data, and data allows you to compare your performance. This gives you the evidence you need to drive improvements.
3. Consistent benchmarking is a highly effective way of identifying and implementing best practice. Applying best practice across your contact centre operations gives you a competitive edge.
4. Benchmarking over time is the best way to stop minor challenges becoming major problems, for example, identifying agent churn.

Overcoming benchmarking challenges requires a strategic approach. It starts with defining clear objectives and selecting relevant KPIs.

What are the Top 3 Metrics?

Our recent Benchmark Report revealed the top 3 metrics that contact centres put the most emphasis on:

1. 50.4% said Average Handle Time (AHT) was their top metric.
2. 42.2% named Quality Assurance (QA) as their top metric.
3. 41.2% confirmed CSAT as the most important metric.

The predominance of AHT is influenced by tight margins and challenging economic conditions. As a result, contact centres squeeze AHT. However, measuring AHT in isolation is not a metric that should be taken at face value as it neglects customer experience. Considering AHT alongside other metrics such as CSATs for a clearer picture.

So what metrics should contact centres report on? The answer to that depends on the industry.

Key KPIs for Sales and Debt Resolution BPOs

Understanding and tracking the right KPIs is crucial for BPOs in sales and debt resolution but the metrics each of these sectors puts emphasis on will differ. Let’s take a closer look into the metrics that matter.

Sales-Focused BPOs

For sales BPOs, revenue generation is paramount. Key KPIs include:

• Average Revenue Per Call (ARPC): Measures the average revenue generated per call. Improving sales scripts, agent training, and upselling can boost ARPC.
• Conversion Rate: Indicates the percentage of calls that result in a sale. Focusing on lead qualification, effective sales pitches, and overcoming objections can enhance conversion rates.
• Sales Cycle Length: Tracks the time between initial contact and closing a deal. Streamlining the sales process, using CRM effectively, and accelerating decision-making can reduce sales cycle length.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Measures the cost of acquiring a new customer. Optimising marketing campaigns, refining lead generation, and improving sales efficiency can lower CAC.

Debt Resolution BPOs

Debt resolution BPOs focus on recovering outstanding debts while maintaining customer relationships. Key KPIs include:

• First Contact Resolution (FCR): Measures the percentage of customer issues resolved on the first contact. Effective agent training, improved systems, and knowledge bases can increase FCR rates.
• Promise to Pay (PTP) Rate: Indicates the percentage of customers who commit to a repayment plan. Clear communication, flexible payment options, and empathy can enhance PTP rates.
• Debt Recovery Rate: Measures the percentage of outstanding debt recovered. Effective collection strategies, legal compliance, and customer retention efforts can improve debt recovery.
• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Evaluates customer satisfaction with the debt resolution process. Active listening, empathy, and transparent communication can boost CSAT scores.

By closely monitoring these KPIs and implementing data-driven strategies, BPOs in both sales and debt resolution can optimise performance and achieve their business objectives.

The Power of Technology for Benchmarking Success

Advanced contact centre technology is no longer a luxury but a necessity for BPOs seeking to succeed. MaxContact’s software is designed to be your strategic partner in driving performance and customer satisfaction.

With our platform’s robust reporting, analytics, and speech analytics capabilities, you can:

• Optimise agent performance: Enhance agent skills, productivity, and customer interactions through real-time monitoring, coaching, and performance dashboards.
• Improve customer satisfaction: Deliver exceptional customer experiences by reducing wait times, personalising interactions, and effectively managing customer feedback.
• Drive operational efficiency: Streamline processes, optimise workforce management, and make data-driven decisions to improve overall performance.

The BPO industry is highly competitive, and technology plays a pivotal role in differentiating your business. By investing in a robust contact centre solution like MaxContact, you can gain a competitive edge, enhance customer experiences, and drive sustainable growth.

Not Sure How You Measure Up?

To maintain a competitive edge in the BPO landscape, leaders must use advanced benchmarking methodologies and cutting-edge technologies.

Our comprehensive benchmarking report offers in-depth analysis of industry trends, actionable insights for sales and debt resolution verticals, and strategies for enhancing both customer experience and operational efficiency.

[Download your copy today]

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Speed, accuracy, and customer satisfaction are all non-negotiable for contact centres. But with rising customer expectations and the constant pressure to control costs, achieving true efficiency can feel like balancing on a knife’s edge.

Call centre efficiency isn’t just about doing more with less – it’s about consistently delivering high-quality service while optimising resources. In this blog, we’ll explore what defines efficiency, the metrics that matter most, and how your call centre can overcome common obstacles to thrive in a competitive industry.

How to measure call centre efficiency

Efficiency in a contact centre can look very different depending on the industry you serve. A sales-driven BPO will measure success differently than a customer service team in retail. But across all sectors, efficiency is defined by one universal goal: delivering excellent service with minimal resources.

