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Call center KPIs & metrics that matter
You can't improve what you don't measure. These are the call center KPIs worth tracking — what each one means, how it's calculated, and a rough healthy range. Pick the handful that map to your goal rather than chasing all of them.
Service & experience metrics
Average Handle Time (AHT)
= (total talk + hold + wrap-up time) ÷ calls handled
How long an average interaction takes end to end. Lower is efficient, but too low can mean rushed, low-quality calls — balance it against resolution and satisfaction.
First Call Resolution (FCR)
= calls resolved on first contact ÷ total calls
The share of issues solved without a callback. One of the strongest predictors of customer satisfaction; aim high (often 70–80%+).
Service Level
= % of calls answered within X seconds (e.g. 80/20 = 80% within 20s)
The classic responsiveness target. It tells you whether you're staffed enough to answer quickly.
Average Speed of Answer (ASA)
The average wait before an agent picks up. Rising ASA is an early warning that you're understaffed for the volume.
Abandonment Rate
= calls dropped before answer ÷ total inbound calls
Callers who hang up while waiting. Keep it low (often <5%); for outbound predictive dialing, an abandoned call has a compliance cap too — see predictive dialing.
CSAT & NPS
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) come from post-call surveys — the direct voice of the customer on how you're doing.
Efficiency & agent metrics
Occupancy
= time on calls (incl. wrap) ÷ total logged-in time
How busy agents are while logged in. Too low wastes capacity; sustained too high (>90%) burns agents out.
Agent Utilisation / Adherence
Utilisation is productive time vs paid time; adherence is how closely agents stick to their schedule. Both drive staffing accuracy.
Average calls per agent
Throughput per agent per shift — useful for capacity planning and spotting outliers, in either direction.
Outbound & sales metrics
Connect / Contact Rate
The share of dials that reach a live person. Low connect rates point to list quality, caller-ID reputation or dialing-time issues.
Conversion Rate
= sales (or desired outcomes) ÷ contacts
The bottom line for outbound sales — how many conversations turn into results.
Calls per Sale / Cost per Contact
How much effort (and money) each result takes — the efficiency of the whole outbound engine.
How to actually use them
- Match KPIs to the goal — support optimises FCR, CSAT and service level; sales optimises connect and conversion.
- Watch trends, not single days — a one-off spike rarely means anything; direction over weeks does.
- Balance opposing metrics — never push AHT down at the cost of FCR and CSAT.
- Make them visible — live dashboards for supervisors, historical reports for planning.
Good software gives you all of this out of the box. Qallixo tracks these metrics live and in exportable reports, so supervisors act in the moment and managers plan on real data. See how a call center works and who owns these numbers.