8 Call Center Key Performance Indicators: The Metrics That Matter

Let’s be honest—running a call center, even though it being a lucrative business opportunity, isn’t quite easy. There are tons of hurdles that you need to overcome as a business manager or the owner himself.

Between you and us, we think that ensuring call center success should be the least of your concern, not that it’s not important or anything. For as long as your company has planned for a proper customer care strategy, alongside some of the most important call center key performance indicators, success will come eventually.

It’s a matter of a few months down the lane, or maybe a year or so. According to the experts at Trellus, for people and companies that use our conversational intelligence software in call center businesses, success is a result of years’ worth of hard work on average. 

Depending on the competition, some companies seem to achieve their goals sooner, but eventually it comes down to the type of call center you’re running, your exact competitors, as in whether they’re selling or marketing the same product, or services on behalf of another business, and several other things.

Moving on, between managing frustrated customers, keeping agents motivated, and hitting those ever-important performance targets, it’s easy to feel like you’re constantly putting out fires. 

But then again, like any other real life situaiton, there’s a silver lining during the course of a business’s operations.

If you’re not measuring the right call center key performance indicators (KPIs), you’re basically flying blind.

Think of KPIs as your call center’s internal compass to point your business in the right direction, while helping everyone to remain on track.

These call center key performance indicators are essential to highlighting areas where you’re excelling, where you’re falling short, and most importantly, how to course-correct before small issues turn into big problems. 

Having said that, this post will do a detailed drill down on some of the most important KPIS for call centers, alongside a divisive customer care strategy or a short tip that’s applicable to that particular KPI and vice versa.

Let’s get started. Read on….

Why Call Center Key Performance Indicators Are a Big Deal

There’s tons of reasons to emphasize the importance of key performance metrics, but we feel that it’s also awfully important to talk about why tracking these KPIs is non-negotiable.

If you look at it from a broad spectrum perspective, customers have zero patience for bad service. 

On top of that, all thanks to modern generation’s exposure to visuals, products, reels and whatnot on the internet, the attention span is real short these days. Your outbound sales calling team has a very small window of opportunity where they can convince a prospect to check out whatever product or service your call center business is promoting. So, yes, that’s a thing. 

And if these customers are stuck on hold for too long, get transferred five times, or feel like their issue wasn’t resolved, they won’t just hang up—they’ll switch to a competitor. 

Several studies show that over half of customers ditch a brand after a poor service experience. 

Worst case scenario? 

They’ll tell everyone about it. You may have seen those scathing negative comments about a product or a service provider, or negative reviews online that highlight why the customer wasn’t satisfied with a particular service/ product and how the whole world needs to hear about it.

Then there are people who feel like they have a moral obligation to share that negative content to help those reviews bank on the UGC popularity factor. 

You can’t control that aspect of your call center business. But what you can do is realize that if there are call center key performance indicators set in place, alongside a dedicated customer care strategy, such issues can be minimized to a controllable aspect.

On the flip side, when you get it right—when calls are answered quickly on prospects end, all thanks to parallel dialing software these days, or your team responds to calls quickly, issues are solved the first time, and customers feel genuinely heard—they stick around. 

They buy more. 

They recommend you to friends. 

And that’s the power of a solid customer care strategy.

But you can’t improve what you don’t measure. That’s where call center key performance indicators come in, and that’s all the more reason they are uber important.

8 Call Center Key Performance Indicators To Ensure Long-Term Business Success

Not all metrics are created equal. Some are nice-to-know, while others are absolutely critical for keeping your call center running smoothly. 

Here are the ones that deserve a permanent spot on your dashboard.

1. Average Speed of Answer (ASA) – The "How Fast Are We?" Metric

Nobody likes waiting. 

We mentioned that part earlier, where customers and your normal online users have a very short attention span.

In that context, from a service oriented business point of view, the ASA tells you how long, on average, customers sit on hold before an agent picks up.

How to calculate it:
Total wait time for answered calls ÷ Total number of answered calls

Example:
If your agents spent a combined 10,000 seconds waiting to answer 1,000 calls, your ASA is 10 seconds. Not bad! But if that number creeps up to 30+ seconds, you’ve got a problem.

Why it matters:
Long hold times = frustrated customers = higher abandonment rates. Keeping ASA low shows you’re respecting your customers’ time.

2. Call Abandonment Rate – The "Are We Driving People Away?" Metric

This one’s simple: it’s the percentage of callers who hang up before they even get to talk to someone.

In a way, this particular call center key performance indicator(s) applies to both incoming and outgoing calls.

How to calculate it:
(Number of abandoned calls ÷ Total incoming calls) × 100

Example:
So, let’s say, if 200 out of 2,000 callers give up and disconnect, your abandonment rate is 10%.

Why it matters:
A high abandonment rate usually means one of three things:

• Wait times are too long.
• Call routing is inefficient.
• You don’t have enough staff to handle call volume.

Fix this, and you’ll keep more customers from bouncing.

3. Net Promoter Score (NPS) – The "Would Customers Vouch for Us?" Metric

Up next on our best call center key performance indicators list, we’ve got NPS.

Otherwise known as net promoter score, it is the ultimate loyalty test. It answers one big question: How likely are customers to recommend us to others?

Customers rate you on a 0-10 scale, and they fall into three categories:

• Promoters (9-10): Your biggest fans. They’ll sing your praises to anyone who’ll listen.
• Passives (7-8): They’re satisfied but not thrilled. Could go either way.
• Detractors (0-6): Unhappy customers who might bad-mouth your brand.

Why it matters:
Happy customers = free marketing. And this also results in user generated content which is free publicity that doesn’t require any paid promotion on your business’s end.

Unhappy customers = reputation damage. Track NPS regularly to see if your customer care strategy is hitting the mark.

