Deflection Rate 101: How to Improve it & Best Practices

Helpful Summary

• Overview: This guide explores the concept of deflection rate, which measures how effectively businesses direct customers to self-service options, reducing the need for live agent assistance.
• Why you can trust us: At Chatling, our AI chatbot solutions are trusted by leading brands like Medik8, Codiska, and Fast Transcripts. We've helped clients significantly improve their deflection rates, demonstrating our expertise and the reliability of our technology.
• Why this is important: A high deflection rate reduces support costs, enhances customer satisfaction, and allows support teams to focus on complex issues, leading to improved overall service quality.
• Action points: Enhance your knowledge base, implement AI chatbots, create video tutorials, leverage community forums, and offer multi-language support to improve deflection rates.
• Further research: Visit the Chatling blog for more insights on AI chatbot implementation.

Want to Improve Your Deflection Rate?

Every business desires to provide top-notch customer service while managing resources effectively. One powerful metric that can help you achieve this balance is the deflection rate.

You can handle customer inquiries more efficiently by understanding and improving your deflection rate. This eventually leads to increased satisfaction and reduced workload on your support team.

In this Chatling guide, we'll break down what deflection rate is, why it matters, how to calculate it, and the best strategies to enhance it.

Let's get started.

Why Listen To Us?

At Chatling, we pride ourselves on providing top-tier AI chatbot solutions trusted by leading brands worldwide.

Our clients include major names in hospitality, health, and more, ensuring that our technology meets the highest performance and reliability standards.

Rest assured, all content we share is thoroughly vetted by experts, ensuring you receive accurate and valuable insights.

What is Deflection Rate?

Deflection rate is a critical metric in customer service that measures the percentage of customer inquiries successfully resolved through self-service channels without needing direct assistance from a human support agent. This includes solutions found via FAQs, knowledge bases, chatbots, or community forums. 

Essentially, it indicates how often customers can help themselves, reducing the demand on your customer service team.

For instance, if a customer can find answers to their questions using your chatbot or help center, that interaction is considered "deflected."

By tracking your deflection rate, you can gauge the effectiveness of your self-service options and understand how well your resources empower customers to resolve their issues.

Now that we know what deflection rate is, let's explore why it's so important for your business and how it can impact your overall customer service strategy.

Why is Knowing Your Deflection Rate Important?

Understanding your deflection rate is crucial for several reasons:

• Enhances First Contact Resolution (FCR): By providing comprehensive self-service resources, customers are more likely to find answers without needing to call. This increases the First Contact Resolution rate, as issues are resolved quickly and effectively through digital means.
• Identifies Gaps in Self-Service Resources: Tracking your deflection rate helps pinpoint areas where your self-service options might be lacking. A low deflection rate could indicate that your FAQs, knowledge bases, or chatbots are not as effective as they could be. This insight allows you to make targeted improvements, ensuring your customers have access to the information they need.
• Leads to Cost Savings: Handling customer inquiries through self-service channels is often more cost-effective than direct support. By improving your deflection rate, you reduce the overall cost of customer service while maintaining high-quality support.
• Increases Customer Privacy: Digital channels often provide a more private and secure way for customers to seek help. This is especially important for sensitive issues that customers might not feel comfortable discussing over the phone.
• Boosts Agent Morale: Handling repetitive, simple queries can be tedious for customer service agents. Deflecting these to self-service channels allows agents to engage in more meaningful work, improving their job satisfaction and reducing burnout.

How to Calculate Deflection Rate

Calculating your deflection rate is straightforward. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you determine this key metric:

1. Identify Total Customer Interactions

Start by counting all customer interactions within a specific period. 

This includes every inquiry or issue that your support team handled, as well as those resolved through self-service channels like FAQs, chatbots, or knowledge bases.

For instance, if your total interactions for the month are 1,000, this becomes your baseline number. This step is crucial as it sets the stage for accurate measurement of your deflection rate.

2. Determine Self-Service Resolutions

Next, identify the number of interactions resolved through self-service options. These are instances where customers found answers without needing to contact a support agent.

For example, if customers used your chatbot or help center to resolve 600 of the 1,000 total interactions, those 600 instances are considered self-service resolutions.

