Carefully Choose the KPIs to Display on Your Wallboards
The effectiveness of a wallboard starts with the selection of performance indicators or “KPIs.” Your goal? Share clear and concise information that can be understood at a glance by the entire team, from agents to supervisors.
To achieve this, we recommend focusing on a limited number of KPIs. Seven to eight indicators displayed simultaneously is the maximum to ensure that the message remains impactful. Beyond that, you risk drowning out essential information and losing responsiveness.
So, which indicators should be prioritized on your wallboards?
First and foremost, include highly factual data updated in real-time, such as the volume of incoming calls, the number of calls on hold, and the number of available agents. These operational metrics allow you to instantly identify activity spikes and adjust resources accordingly.
In addition, you can include key indicators like average call handling time, first contact resolution rate, and customer satisfaction rate. These KPIs will enable you to monitor the quality of service delivered and quickly spot any potential issues.
With these KPIs, your wallboard fulfills its role: being a performance dashboard for your call center.
You can also integrate trend indicators into your wallboards. It’s important to track real-time performance, but it’s equally important to monitor performance trends to compare week-over-week progress. You can challenge your agents by displaying their progress towards goals, turning your wallboards into tools for motivation and team competition.
Remember, there is no “right” KPI in itself. It all depends on your business, your priorities, your strategic and operational objectives, and the maturity of your contact center. For instance, essential indicators for a customer service team won’t be the same as those for a technical support or sales team. It’s up to you to define the most relevant metrics according to your relational strategy.
One common trend across all call centers is the increasing focus on customer experience indicators. More and more companies are highlighting metrics like Net Promoter Score, Customer Effort Score, or first contact resolution rate on their wallboards.
The goal of these indicators is to strengthen advisor engagement by giving meaning to their mission. And it works! When an agent sees the direct impact of their actions on customer satisfaction, they feel more involved and strive to do their best.
However, we recommend using “negative” figures, such as lost call rates or the number of unhappy customers, sparingly. It’s better to emphasize positive achievements and progress on a wallboard—always with the aim of boosting motivation. This doesn’t mean that these indicators shouldn’t be monitored; it just means they should not be prominently displayed on wallboards.
Another key point for creating effective wallboards: flexibility. A wallboard is not a static board. Don’t hesitate to adjust the displayed indicators according to your campaigns and current priorities. Wallboards are generally easy to configure and modify—at least if you use modern contact center management solutions like Diabolocom.
Also, consider adapting the level of detail displayed to your audience. Agents will appreciate a limited number of KPIs directly related to their activity, while supervisors may need a more macro view with management indicators. Your wallboards can combine both summary views and more detailed views by call groups, by skill, etc. You set the rules according to your business needs!
The takeaway: Focus on the right indicators, those that reflect your current priorities and help your teams develop their skills. That’s how your wallboards will become truly useful tools for your teams, rather than mere gadgets.
To go further, check out our overview of the key KPIs for a contact center.
Keep Your Wallboards Dynamic to Boost Team Engagement
A wallboard is a “living” tool that evolves constantly to reflect the realities of the field. Today, modern solutions like Diabolocom allow you to customize your wallboards infinitely and keep them in sync with your activity.
As mentioned earlier, it’s advisable to adapt the content of your screens to each team and situation. A supervisor’s needs are not the same as an agent’s, and relevant indicators vary by campaign… Your wallboards should reflect this diversity.
Fortunately, customizing your displays has never been easier. You can now build your own views with just a few clicks, without needing technical skills. You can define your widgets, add contextual information like an encouraging message or a team photo. Creating tailored wallboards and continuously evolving them has never been so easy—take advantage of it!
Launching a new campaign? In just a few clicks, you can highlight the specific indicators to follow and set visible goals for everyone. Similarly, if you spot an area for improvement, nothing stops you from creating a personalized view to focus attention on it and rally your teams. Your wallboards should be adaptable to your current events.
Keeping the information displayed on wallboards dynamic is also a way to maintain team interest. A static wallboard becomes part of the background after a few weeks. In contrast, a dynamic screen that’s frequently updated will encourage your employees to pay closer attention.
Practically, how can you keep your wallboards lively and engaging? One approach is to pace them according to your key moments: weekly goals, occasional challenges, focus on a product of the month…
You can also use your wallboards to strengthen team cohesion and celebrate successes. For example, highlight the agent of the month, display the performances of your top sellers, create fun inter-team challenges… Make your wallboard a tool for friendly competition and team spirit.
To further boost employee engagement, another idea is to involve your staff in the design of the wallboards. Why not let them participate in selecting the indicators to follow, seek their challenge ideas, and encourage them to share their successes? Wallboards co-created with teams will always be more impactful than screens that are merely “imposed.”
And don’t limit yourself to numbers! Your wallboards can also be spaces for expression to unite your teams. Here are a few ideas:
- Display a motivational message to lift spirits during busy times.
- Share an inspiring video to kick off a new campaign.
- Showcase employees who have demonstrated exemplary commitment.
- Remind everyone of the company’s values and mission to provide daily purpose.
- Invite the team to share best practices or improvement ideas.
There is no shortage of ideas!
Pay Attention to the Design of Your Wallboards
As we know, a wallboard is only effective if it’s being watched. To capture your teams’ attention, opt for attractive screens that make people want to look at them regularly! This is where design comes into play.
The first rule of design: Your wallboards must be easily readable. In a call center, information needs to be understood at a glance by everyone, even from a distance. Say goodbye to illegible number tables and overly complex graphs. Instead, opt for simple and intuitive visual representations like gauges, traffic lights, color codes… The idea, as you’ve guessed, is that everyone can grasp the key messages with just one look.
To make reading easier, you can also play with contrasts and display sizes. The most important information should immediately catch the eye, so don’t hesitate to use bright colors for priority indicators and vary font sizes to create a visual hierarchy. To use a metaphor, a good wallboard reads a bit like a newspaper, with headlines and sections.
With a solution like Diabolocom, you can easily set alert thresholds on your key indicators. You can use an intuitive color code that everyone understands (for example, green when the goal is met, orange in case of deviation, red if the situation is critical) so that everyone can instantly grasp the necessary decisions.
Another tip: Be creative! A wallboard isn’t doomed to be just a cold table of numbers. Don’t hesitate to integrate graphic elements to add a little originality and emotion to your screens. For example, a team photo, an animated gif, a humorous drawing…
You can also use your wallboards to convey your company’s identity and values, whether by displaying your logo, your official colors, etc. It’s an interesting way to personalize your wallboards, which helps reinforce your teams’ sense of belonging and involves them more in achieving your goals. A wallboard in company colors will always have more impact than a generic display.
Let’s not forget the importance of rhythm in wallboard design. To remain attractive, a screen must know how to renew itself. So, plan spaces in your design that can be updated regularly: a banner for daily messages, a widget for the weekly challenge, a zone for individual scores…
You can even go further by animating your wallboards based on events. Did a salesperson just close a big deal? Show applause on all the screens! Are you launching a new product? Create a fun animation to make a lasting impression. Make your wallboards tools for celebrating collective successes. Again, wallboards should be thought of as management tools.
We hope these tips inspire you to get the most out of your wallboards. Too many wallboards turn into useless gadgets due to poor design. It’s a shame to miss out on such a powerful management tool.
Remember, an effective wallboard is a living wallboard. Dare to experiment, innovate, involve your employees…
And if you’re looking for a call center management platform that makes it easy to apply all these best practices in your wallboards, don’t hesitate to contact us—we might have the tool you’re looking for!
Curious to know more about Diabolocom?
