Many companies try to use objective measurements when it comes to performance review time. For the technical support engineer, these metrics can be related to speed, knowledge, and customer satisfaction, among other categories.

Keep metrics in perspective

Teachers started teaching students to take tests, rather than learn material, after Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law in 2002. Teacher's jobs and salaries were tied to how well children did on tests, not taking into account myriad factors such as summer vacation and subjects and skills not covered on the tests. There were reports of highly regarded teachers being fired based on these metrics. The formulae used to calculate performance were not transparent, and the creators of said formulae were not educational professionals. Since No Child Left Behind was in place until 2015, close to a generation of U.S. children were taught to take tests. (For further information, see Cathy O'Neil's book Weapons of Math Destruction.)

Perils of overly strict formulae

Like the statistical disaster of NCLB, companies can make the mistake of measuring support engineers on strict formulae. Inducing engineers to work just to improve numbers could cause a company harm. With that said, people do like their numbers.

Support metrics

Departments might measure the performance of support engineers using a variety of different metrics. These metrics can also assess the overall customer support experience. Some metrics measure time, like Time To Resolution (TTR final resolution time - time ticket opened) or First Contact (time the first engineer contacted the customer - time ticket opened). Other metrics try to measure customer happiness.

Speed

The above picture shows different paths a support ticket might take until resolution. The red dotted line is all the customer cares about, and it is the Time to Resolution. This is the time from when the ticket was opened by the customer to when the issue was resolved. Support engineers can affect the times taken by the green lines and boxes. The blue boxes and lines are times spent waiting for others, and support engineers can only minimally affect those times.

Time to resolution - This is the red line in the above picture. It's the time from when the ticket was opened (box 2) to when the ticket was resolved (box 16). Most customers consider this the most important metric.

Time to first response - This number is from the time the customer opened the ticket (box 2) until a support agent makes contact with the customer (box 4). A faster first response can significantly improve a customer's perception of the resolution process, and improve their mood when working to resolve the issue.

Queue management

Managers do look at their support engineers queues periodically. Does one engineer have one hundred tickets in their queue and another has five? If so, why?

Ticket update frequency - Tickets should be updated periodically. Leaving a ticket in a queue, untouched for six months, gives managers and customers anxiety. Even if the issue is escalated, periodically check the status of that escalation and modify the ticket.

Average ticket count - Whether or not high numbers are good or bad will depend entirely on the company.

Average Handle Time (AHT): This metric tracks the average length of time a support engineer spends on a single support interaction.

Knowledge

Do engineers need training? What areas do they need training in? Which engineers should be teaching those trainings? These are some questions that can be answered by the knowledge metrics.

% escalated tickets - Theoretically, the lower the percentage of escalated tickets, the more knowledge the engineer has. Take into account the fact that other support people might be escalating, in a fashion, tickets to other support engineers.

% resolved - The percentage of tickets resolved by the support engineer could be part of a knowledge metric.

% issues resolved at first contact - Issues that can be resolved in one contact make the happiest customers. These issues do not require extra time and are resolved quickly, so customers do not need to wait in an impaired state for as long.

% ticket re-opens - Were the issues really resolved the first time? Did the problem recur? Managers expect that most support engineers will have around the same % ticket re-opensm, due to the product itself. If one support engineer has a higher percentage, that engineer might need more training.

Support experience

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): This metric directly measures how happy customers are with the interaction they had with the support engineer. It's often gathered through surveys after a support interaction.

Loyalty - What is the likelihood the customer would recommend the company/product?

SLA compliance - Did the company and agent meet the requirements of the service level agreement?

Ease of resolution - how easy was it for the customer to get their issue resolved by the support agent?

Self-service knowledge base - Is the knowledge base good enough that customers can find the answers to their own problems?

Other

Social media - Companies will monitor social media feeds like reddit, linkedin, facebook, and X for mentions of the company and products. The number of mentions and the context (positive, neutral, negative) can be used to get a feel for how customers feel about the company and product.

Churn metrics - These metrics concern how often customers leave the company/product to use a different company or product. If a customer leaves, sales must find a new customer to replace them, or revenue will fall.