This means running a contact centre built on optimised operations, supported by a well-trained, motivated team. Achieving this balance requires focusing on four key pillars:

1. Operational performance: Efficient processes, accurate resource allocation, and adaptability to fluctuating demands ensure your contact centre runs smoothly.
2. Customer experience: Quick, effective, and empathetic service builds loyalty and enhances your brand.
3. Agent productivity: Empowering agents with the right tools and training helps them handle calls effectively while avoiding burnout.
4. Cost management: Reducing waste through automation and optimising resource use ensures profitability without compromising quality.

Which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measure efficiency?

The KPIs you choose to measure and track will depend on your contact centre’s focus, whether it’s customer service, outbound sales, or debt collection. However, there are common metrics that generally apply to all verticals, as they provide insight into operational performance, customer satisfaction and agent productivity.

According to our Benchmark Report, these are the top four performance metrics that most contact centres prioritise for tracking and reporting.

1.Average Handle Time (AHT)

AHT measures the average time an agent spends on a call, including hold time and after-call work. It indicates how efficiently customer interactions are handled.

The average handle time for contact centres is approximately 3 minutes and 45 seconds per call.

While a high AHT might indicate inefficiency, it’s not always negative. Agents may need more time to resolve complex or sensitive queries, which can boost customer satisfaction in the long term. Balancing AHT is key – focus on resolving issues thoroughly without rushing customers.

2. Quality Assurance (QA) Score

QA Score measures the quality of agent interactions, assessing how well agents meet compliance standards and deliver a positive customer experience.

On average, contact centres assess 34.6% of calls for QA purposes.

QA goes beyond ticking compliance boxes. High QA scores indicate that agents are meeting both regulatory and customer expectations, building trust and loyalty. Regular analysis of QA results can uncover coaching opportunities and refine scripts to drive consistent performance.

3.  Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

CSAT measures how satisfied customers are with their interaction, which is typically gathered through post-call surveys.

High CSAT scores show that agents are meeting customer needs effectively, but speed doesn’t always equal satisfaction. A personalised and thorough approach is often more impactful than a quick, impersonal resolution.

4. First Contact Resolution (FCR)

FCR measures the percentage of customer issues that are resolved during the first interaction, without the need for follow-ups or escalations.

The mean FCR for contact centres is 41%, and 45% of teams report an FCR between 20 and 49%.

A strong FCR not only improves customer loyalty but also reduces operational costs by minimising repeat calls. If your FCR is low, assess whether your agents have the tools, training, and support to resolve queries on the first attempt.

Still not decided which other cal, centre performance metrics to track? Take a look at our Guide to Call Centre Reporting Metrics.

Benchmarking call centre efficiency: Where to begin

To measure the efficiency of your call centre, it’s important to benchmark performance so that you can identify opportunities for improvement. By comparing your key performance metrics against industry standards, competitors, or past performance, it’s easier to uncover insights that will drive operational success.

1. Collect the right data

• Use advanced call centre software to track specific KPIs (AHT, FCR, CSAT)
• Segment data by channel, team, or call type to identify trends.

2. Compare performance

• Benchmark metrics against industry standards, competitors or past performance.
• Analyse differences between teams, shifts, or channels to uncover strengths and weaknesses.

3. Set realistic goals

• Align targets with business objectives and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Prioritise actions that balance efficiency with quality.

4. Monitor and adapt continuously

Regularly review benchmarks to meet changing customer expectations.

Use performance analytic dashboards to track metrics in real time.

How do you compare?

Gain insight into how your performance measures up and explore our Benchmark Report.

[Download Report]

What stalls contact centre performance?

Even with benchmarking, call centres often have obstacles that hinder their efficiency. Recognising and addressing these challenges is key to operational improvement.

Even with the right metrics in place, contact centres face common challenges that can hinder efficiency. Here are some of the pitfalls to watch out for. Learn how it impacts performance and how to overcome it

1. Outdated & unreliable technology

Does your contact centre rely on legacy systems? Do you struggle with limited integration capabilities and slow performance?

While it can be tempting to push on with legacy systems, it’s important to recognise that outdated technology lacks advanced features like AI-driven analytics and real-time reporting. As new technology evolves, your legacy tech will soon have you falling behind competitors who stay up to date.

The impact

• Your Average Handle Time remains high due to slow systems and limited customer information access.
• You struggle to improve your poor CSAT as customers consistently experience delays.
• Your legacy system’s limited reporting capability doesn’t give you the depth of insights needed for decision-making.

Learn how Compare My Insurance’s unreliable dialler system impacted efficiency.

