You cannot manage a call centre by feel. Service level, waiting time and abandon rate tell you, minute by minute, whether customers are being served. This guide explains the call centre KPIs that matter, sensible targets, and how a live wallboard keeps the whole team on track.
The core call centre KPIs
| KPI | What it measures | Common target |
|---|---|---|
| Service level | Share of calls answered within a threshold, such as 60 seconds | 80% |
| Average speed of answer (ASA) | Average wait before an agent answers | As low as your service level allows |
| Abandon rate | Callers who hang up before an agent answers | Under 5% |
| Answer rate | Share of offered calls that were answered | As close to 100% as possible |
| Occupancy | Share of logged-in time agents spend handling calls | 85 to 90% |
| First contact resolution (FCR) | Issues solved in the first call | Set by your business |
| Average handle time | Talk plus wrap-up time per call | Track trend, do not chase blindly |
These targets match the defaults in Voxdial Contact Center: a 60-second service level threshold, an 80% service level target, healthy occupancy of 85 to 90% and an abandon rate under 5%. You can change each one to suit your business.
Why service level comes first
Service level combines speed and capacity in one number. If 80% of calls are answered within 60 seconds, most customers get help quickly. When it drops, look at the queue first: are enough agents logged in, available and not on break?
Occupancy: the balance
Occupancy below about 85% means agents are waiting for calls; well above 90% for long periods leads to burnout and longer handle times. Use it with the agent performance report, which shows idle, ringing, in-call, paused, break and wrap-up time for each agent.
Abandon rate and the callback delay
Every abandoned call is a customer who gave up. Voxdial’s abandoned reports, for the queue, the IVR and overall, show how long each caller waited before hanging up. Long waits point to staffing; many abandons in the IVR point to a confusing menu. Pair them with automatic callbacks: Voxdial can dial missed callers back automatically when an agent is idle, within the hours you set.
The wallboard: KPIs everyone can see
A wallboard is a live screen, usually on a TV in the call centre, that shows:
- Calls waiting and the longest wait
- Agents available, on call, paused, on break or ringing
- Service level, answer rate, abandon rate, occupancy and FCR
- ASA, average wait and handle time, service level breaches
- Calls this hour, the peak hour and callbacks pending
When the whole floor can see the queue growing, agents return from breaks and supervisors move people before customers start to abandon.
Supervisor tools that move the numbers
- Live dashboard with the same KPIs and a list of agents, plus past days for comparison.
- Listen, whisper and barge: coach an agent during a live call, or join the call.
- Break reasons such as meal, meeting or training, so paused time is explained.
- Dispositions that record the outcome of every call.
- Priority routing: agents are given priorities so the best-suited agents get calls first.
A weekly KPI routine
- Check service level and abandon rate by hour; find the worst hours.
- Compare agents’ occupancy and handle time.
- Read the IVR abandon report and simplify the menu if needed.
- Confirm every missed caller was called back.
- Adjust schedules, breaks and queue priorities.
Voxdial Contact Center includes the wallboard, dashboard and reports out of the box, with AI voice agents as backup when every agent is busy. Book a demo.
FAQs
What is a good service level for a call centre?
A common target is 80% of calls answered within a set threshold, such as 20, 30 or 60 seconds. Voxdial uses an 80% target with a 60-second threshold by default, and both can be changed.
What is a good call abandon rate?
Under 5% is a widely used target. Long queues, too few agents and confusing IVR menus push it higher.
What is occupancy in a call centre?
It is the share of agents’ logged-in time spent handling calls. Around 85 to 90% is healthy; much lower wastes capacity and much higher leads to burnout.
What does a call centre wallboard show?
Calls waiting, longest wait, agent states, service level, answer and abandon rates, occupancy, average speed of answer and pending callbacks, updated live.
