Reporting and analytics.
Reporting that tells you what to fix, not only what happened, for customer service or any other part of your operation. Worked back from what you need to know, and set up in the systems you already have, for your own people to use.
Where it starts
We start with what you need to know. Then we work back from it, to what it would take to show that and whether your systems hold it.
Built from the goal
What you want to see, now and as the operation grows, and the decisions it should help you make. The measures follow from that.
Set up in what you have
We look at what your systems already capture, and how consistently, then put in place what is missing.
What good reporting lets you see
From a count to a cause.
The same month of customer contact, looked at three ways. Set up well, your reporting gives you the second, and the second is what lets you find the third.
An example month of contact
Everything customers got in touch about
- Where’s my order?
- I’d like to return this
- Can I change my order?
- It arrived damaged
- I was charged twice
What it tells you
How busy you were.
Nothing about why, or what to do about it. A lot of reporting stops here.
What’s driving the work.
One reason is far bigger than the rest. That’s where to look first.
Inside “Where’s my order?”
- No tracking link in the dispatch email
- Delivered later than promised
- Order not yet sent
The fix isn’t faster replies. It’s a tracking link in the dispatch email.
A count tells you what happened.
One part of the set-up
A list of reasons everyone uses the same way.
The reasons customers get in touch, designed once and clearly defined. It is the piece most reporting is missing, or gets wrong.
- In layersA few groups at the top and the detail underneath, so you can see the whole picture and look inside it.
- Each one definedIn plain words, with examples, so two people pick the same reason for the same contact.
- Yours to decideWe draft it from your real conversations. You decide what goes in, and sign it off.
Contact reasons
Delivery
- Where’s my order?
- Arrived damaged
- Wrong item sent
- Returns and refunds
- Payments
- Changing an order
The whole field
The full picture.
Reporting is a field of its own. These are the areas it covers, and we set up the ones your goals call for.
Demand, and when it arrives
How much work comes in, by hour, day and season, so cover can match it.
Speed, by channel and queue
How long customers wait for a first reply and for an answer, in each place they reach you.
What is waiting
The work not yet answered, how old it is, and where it gets stuck.
Quality
What reviews of real conversations find, and where the same mistake keeps coming back.
What customers think
What they say afterwards, read beside everything else and never on its own.
Why, and the root cause
The reason behind each contact, recorded so that the cause can be found.
Your team
Each person against the same standard, so coaching goes where it is needed.
Your AI
What it answered, what it got right, and what it handed over, and why.
The right amount
As much as you need. Ready for what’s next.
The right amount of reporting is what lets you run the work and see what is changing. For a growing business, part of the set-up is preparation, which means recording the right things now, so the numbers are there when you need them.
- A few measures that earn their place, with room to add more
- Recorded properly from the start, so the history builds as you grow
- Targets and service levels where you want them, built on a baseline
- Set up in the systems you already have, and yours to keep
Where you’re starting from
Which of these is you?
Pick the one closest to where you are now.
Setting it up before you need it
Today the helpdesk’s own reports are enough. As you grow you will want to know why customers get in touch and where the time goes, and that history has to start somewhere.
- We agree what you need to knowNow, and as the operation grows.
- We design the contact reasonsDrafted from your real conversations, and agreed with you.
- We get it recorded properlySo the history builds from the start.
- We set up the viewsIn your helpdesk’s own reporting, with room to add more.
Making the numbers trustworthy
Reports built up over years, and labels everyone uses differently. The reports aren’t the problem. What goes into them is.
- Two reports that give different answers
- A large share of contacts labelled “Other”
- Someone rebuilding a spreadsheet every Monday
- We agree what the reports are forThe questions they should answer, before changing any of them.
- We tidy what goes inDuplicate labels merged, catch-alls broken up, each one defined.
- We cut the reports downA few that answer real questions, in place of dozens.
- We set up the routineWho looks at what, when, and who acts on it.
