Video KPIs: 8 Essential Metrics for Video Chat Customer Service

In today’s interconnected world, businesses are constantly striving to provide a stand-out digital customer experience.

With the rise of remote work and digital communication, video chat has emerged as a powerful tool for delivering personalized customer support in the virtual realm - breaking down the barriers of distance.

However, ensuring that these video chat interactions meet customer expectations and drive positive outcomes requires a keen focus on key performance indicators (KPIs).

By leveraging the right KPIs and metrics, you’ll be able to measure, monitor, and optimize your video chat performance - ensuring long-term success and exceptional customer service.‍

In this article, we’ll delve into the details of video chat KPIs, exploring the crucial performance metrics that define success in this evolving landscape. We’ll cover:

• What are video chat KPIs?
• The importance of monitoring video chat performance
• 8 essential video chat performance metrics

What are video chat KPIs?

KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are measurable values used to gauge the success and progress of an organization in achieving its business and customer service goals.

They are quantifiable, outcome-based statements that are used to track performance over time in relation to specific metrics and objectives.

Video KPIs are used to measure and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of video chat as a customer contact channel.

They provide valuable insights into the quality, efficiency, and outcomes of video chat interactions.

With the right video chat KPIs, businesses can optimize resources, enhance the user experience, and align video chat services with their overarching business goals.

The importance of video chat KPIs

Video KPIs are critical because they allow brands to monitoring and optimize their video chat customer service.

This process is crucial because it empowers businesses and video contact centers to:

• Enhance the customer experience: Managing video chat performance helps ensure that your agents are consistently delivering exceptional service, maintaining professionalism, and effectively resolving customer issues. This results in happier customers and an optimal video chat experience. Providing these optimal experiences is imperative as 86% of consumers will cut ties with a brand as a result of a poor CX.
• Improve performance: By tracking the right KPIs and metrics, businesses can identify areas for improvement and provide specific training to agents, improving overall performance, service quality, and efficiency. This continuous improvement process demonstrates a commitment to customer relations and will lead to better outcomes for both your customers and your agents.
• Gain valuable insights: Monitoring video chat interactions helps identify common issues, pain points, and emerging customer perceptions. This enables businesses to refine their video chat practices and proactively address customer needs.
• Retain a competitive advantage: By continuously striving to improve the video chat experience, businesses can set themselves apart from the competition, leading to a better brand image and a stronger market position.

By consistently managing their video chat performance, businesses can make data-driven decisions, improve video chat performance, and ensure an optimal customer journey for their video chat users.

8 essential metrics for video chat customer service

Metrics are fundamental for KPIs because they provide quantifiable data and objective measurements that allow you to track and evaluate your progress.

Here, we’ll explore eight essential metrics to consider when monitoring video chat performance and setting your KPIs.

1. Number of video interactions

This metric represents the total count of customer conversations that take place via video chat within a specific time period.

Tracking the total number of video chat interactions is essential because it helps businesses and their contact centers to manage resources, staffing, and agent workloads.

It also offers insights into how consumers digitally engage with your brand. By tracking the total number of interactions, you can ascertain the popularity and adoption of video chat as a customer communication channel.

You can also compare the total number of video calls over time, allowing you to identify any increasing or decreasing trends in customer engagement.

To track the total number of interactions, your video chat software should provide reporting features that capture and aggregate this data.

With Talkative for example, you can utilize our Google Analytics integration and customizable Dashboards to track and visualize all the essential video chat metrics.

By analyzing the total number of interactions alongside the other video chat metrics below, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the overall performance and effectiveness of your video chat support.

2. Average Handling Time

Average Handling Time (AHT) calculates the average duration of video chat interactions, including both the customer’s wait time and the time spent by the agent resolving the case.

This metric can be calculated by adding up the total video call time, hold time, plus any post-call work time, and dividing it by the total number of video chat interactions in a specified time period.

By tracking video chat AHT, you’ll gain valuable insights into agent productivity and into the time required to resolve different types of customer queries.

AHT is a crucial metric for businesses because it directly impacts customer satisfaction and the overall efficiency of your video support teams.

A high AHT can indicate that your agents are struggling to resolve issues effectively, leading to frustrated customers and potentially long wait times.

However, as attentive customer service is valued so highly by today’s consumers, a fast resolution time is not the be-all and end-all.

Video chat is commonly used for complex issues and/or by high-value customers who need a more in-depth and consultative approach to customer service.

With that in mind, the key here is striking a balance by ensuring that customer issues are resolved efficiently but without being rushed. 

That being said, if you are looking to improve your AHT for video chat, consider the following tips:

• Create a comprehensive knowledge base: Provide agents with easy access to a knowledge base containing a range of queries/issues and their solutions. This allows agents to quickly find relevant information when necessary and provide prompt resolutions.
• Leverage cobrowsing: Cobrowsing is a collaborative tool that can be used alongside video chat to provide customers with more hands-on assistance. With cobrowsing, agents can guide customers through a website or process in real time, allowing them to see and interact with the same content simultaneously. This helps to resolve issues more quickly and effectively, as agents can visually demonstrate solutions and troubleshoot problems together with customers.
• Invest in agent training and development: Regularly train your agents with the aim of making them experts in your brand, products, policies, and customer service. Well-trained and knowledgeable agents are more confident, empowered, and capable of handling customer queries promptly.

