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Get free accessCustomer support teams don’t just handle complaints; they also help you to identify pain points to continuously improve the customer experience. Similarly, your sales reps do more than close deals; they can uncover key objections and areas where your sales process is lacking.
But you need the right call tracking metrics to understand where your processes excel and where they fall short. These figures give you a standardized way to evaluate team performance and find areas for improvement.
This guide provides an overview of call tracking metrics and explores how analytics software can help you measure and analyze performance benchmarks for better customer experience and higher conversion rates.
TL;DR
Call tracking metrics give call centers visibility into both agent performance and customer experience, helping teams make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Metrics and KPIs differ slightly: metrics show what’s happening now, while KPIs measure progress toward specific business goals.
Sales teams should track metrics like call volume, connection rate, and conversion rate to identify what drives performance and revenue growth.
Support teams benefit most from monitoring service-oriented metrics such as FCR, AHT, CSAT, and NPS to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction.
AI-powered call solutions like Aircall enable teams to capture accurate data, analyze trends, and continuously refine performance.
What are call tracking metrics?
Call tracking metrics provide insights into the qualitative and quantitative aspects of agent performance and the customer experience. These insights help teams optimize call center operations, understand customer sentiment, and make data-driven decisions to maximize customer satisfaction.
Leveraging call metrics means you can track variables like:
Call center agent performance and productivity
Efficiency and speed when resolving issues
Average call volume and length
Customer satisfaction
What’s the difference between call tracking metrics and KPIs?
It's common for people to use the terms call tracking metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) synonymously. And while the two terms are connected, they have different meanings.
Call metrics track an average of various call center operations, while KPIs help you track how close you are to hitting business goals. Generally, KPIs provide targets with specific time frames, while metrics simply give you a look at current performance.
There isn't a single metric or KPI that determines how well a call center operates, but a combination of the right figures can provide a good picture of performance and customer satisfaction.
Example: If a customer support team has a broader business goal of providing faster issue resolution, KPIs might include quicker resolution rates and shorter call times. Relevant metrics to track here would include time to resolution (TTR), average handling time (AHT), and first call resolution (FCR).
Which call metrics are most important for sales?
Here are the call metrics that actually move the needle on performance and revenue.
Call volume: The total number of calls made or received. Helps track sales activity levels and identify productivity trends.
Connection rate: The percentage of outbound calls that reach a live person. Low rates can signal poor timing or outdated contact lists.
Average call duration: The average length of calls. Longer calls often indicate engaged prospects, but too long could point to inefficiency.
First call close rate: How often deals are closed during the first conversation. Measures sales effectiveness and lead quality.
Conversion rate (Call-to-Deal): The percentage of calls that result in a closed sale. A key indicator of ROI and overall team performance.
Average response time: How quickly reps return missed calls or respond to new leads. Faster follow-ups often mean higher conversion chances.
Call outcome rate: Tracks the results of each call (e.g. voicemail, follow-up booked, demo scheduled) to show funnel progress and next steps.
Agent talk ratio: Compares how much your reps chat versus how much the prospect talks. A healthy ratio leans toward more prospect talk for better discovery.
Which call metrics are most important for customer service and support?
The following call metrics matter most for support teams that want to improve the customer experience (and retention rates).
First call resolution (FCR): The percentage of support calls resolved on the first interaction. This helps measure agent effectiveness.
Average handle time (AHT): The average time it takes to complete a support call, including talk time and after-call work. Similarly measures agent efficiency.
Average speed of answer (ASA): How quickly agents pick up incoming calls. Helps gauge call volume and staffing issues.
Abandonment rate: The percentage of callers who hang up before reaching an agent. Also helps flag issues with call volume.
Customer satisfaction score (CSAT): Measures how happy customers are after a call, typically through post-call surveys.
Net promoter score (NPS): Gauges overall customer loyalty and how likely customers are to recommend your company based on their support experience.
Call transfer rate: How often calls are transferred to another agent or department. Measures the success of your routing or IVR solutions.
Repeat call rate: The number of customers who need to call back for the same issue. Tracks how successful agents are at resolving caller issues.
Agent occupancy rate: The percentage of an agent’s time spent actively handling calls or follow-up tasks. This measures productivity and time spent on manual tasks.
Service level: The percentage of calls answered within a target timeframe (for example, 80% within 20 seconds).
7 steps for using call tracking metrics to achieve your sales and customer service goals
Collecting data from your call center dashboard is only half the battle, and metrics are only valuable if you turn them into action. Here’s a step‑by‑step strategy for leveraging call data to improve performance, whether for your sales or support teams.
1. Define the metrics that matter for your team
Not every metric is relevant for every team. So start by identifying which phone call KPIs align with your goals. For support teams, think FCR, AHT, CSAT, NPS, and repeat call rate. For sales reps, measure connection rate, first call close rate, conversation rate, and agent talk ratio.
Pro tip: Start by focusing on 3‑5 core metrics per team to avoid data overload, and update these metrics as your goals change.