[Embed case study video]

2. Manual processes & inefficient operations

Do you frequently question why your call agents aren’t as productive as you’d hoped? Perhaps you’ve noticed that your call team always seems busy but aren’t delivering quick and efficient call outcomes?

If your contact centre is operating with outdated workflows, ineffective call routing methods it leads to inconsistent customer service.

Another aspect that damages productivity is when call centre agents have to spend too much time completing manual tasks, such as dialling and post-call updates.

The impact

• Your FCR reduces as your call agents struggle to resolve queries efficiently.
• Lack of utilised resources and poor operations lead to frustrated customers and higher call abandonment rates.
• You continuously waste money and resources on redundant processes.

See how D2MS improved operations with MaxContact’s auto-dialler and reporting tools.

Read Case Study

3. Training and development gaps

Be honest. Does your call centre overemphasise system training? Do you have a big enough focus on soft skills like conflict resolution?

If agent training in your contact centre is generic and sporadic, the likelihood of development gaps becomes a risk.

The impact

• Overall agent performance is inconsistent and incidents of non-compliance increase.
• Your call agents feel unsupported in skill development which leads to retention issues.

Discover how Honey Group upped its training game with the help of speech analytics.

Go to Case Study

4. Poor workforce management

For many contact centres, effectively managing the workforce is a struggle. Do you frequently find that your call centre is under-resourced during peak times? Or are there periods of time where your call centre is over-staffed and call agents are idle?

If the answer is yes, then you have fallen into the trap of inaccurate forecasting and inefficient scheduling.

The impact

• Your CSAT is poor due to stretched resources and agent fatigue.
• Your contact centre experiences high agent turnover rates, which drives up recruitment and training costs.

Modern workforce management tools can help balance workloads and optimise resource use.

MaxContact: Your partner in efficiency

Modern contact centre software is the backbone of operational excellence, and MaxContact’s contact centre solutions are designed to tackle the key challenges of efficiency head-on:

• Intelligent call routing: Skills-based routing connects customers to the most qualified agents, improving FCR and reducing AHT.
• Real-time analytics: Performance dashboards provide call centre leaders with instant insights, helping them address inefficiencies and optimise resources.
• AI speech analytics: Automatically transcribe speech to text, speeding up QA processes and improving agent performance with data-led feedback.
• Predictive analytics: Anticipates customer needs, refines scripts, and helps overcome objections for better outcomes.

Efficient call centres aren’t built overnight. But with the right tools, strategies, and benchmarks, they’re within reach. Discover how MaxContact can help you boost efficiency, enhance customer satisfaction and future-proof your operations.

Book a Demo

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But reporting on results isn’t the same as being data-driven. In outbound sales, data only creates value when it is used to actively influence decisions; ideally, while activity is still happening rather than when it is reviewed days later.

A genuinely data-driven outbound sales team will use live performance data to shape how calls are placed, which leads are prioritised, how agents are routed and where coaching is applied. Data, technology and execution work together as a single system.

In this article, we explore what “data-driven” should really mean for outbound sales teams operating in a contact centre environment. We look at the outbound sales metrics that matter most, how technology turns those metrics into real-time decisions, and share the latest data from our Benchmark Report to help you determine whether your performance is average or genuinely competitive.

Use data to decide which leads deserve agent time

Outbound sales teams should focus on maximising productive talk time as the foundation. But the next question becomes, who should agents be spending that time speaking to?

The average first-call close rate across outbound sales teams is 25%, with 31% of teams achieving rates between 20% and 29%. This shows that conversion performance is driven less by how many calls are made and more by how effectively effort is focused.

Understanding which metrics genuinely influence outcomes is critical here. Our complete guide to call centre reporting metrics breaks down the KPIs that matter most, and how they should be interpreted in context rather than in isolation.

Sales teams should concentrate on prospects that are most likely to convert. Which means the first-in, first-out approach to lead prioritisation is an ineffective strategy.

This is where intelligent lead prioritisation tools powered by AI have a huge operational impact. By pulling data from multiple sources, such as recent engagement, historical call outcomes, conversion performance, and potential deal value, intelligent lead prioritisation ranks leads dynamically. As prospect data signals change, prioritisation updates are applied automatically, which means agents consistently spend their available talk time on the opportunities most likely to deliver results.

Use data to match the right agent to the right lead

Data-insights need not stop at determining high-value and high-intent leads. It can also influence who handles them.

While the mean average revenue per call across outbound sales teams is just under £230, over 45% of teams generate less than £59 per call. This gap highlights how widely outcomes can vary depending on agent capability.

