Abandoned call
Definition
What is an abandoned call?
An abandoned call is a sort of terminated communication to a call center before a dialogue can occur.
When incoming calls are dropped, it’s usually because the caller is irritated with the length of time they’ve been on hold.
When an outbound call is abandoned, it is usually because the automated dialer or automatic call distributor (ACD) disconnects the market when a live contact is made, but no agent is available to receive the call.
Abandoned outbound calls can be solved with a predictive dialer.
Missed call vs. Abandoned call
Abandoned calls differ from missed calls in various ways.
To make it simple, a missed call is when a customer call reaches at least one agent, but no one answers. It may occur during the first call or when the agent does a blind transfer to another unavailable line.
Missed calls can also occur when the caller suddenly hangs up during an agent’s welcome message.
On the other hand, an abandoned call happens when the customer drops the call before it reaches an agent. This occurs when the caller gets bored with the long wait time.
Common reasons for abandoned calls
Abandoned calls are inevitable in a call center. They happen whether we want them to or not. Among the common reasons for abandoned calls are:
- The caller could not contact the agents in the line or on the IVR.
- The caller hung up before leaving voicemail after being routed to voicemail from the waiting queue without being directed to an agent (through voicemail IVR option).
- The caller hung up in the Welcome Greeting or the After Hours IVR after calling outside business hours.
- Poor performance caused by a small number of employees who are inadequate to provide quality service.
Calculating abandoned calls
Abandoned calls are measured using the abandoned call rates or abandonment rate metric. This KPI measures the number of calls terminated before a conversation occurs over the total number of calls in a week or month.
The abandoned call rate is calculated through the following formula:
Abandonment rate = (number of calls received – number of abandoned calls) / total number of calls
Based on a benchmarking report by Talkdesk, call centers had an average abandoned call rate of 5.91% in 2021.
Industry standards still state that an ideal contact center should maintain an average abandon rate between 5% and 8%. This is to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Independent