Making sense of several systems
Messages in one tool, calls in another, orders or bookings in a third, and someone joining them up by hand.
- We agree what you need to knowThen map which system holds it.
- We agree one set of definitionsSo a reply time means the same on every channel.
- We set up each system’s own reportsIn the tools you already pay for, so the numbers can be read side by side.
- We talk through joining them upIf one combined view is worth having, we work out with you where it should live.
Where this fits
Three ways we help with reporting.
The difference is what you end up with. This page is the second, and they join up.
Plan it · Consultancy
Work out what to change
For when the question is bigger than the reports, and you want to know what your numbers are telling you about the operation and what to do about it. You end up with a plan.
ConsultancyBuild it · Set-up
Set up your own reporting
We agree what you need to know, then set up the measures, contact reasons and views in your systems. You end up with reporting your own people use, and own.
This page
Run it · Delivery
Reporting on the work we run
Where our teams support your operations, reporting on the work is part of how we run it. You end up with the numbers, and what we found in them.
How we work
Questions, answered.
The things people ask us first.
Are our helpdesk’s built-in reports enough?
Often, for running the day, when the questions are how much came in and how quickly it was answered. They stop being enough when you want to know why customers get in touch, how good the answers were, or what changed after you fixed something. Usually the reports themselves are fine, and the gap is in what goes into them.
What should we measure?
We start from the decisions you make, and what you would want in front of you when you make them. The measures follow from that, and usually come from the same few areas. Those are demand, speed, what is waiting, quality, what customers think, and why they get in touch.
What is root cause analysis?
Looking past the reason a customer got in touch to what caused it. “Where’s my order?” is a reason. A dispatch email with no tracking link is a cause. Fix the cause and those contacts stop arriving, which no amount of faster replying will do.
Is this only for customer service?
No. The same approach works for any work that arrives and has to be dealt with, such as a refunds queue, orders, credit control or content review. The measures change. The method doesn’t.
How does it start?
With a conversation about what you want the reporting to tell you, with the people who will use it. From that we work out what data it takes and where it sits, and build from there.
What if our data is untidy?
Then tidying it is the first part of the work. That means what gets recorded, how, and by whom. Most reporting problems start there, and so do most of the improvements.
We’re growing fast. Is it too early for this?
No, and it is often the best time. Recording the right things from the start takes little, and means the history is there when you need it. We set up what you need now, with room for what comes next.
How do we start tracking why customers get in touch?
With a short list of contact reasons, chosen on every conversation. We draft it from your real conversations, define each reason so everyone picks the same way, and set it up in your helpdesk so it can’t be skipped. What goes on the list is your decision.Processes and knowledge base
Who sees what?
Different people need different views. A team lead needs today’s queue, a manager needs the week’s themes, and leadership needs the month’s direction and what is being done about it. We set up a view for each, and keep each one short.
Can you help with targets and service levels?
Yes. We help you take a baseline where there isn’t one, and think through what to include.
How do we measure our AI?
By reading what it told customers, not only counting the conversations it closed. A conversation that ended isn’t always one that was answered. We set up a routine for checking a sample of its answers against your help articles.AI set-up
Where does the reporting live, and who owns it?
In the tools you already pay for, using their own reporting. Where you need more than those can show, we work with you on the best way to get it. Either way it is yours, and your people are shown how to use it and add to it.Helpdesk set-up
Alongside it
Either end of your reporting.
Reporting depends on what gets recorded, and is only useful when someone acts on it. We can help at both ends.
- Helpdesk set-upWhere the detail is recorded, with fields, tags and routing set up to capture it.We set it upWe set it up
- Processes and knowledge baseContact reasons defined once, so everyone records them the same way.We set it upWe set it up
- Operations consultancyWhat the numbers are telling you, and what to do first.We plan it with youWe plan it with you
- Customer serviceA team that runs the work, and reports on it.We run itWe run it
Let's talk.
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