This is also a part of UGC factor, and if something has the tenacity to go viral, you need to account for it before things go out of hand.

4. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) – The "Did We Do a Good Job?" Metric

CSAT measures how happy customers are after an interaction. Usually, it’s a simple survey question like:
“On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied were you with your experience?”

Usually, these questions are asked through a form, an online chat window, or an automated call that redirects the prospect, or an incoming caller to a robot call where individuals have to press a number to express their satisfaction rate.

The results are stored in a database for company managers to review, as they’re helpful in highlighting where the performance is lacking and from the type of customers it’s coming from.

Responses break down into:

• Very satisfied (9-10): You knocked it out of the park.
• Satisfied (7-8): They’re content but not blown away.
• Neutral (5-6): Meh. They’re not upset, but they’re not loyal either.
• Unsatisfied (1-4): Something went wrong, and they’re not happy about it.

Why it matters:
CSAT gives you instant feedback on individual interactions. Spot trends—if scores dip after a policy change, you’ll know why.

5. Percentage of Calls Blocked – The "Are We Even Available?" Metric

Moving on with our recommendations, let’s talk about something that’s also a KPI and an important element of your customer care strategy.

It’s called the percentage of calls blocked, and this KPI tracks how many callers get a busy signal instead of reaching an agent.

How to calculate it:
(Number of failed calls ÷ Total incoming calls) × 100

Why it matters:
If customers can’t even get through, they’ll assume you don’t care. High blocked-call rates usually mean you need more staff or better call routing tech.

6. Average Handle Time (AHT) – The "Are We Fast (But Still Good)?" Metric

AHT measures how long an agent spends on a call, including hold time and follow-up work.

How to calculate it:
(Total talk time + Total hold time + After-call work) ÷ Total number of calls

Why it matters:
Low AHT = efficiency. But be careful—rushing calls can hurt quality. The goal is to solve issues quickly without making customers feel like just another number

7. Call Arrival Rate

The number of incoming calls in a call center are known as call arrival rate.

The KPI shows how many calls are being handled or put on hold during a specific period of time. 

In an ideal situation, the call arrival rate should be reported daily for best and accurate reporting. 

How to Calculate Call Arrival Rate

It’s essential to choose a time unit - seconds, minutes or hours and subsequently divide the incoming calls by that number. 

To elaborate and make it simple to understand how Call Arrival Rate is an important Call Center Key Performance Indicator I’ll give you an example.

Total number of minutes in a day is equal to 1440 minutes (24 hours * 60 Minutes). Now if a total of 10,000 calls arrived on a said day the call arrival rate can be calculated by dividing 10,000 calls by 1440 minutes. The resulting call arrival rate would be 6.944.  

So a sales manager can simply quote a call arrival rate as 7 calls per minute. 

8. Average Wait Time (AWT)

The period in which a caller is not engaged with a call center representative, agent or personnel is known as average wait time. 

This normally happens when a customer has to:

• Hold in a call management queue. 

• Being on hold from a response from another team member or waiting for the representative to complete a more detailed task. 

No one is normally happy at long holds through call management queues can and often lead to negative word of mouth and social media postings.

Average wait times across all interactions is a good way for assessing call center performance and most call centers utilize it as an important key performance indicator.

In addition, average wait times also help in assessing whether the call center is short staffed and needs further hiring to meet growing demand. 

Best ways to reduce average wait time includes: 

• Increasing the number of customer sales reps in times of high demand. 

• Collect the subjects of the most frequent calls and assess the feasibility of showcasing information via automated call management systems. 

• Having a look at increasing agents available at historically busy times. 

Real-World Impact: How One Company Transformed Their Call Center

There’s plenty of evidence that points out the success or failure of a business that goes the extra mile to ignore or implement call center key performance indicators.

According to the experts at McKinsey, a major insurance company noticed their call centers were all over the place—some teams crushed sales conversions, while others struggled. Customer satisfaction was inconsistent, and hold times were unpredictable.

So, they made some changes:

• Better training: Agents learned active listening and sales techniques.
• Smarter call routing: Customers got connected to the best person for their issue.
• Performance rewards: Agents earned points for hitting targets, boosting morale.

The result?

• 40% increase in sales conversions
• Stable handle times
• Happier customers

The lesson? Tracking the right call center key performance indicators—and acting on them—can completely turn things around.

The Bottom Line: Call Center Key Performance Indicators Are Here To Stay…

As many mid-line managers like to call it,  running a business isn’t about firefighting — it’s about preventing them in the first place. 

The right KPIs give you the insights you need to:

• Improve efficiency (shorter wait times, fewer dropped calls)
• Boost satisfaction (higher CSAT and NPS scores)
• Increase revenue (better conversions, repeat customers)

But here’s the most important thing: Don’t just track these metrics—use them. If your abandonment rate spikes, dig into why. If CSAT scores drop after a new policy rolls out, adjust.

Your customer care strategy should be a living, evolving plan—not something you set and forget. Keep refining, keep listening, and most importantly, keep making those small tweaks that lead to big wins.

Because at the end of the day, a call center that runs smoothly isn’t just good for business—it’s good for everyone. Happier agents, happier customers, and a healthier bottom line. Now that’s a win-win.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are examples of call center KPIs?

Some prominent examples of call center key performance indicators (KPIs) include:

• Average Handle Time

• Customer Satisfaction Score

• First Call Resolution

• Service Level

• Call Abandonment Rates
  

What’s the definition of call center KPIs? 

These are metrics used to measure performance, customer satisfaction and efficiency. This normally leads to process improvements and achieving business objectives. 

What is a call center KPI scorecard?

It’s a tool used to track key performance metrics, helping managers monitor effectiveness and efficiency & improve customer service.