When data is used to create value, agent assignment isn’t random or purely availability-based. Instead, performance data is used to match leads with the agents most likely to convert them. For example:

• Higher-value or more complex opportunities can be routed to experienced agents with deeper product knowledge or a proven track record of closing similar deals.
• Price-sensitive or early-stage leads may be better suited to agents who perform strongly at qualification and objection handling.
• Sector-specific prospects can be matched with agents who have previous success in that industry or campaign type.

Skill-based routing makes this possible by using historical performance data such as conversion rates by product, deal size, objection type, or lead source. As new performance signals are captured, routing rules can be refined so decisions improve continuously.

Use real-time performance data to intervene early

Outbound sales performance can change quickly. So, relying on end-of-day or weekly reports limits how effectively teams can respond. Retrospective reporting removes the opportunity to correct issues such as poor lead targeting or gaps in agent performance.

Access to real-time performance data gives sales managers the visibility they need to intervene without burning through contact. Live dashboards show early signals, such as declining connect rates, falling conversion performance, or uneven agent productivity.

Instead of waiting for performance reviews, managers can guide execution as it happens. This might involve reallocating resources, adjusting call scripts, changing lead allocation, or providing targeted coaching.

Contact centres that use real-time insight to guide daily decision-making are better positioned to protect conversion rates and maximise the impact of agent time.

For outsourced or multi-client environments, this ability to intervene early is particularly important. Our article on how BPOs can meet their KPIs explores the additional performance and reporting challenges faced by outsourced contact centres.

Use Conversation Analytics to understand why performance varies

Surface-level metrics such as contact rate, conversion rate and first-call close rate explain what is happening in outbound sales. But the why behind performance differentiation is dependent on agents, campaigns, or lead types, and teams need insight from the conversation itself.

Our Conversation Analytics analyses 100% of outbound calls, transforming unstructured call audio into actionable insight that would be impossible to capture through manual review or random sampling.

With the ability to analyse conversations at scale, sales leaders can review and identify the underlying drivers of performance. This insight helps explain why certain agents convert more effectively, why objections stall progress, or why specific lead types underperform despite similar call volumes.

In practice, Conversation Analytics supports data-driven outbound sales teams by enabling:

• More targeted coaching: Identify the techniques used in successful calls and pinpoint where individual agents need support
• Better script and messaging optimisation: Surface patterns in high-performing conversations and common objections
• Improved quality and compliance oversight: Analyse every call rather than small samples
• Earlier identification of emerging issues: Spot shifts in sentiment, objections, or competitor mentions

If you’re looking for a broader view of how these metrics work together, our guide on how to measure call centre efficiency explores how performance indicators combine to drive overall effectiveness.)

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Key benefits for outbound sales teams include:

• Enhanced Agent Training: Identify successful techniques and areas for improvement, allowing for targeted training programmes.
• Customer Sentiment Analysis: Detect changes in tone and emotion, helping agents adapt their approach in real-time.
• Quality Assurance at Scale: Analyse every call, ensuring comprehensive QA and quick identification of compliance issues.
• Identifying Sales Opportunities: Recognise patterns in successful calls to refine sales scripts and strategies.
• Competitor Intelligence: Flag mentions of competitors, providing valuable market insights.
• Trend Identification: Quickly spot emerging trends in customer behaviour or common objections.

By implementing speech analytics, outbound sales teams can gain data-driven insights that lead to more effective strategies, improved customer experiences, and better business outcomes. Use these insights to identify common objections, spot successful sales techniques, and provide targeted coaching to your team. A recent study by Forrester found that companies using AI-driven speech analytics saw a 10% increase in customer satisfaction scores and a 15% improvement in first-call resolution rates.

With speech analytics, you’re not just collecting more data – you’re gaining the ability to understand and act on the nuances of every customer interaction, transforming your outbound sales operation into a truly data-driven powerhouse.

Sustaining data-driven outbound sales performance

When combined with performance data, conversation analytics closes the loop between insight and action. Conversation analytics doesn’t sit alongside metrics. It explains them and enables more confident decisions and continuous improvement.

Using more tools or tracking additional metrics doesn’t automatically make an outbound sales team data-driven. Data only becomes valuable when it actively guides decisions across the contact strategy, from how calls are dialled, and leads are prioritised, to how agents are routed, coached and optimised.

In genuinely data-driven teams, agents and managers understand what key metrics mean, how they influence outcomes and when intervention is needed. Performance reviews focus on interpreting trends and agreeing on clear next actions, rather than simply reporting on results after the fact.

The most effective outbound sales teams connect data. By linking real-time performance insight with intelligent technology and informed decision-making, they improve results while activity is still in progress, not once opportunities have already passed.

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If you want to understand how your outbound sales performance compares to other UK contact centres, benchmarking is the most effective next step.

Download the 2025-26 UK Contact Centre KPI Benchmarking Report to explore industry averages, performance gaps and the characteristics of high-performing outbound teams.

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