Number of Calls Offered

What is the Number of Calls Offered?

The number of calls offered is the total number of calls the call center receives and calls waiting on the IVR queue for an agent to respond.

However, it’s not necessary that all the calls offered will be answered or received — some calls may get abandoned while in the queue.

A call is considered answered when there is a conversation between an agent and the customer. On the other hand, calls that get terminated on IVR are known as abandoned calls.

In other words, a call offered is any call that has appeared in your call center software but has not necessarily been connected to an agent.

Why You Should Measure the Number of Calls Offered

Calls offered to a queue are an important metric to help quantify the number of resources and staff needed to handle the call queue.

You can also use it to calculate essential call center KPIs to get insights into the percentage of answered calls — which can help improve call center efficiency. Moreover, the total number of calls offered by the agent can be used to measure agent productivity.

For example, it can help you calculate agent-specific metrics such as the total calls answered. This can indicate how efficient an agent is at handling large call volumes.

Let’s take a look at a few tips to help you handle large volumes of calls offered:

• Install an IVR system.
• Provide self-service resources like FAQs and online self-help communities.
• Automate workflows like follow-up emails.
• Offer call-back service instead of asking customers to wait on hold.