Remember, while reducing AHT is important, it shouldn’t come at the expense of customer satisfaction. 

The quality of service should always be the top priority for video calls - not speed.

3. CSAT score

CSAT score is a metric that measures the level of customer satisfaction with a specific service or experience.

It’s typically measured through feedback forms, surveys, or rating prompts that customers can complete after a video chat interaction ends.

CSAT scores provide valuable information regarding customer sentiment. This metric can also help brands evaluate the overall quality of their video chat services and discover any areas for improvement.

Customer satisfaction is arguably one of the most important video chat metrics. It’s a clear indicator of how happy your customers are with the video support they receive from your brand.

This is imperative because customer service quality is a significant determining factor in consumers choosing you over your competitors and remaining loyal over time.

Businesses can help improve their video chat CSAT scores by:

• Providing personalization: The face-to-face dynamic of video calls should be leveraged to provide a fully personalized experience. Agents can gain a full picture of the customer’s situation via video call and use this information to offer guidance, solutions, and recommendations that are tailored to the individual.
• Actively addressing customer concerns: It’s not enough to simply monitor customer satisfaction - you must act on the feedback you receive. Take the time to analyze your CSAT data to identify any trends or patterns. Look for common pain points and areas where customers consistently express dissatisfaction. Use this information to make targeted improvements and address specific customer concerns.
• Improving agent communication skills: Strong communication skills are essential for delivering exceptional customer service in video chat interactions. Consider offering workshops that focus on enhancing communication skills for your agents. This can include active listening, effective questioning, clarity of speech, and adapting communication style to meet customer needs.

By consistently tracking CSAT scores and acting on the feedback received, businesses can work towards increasing customer satisfaction by improving the video chat experience - both of which will lead to improved customer retention and brand loyalty.

4. First Call Resolution Rate

First Call Resolution (FCR) rate measures the percentage of customer cases that are resolved during the initial video call exchange, without requiring any further follow-up or escalation.

This metric is calculated by dividing the number of issues resolved during the first video call by the total number of customer video chats. The resulting ratio can then be multiplied by 100 to express it as a percentage.

FCR is a vital video chat metric because it has a significant impact on customer satisfaction. 

Consumers will quickly become frustrated and dissatisfied if they have to contact your brand repeatedly with the same problem/issue.

Low FCR rates may indicate training gaps, knowledge base issues, or process inefficiencies that need to be addressed. 

Brands aiming to boost their video chat FCR rate should bear in mind the following pointers:

• Thoroughly train your agents: FCR rate is another metric where effective agent training is essential. Equipping your agents with extensive knowledge and a varied skillset will increase their ability to resolve customer issues in a single interaction.
• Empower agents with decision-making authority: Provide agents with the necessary authority to make decisions and take appropriate actions to resolve customer issues themselves. This reduces the need for unnecessary escalations or involving multiple agents, increasing the chance of a full resolution within the first interaction.
• Review and monitor video calls: By monitoring video calls or reviewing video chat transcripts and recordings, you can identify common issues or recurring patterns. This helps identify areas where agents may need additional training or where processes can be improved to enhance FCR rates.

Resolving customer issues promptly and efficiently during the first contact reduces customer effort and helps create a seamless experience. FCR also has indirect effects on efficiency, agent workloads, and operational costs.

5. Conversion Rates

The video chat conversion rate refers to the total number of conversions out of the total number of customers who interacted with an agent via video chat.

Online sales and conversions are an area in which video chat has been proven to excel. In fact, according to customer experience leaders, video calls help them convert in almost 40% of their customer interactions.

On top of that, Talkative data indicates that consumers are 4x more likely to make a purchase when they engage in a video chat.

Conversion rate is a critical metric as it directly reflects the success of your sales and customer service teams.

A high conversion rate indicates that your video chat agents are effectively guiding and motivating visitors to take the desired action, ultimately leading to business growth and increased profits.

Brands can start to increase video chat conversions with the following practices:

• Elevate the video chat experience: Video chat is a great channel for taking the digital customer experience to the next level. Brands can use video calls to boost conversions through virtual shopping experiences, visual product demonstrations, and in-depth sales consultations.
• Provide tailored recommendations: Train your agents to proactively offer personalized recommendations based on the customer’s specific needs and preferences. By acting as trusted expert advisors, video chat agents can guide customers toward the products or services that best fit their requirements, increasing the chances of conversion.
• Continuously improve agent sales skills: Invest in development programs for your agents to enhance their sales skills and product knowledge. Provide ongoing coaching and feedback to improve their effectiveness in converting video chat interactions into sales.

By improving conversion rates, businesses can generate more revenue and maximize the return on investment (ROI) of their video call software.

6. Average Wait Time

Average Wait Time (AWT) measures the average amount of time a customer waits in a queue or on hold before their video chat request is picked up by an agent.

