FCR: First Contact Resolution

What it means

First contact resolution is the share of contacts fully resolved without the customer needing to come back about the same issue. The hard part is not the arithmetic, it is the definition: what counts as the same issue, and how long the window is before a return contact stops counting against the first one.

How it is calculated

FCR = contacts resolved on first contact / total contacts (within a defined repeat window)

Why it matters

First contact resolution is the counterweight to handle time. It is the metric that makes rushing a contact visibly expensive, because an unresolved contact returns as a second contact with its own full handle time, plus a worse satisfaction score. Read together, the pair describes real efficiency; read alone, handle time rewards the wrong behaviour.

Common mistakes

• Measuring it by asking the agent. Self-reported resolution is optimistic and unauditable; derive it from repeat-contact data instead.
• Using a repeat window that is too short. A 24-hour window will call almost everything resolved.
• Counting a transfer as a resolution. If the customer had to be handed off, the first contact did not resolve it.

See also

• AHT: Average Handle TimeThe mean duration of a customer interaction.
• CSAT: Customer SatisfactionA post-interaction score for how satisfied a customer was.
• Abandonment rateThe share of queued contacts that hang up before reaching an agent.
• QA: Quality AssuranceThe program that scores and reviews agent interactions.