This number reflects the effectiveness of your self-service tools in helping customers find solutions independently.

3. Use the Deflection Rate Formula

To calculate the deflection rate, divide the number of self-service resolutions by the total number of customer interactions, then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. 

Using our example numbers:

• Deflection Rate equals 600 divided by 1,000, then multiplied by 100.
• This calculation gives a deflection rate of 60%.

This formula provides a clear picture of how well your self-service channels are performing. It’s a simple yet powerful way to understand how often customers can resolve their issues without direct support.

4. Analyze and Adjust

Once you’ve calculated your deflection rate, it’s time to analyze the results.

A higher deflection rate indicates that your self-service options are effectively helping customers, which is a positive sign of efficiency.

However, if your deflection rate is lower than expected, it may signal that your FAQs, knowledge bases, or chatbots need improvement.

Here’s what you can do:

• Evaluate Self-Service Content: Ensure that the information provided in your self-service resources is comprehensive and easy to understand.
• Enhance Usability: Make sure that your self-service tools are user-friendly and easily accessible.
• Monitor Feedback: Regularly collect and analyze customer feedback to identify common issues and update your resources accordingly.
• Regular Updates: Keep your self-service content updated to reflect any changes in your products or services.

You can improve your deflection rate over time by continually refining your self-service options. This will ultimately lead to better customer satisfaction and reduced strain on your support team.

How to Improve Your Deflection Rate

Improving your deflection rate involves enhancing your self-service channels so that more customers can find answers without contacting support. 

Here are several strategies to help you boost your deflection rate:

Enhance Your Knowledge Base

Ensure your knowledge base is comprehensive, easy to navigate, and regularly updated. Include step-by-step guides, troubleshooting tips, and frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Use clear, concise language and organize content logically, with categories and subcategories, so users can find information quickly.

Implement and Optimize Chatbots

Deploy AI-powered chatbots to handle common inquiries. Train your chatbots using real customer interactions to improve their accuracy and relevance.

For better results, you can take advantage of tools like Chatling.

Our AI chatbots are designed to handle routine inquiries efficiently. They are available 24/7 and provide instant responses based on the content of your website, documents, and other data sources.

Remember, regularly update your chatbots with new information and monitor their performance to make continuous improvements.

Create Engaging Video Tutorials

Produce video tutorials that address common issues and showcase product features. Videos can be more engaging and easier to follow than text instructions.

Host these videos on your website, knowledge base, and social media channels for easy access.

Optimize Content for Search

Ensure that the content in your knowledge base and self-service portal is optimized for search engines. Use relevant keywords and phrases your customers will likely use when searching for help.

This makes it easier for customers to find the information they need quickly, reducing the likelihood of them contacting support.

Promote Self-Service Options

Actively promote your self-service options through various channels such as email, social media, and during customer onboarding.

Make sure that your customers are aware of the resources available to them and how they can use these to resolve their issues independently.

Leverage Community Forums

Create and maintain active community forums where customers can ask questions and share solutions. Peer-to-peer support can be a valuable resource for resolving issues. 

Moderate forums to ensure accuracy and provide official responses to unanswered questions.

Offer Multi-Language Support

Provide self-service resources in multiple languages to cater to a diverse customer base. 

Platforms like Chatling offer multilingual capabilities, ensuring your chatbots and self-service options are accessible to a global audience.

Our tool supports over 85 languages powered by advanced technology to ensure that translations are accurate and culturally appropriate.

Integrate Feedback Mechanisms

Include feedback mechanisms in your knowledge base and chatbot interactions. This allows customers to rate the helpfulness of the information provided and suggest improvements.

Use this feedback to continuously improve your chatbot responses and knowledge base content, ensuring that you meet customer expectations effectively.

Your Next Steps in Boosting Deflection Rate

Understanding and improving your deflection rate is crucial for enhancing customer satisfaction and optimizing your support team's efficiency. 

By leveraging AI chatbot builders like Chatling, enhancing your knowledge base, and promoting self-service options, you can significantly reduce the number of support tickets and empower your customers to find answers quickly and independently.
Ready to deliver better customer support? Try Chatling for free today.