Right now there’s a lot of fear mongering going on in the contact center industry about how you should be wary of collecting and analyzing “vanity” metrics in your contact center and customer service departments.
But what are vanity metrics, and why are they drawing so much attention?
Simply put, vanity metrics are measurements of data that some industry pundits claim will not lead to actionable results in terms of improving your customer service strategy. Examples of vanity metrics that industry pundits typically point to are new customers, increased call volumes and total revenue. They claim that such figures—which tend to look impressive on paper— can provide a false indication of success, and should therefore be disregarded.
This is a lot of hooey.
The truth is that when it comes to key performance metrics (KPIs), every statistic counts. You don’t want to overlook any single category when analyzing your department’s performance, especially those related to business or financial growth, or increased customer interest in your brand. After all, it’s just as important to pay attention to peripheral statistics as it is those which relate more directly to agent performance, like average call handle times and hang-up rates.
While it’s true that some metrics are more actionable than others, meaning they hold more weight in terms of determining budgetary allocation and staffing needs and are less ambiguous, the most successful contact centers are the ones which have a complete and thorough understanding as to how the department is performing.
A better way to think about vanity metrics is to think of them as supplementary statistics. Use them to help see the larger picture of contact center performance, and to help guide your department when making key decisions. But whatever you do, don’t ignore them.