This metric can be calculated by adding up the total wait time for all customers and dividing it by the total number of customers. The resulting value represents the average time customers spend waiting for an available agent.

One of the main advantages of video chat is its accessibility - it should be far easier and faster to get a video consultation than to meet a representative in person. That’s why this KPI is so significant for video chat customer service.

AWT is also an important metric for assessing the customer experience and the efficiency of your support operations. 

Long wait times can lead to customer dissatisfaction, poor outcomes, and even abandonment of the video chat session.

You can improve AWT and mitigate the impact of wait times with the following tactics:

• Efficient staffing and scheduling: Analyze customer demand patterns and ensure that you have an appropriate number of agents during peak hours. Use historical data and forecasting techniques to optimize agent scheduling and minimize wait times.
• Display wait times: Keep customers informed by displaying average wait times before they are connected to a video chat agent. This will help to manage customer expectations and reduce frustration.
• Offer on-demand and scheduled video chat: Offering both on-demand and scheduled video support gives customers greater flexibility and convenience. On-demand video chat allows customers to immediately initiate an interaction while scheduled video chat allows them to book a video appointment for a time that’s most convenient for them - thus removing them from the on-demand queue and reducing the wait time for other customers.

By managing and optimizing AWT, you can deliver a better experience, boost efficiency, and improve your digital customer service operations.

7. Abandonment rate

Abandonment rate represents the percentage of customers who disconnect or leave a video chat session before their query is resolved or before connecting with an agent.

It can be measured by dividing the number of abandoned interactions by the total number of initiated video chats and multiplying the result by 100 to calculate it as a percentage.

High abandonment rates suggest that customers are facing challenges or frustrations that lead them to end the video call prematurely. It may indicate issues such as long wait times, video call quality issues, or poor customer service.

The following steps are a useful starting point if you’re striving to decrease your video chat abandonment rate:

• Minimize wait times: Your AWT metric will have a significant impact on the abandonment rate, so it’s important to minimize wait times as much as possible. Long wait times lead to frustration and increase the likelihood of customers abandoning the video chat.
• Optimize agent availability: Ensure you have an appropriate number of agents staffed during peak periods to handle customer video calls promptly. By matching agent availability with customer demand, you can minimize wait times and reduce the chances of abandonment.
• Provide alternative contact options: In situations where wait times for video chat may be longer, it’s important that customers can access alternative contact options such as live chat, web callbacks, social media messaging, or self-service options (e.g. a chatbot). Giving customers alternative ways to reach out can prevent them from starting a video chat that they’ll then abandon, thus decreasing the overall abandonment rate.

By addressing the causes of video chat abandonment, you can improve the customer experience while improving outcomes for all the other key video chat metrics.

8. Website visitor engagement

Website visitor engagement measures the ratio of the total number of website visitors to the total number of video chat sessions.

It can be determined by dividing the total number of website visitors who engage in a video chat by the total number of unique website visitors during a specific time period.

This metric can help you understand how effectively you are converting website visitors into meaningful interactions.

Higher ratios suggest that a large percentage of visitors are actively engaging with your website, which can lead to increased lead generation, sales, or other desired outcomes.

You can achieve a higher website-to-video-chat interaction ratio by:

• Creating an engaging widget: Ensure that the video chat option is prominently displayed on your website with an eye-catching widget. With Talkative, you can achieve this with the help of our advanced widget editor which enables you to create a fully customized, on-brand interaction experience for your website visitors.
• Utilizing proactive engagement: Implement engagement tools, such as proactive nudges, to engage website visitors and encourage them to initiate a video call.
• Optimizing your website design: Make sure that your website is user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to navigate. Optimize the layout and structure of your site pages so that it guides visitors toward initiating interactions. Include clear CTAs (calls to action) and endeavor to minimize friction in the customer journey.

By tracking and analyzing your website visitors to video interactions ratio, you can gain insights into customer engagement, streamline the website journey, and increase leads and conversions.

The takeaway

Video chat KPIs play a crucial role in measuring the success and effectiveness of video chat as a customer engagement channel.

By tracking and analyzing these metrics, businesses can gain valuable insights into the video chat customer experience, agent performance, and overall operational efficiency.

These insights will then empower you to make data-driven decisions, set meaningful goals, and assess progress over time. You’ll also enjoy a significant increase in customer satisfaction.

But this won’t happen overnight – it’s an ongoing process that requires time and effort.

It also requires the right platform.

After all, how can you expect to see significant improvement in your video chat metrics if you don’t have the right tools and technology to fuel your efforts?

That’s where Talkative comes in.

Our provides a complete suite of channels and capabilities that’ll empower your agents to connect instantly, and effortlessly, with all your digital customers.

As a primary feature of our platform, Talkative’s video chat solution comes with a myriad of features to help you engage and convert more customers - from advanced analytics to deep integrations with systems like Salesforce, on-demand and scheduled video chat, and much more.

Want to learn more? Book a demo with us today and discover how you can power premium video chat support with Talkative.