2. Set benchmarks and targets
Once you know what to track, define what “good” looks like for your team. Compare against industry benchmarks or your historical data to set realistic targets.
For example, if your FCR rate is currently 60%, aim for 70% over the next quarter. Then, set out clear plans for how you’ll achieve this, such as better product training for agents or real-time coaching.
Pro tip: Track incremental improvements rather than chasing perfection overnight for more sustainable, scalable progress.
3. Capture accurate, consistent data
Metrics are only useful if the data is accurate, so ensure every call is logged, tagged, and categorized correctly. Here, the call center software you use makes all the difference.
Aircall, for example, enables you to create custom tags for easy reference and smart analysis. Then, the Aircall automatically syncs tags to your integrated apps for accurate reporting.
Pro tip: Use standardized definitions to prevent inconsistencies in your data (e.g., what counts as a “connection” or a “resolved call”).
4. Monitor both historic metrics and real-time data
There are two distinct ways to leverage call center metrics: referencing historical data or using real-time data. Leveraging historical data, like service level and average response time, helps you predict future needs to power more effective staffing, resource, and training decisions.
But you shouldn’t wait until the end of the month to address issues. Real-time data is helpful for identifying immediate issues within your call center, like an increase in call volume, so you can address them quickly.
Pro tip: Pinpoint agents who may need coaching immediately with live monitoring, and use call whispering features to provide in-call support.
5. Analyze data to identify patterns and gaps
Look beyond single numbers and analyze trends to uncover root causes. For example, you may discover that specific types of inquiries drive repeat calls, meaning you can boost your self-service options for customers, like knowledge bases or frequently asked questions.
Or you may pinpoint that certain reps drive the majority of your conversions. Monitor and analyze these calls in-depth to pinpoint techniques other team members can emulate and provide training and upskilling sessions to empower them to do so.
Pro tip: Aircall lets you filter performance by user so you can quickly surface actionable insights around performance and apply learnings across your whole team.
6. Take action to improve performance
Once you identify performance and resource gaps, implement targeted actions. This will depend on the nature of your call center.
Support teams may need to boost staffing during high call volume periods to reduce wait times or improve IVR menu options to minimize call transfer rates. On the other hand, sales departments may look to optimize sales scripts based on what drives conversions or coach agents on objection handling for higher first call close rates.
Pro tip: Aircall’s Analytics and Analytics+ dashboards give you instant access to the call center metrics you need to improve team performance and meet KPIs.
7. Review, refine, and repeat
Metrics aren’t static. So make it a regular practice to review dashboards on a regular basis, whether that’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly. For example, measure reps’ productivity and call outcomes with easy-to-use leaderboards, or monitor the progression of key inbound call activity KPIs over time.
Constantly revisiting call and conversation analytics data also gives you a chance to refine targets based on evolving business operations and goals. That way, you can continuously iterate on training, processes, and scripts.
Pro tip: Aircall gives you a bird's-eye view of call metrics across your organization, making it easy to extract high-level insights on a regular basis.
Easily track call center metrics and optimize agent performance with Aircall
Every call tells a story: from a customer question that leads to an opportunity to foster loyalty to a successful sale with a once-skeptical prospect. But without the right processes and tools, these stories (and the insights they hold) get lost in a sea of data.
By measuring and analyzing contact center metrics with Aircall, you get a clear view of where your team excels and where small changes can make a big impact.
And when you pair those insights with the platform’s AI-powered conversation insights, you can track every interaction in real time, turn data into actionable coaching points, and continuously refine workflows to improve efficiency, satisfaction, and results.
Aircall customer Phorest, for example, attests to how the system surfaces data that helps lead to improved performance: “Aircall’s reporting feature helped us gain insight into how we’re interacting with our clients, and that’s something we’re always looking to improve,” says Senior IT Coordinator Emmett Maher.
Aircall doesn’t just track call center metrics; it provides an all-in-one customer communications and intelligence solution that will help you hold better conversations.
Monitor call tracking metrics with Aircall to maximize agent productivity, customer satisfaction, and conversion rates. Try for free.
Frequently asked questions about call tracking metrics
What metrics does call tracking measure?
Call tracking metrics track call center operations and the outcomes of conversations. Key metrics include call volume, average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), connection rate, and conversion rate.
This data can also measure agent performance, like talk time and after-call work, to help teams see how effectively they handle calls and identify areas for coaching or process improvement.
What are the metrics of a phone call?
Phone call metrics help evaluate efficiency and effectiveness. Common data points include average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), abandoned call rate, call transfer rate, customer satisfaction (CSAT), and average speed of answer (ASA).
Monitoring these metrics reveals how well your team handles conversations, where bottlenecks exist, and what improvements can boost customer experience and operational performance.
What are common call tracking mistakes?
Common call tracking mistakes include:
Tracking too many metrics
Inconsistent definitions
Focusing only on numbers without context
Ignoring insights for action
Overreliance on a single metric
Incomplete data capture.
These errors can make dashboards confusing or misleading and prevent teams from identifying improvement opportunities.
Published on March 3, 2021.
