Proactive Resolution Rate

Proactive Resolution Rate (PRR) measures how often a company resolves a customer issue before the customer reaches out. It flips the script from reactive service to predictive experience. Instead of waiting for frustration to trigger a support ticket, it tracks how well your systems anticipate and address issues in advance.

Why It Matters

Most CX metrics live downstream. They measure what happened after a customer felt friction. PRR moves upstream. It captures operational maturity: your ability to identify patterns, detect risks, and take action early.

Done right, it builds trust, reduces inbound volume, and improves customer perception. In industries like telco, SaaS, and eCommerce, proactive outreach — fixing a billing error, flagging account issues, notifying delays — can deflect thousands of calls.

How To Calculate

Proactive Resolution Rate (%) = 
(Number of Issues Resolved Before Customer Contact / Total Issues Identified) × 100

Example:

You identified 4,000 total customer-impacting issues this month. Your systems or teams resolved 1,000 of them before the customer reached out.

PRR = (1,000 / 4,000) × 100 = 25%

Vitalogy Lens

Lagging Metrics Hide Leading Insights PRR is the leading edge. It’s not about what support did — it’s about what the system prevented. In a Vitalogy model, PRR isn’t tracked in isolation. It links to escalation rate, repeat contact rate, and resolution time.

Design for Action It’s not enough to track PRR — teams need to know why proactive resolutions happened. Was it an alert? A trend? A good frontline instinct? Metrics should tie back to the mechanism, so you can reinforce what works.

Build Awareness Into the Flow of Work Don’t bury PRR in a dashboard. Deliver it to CX leaders with context — which teams, issues, and triggers are driving improvement. Use it to coach, not just report.

Best Practices

Define “Proactive” Clearly: Did the customer receive the fix before any contact? Or before escalation? Standardize what counts.
Instrument System Signals: Use internal logs, product events, or error patterns to catch issues before support volume spikes.
Track by Type: Break down PRR by issue category (billing, shipping, product, etc.) to spot automation or training opportunities.
Loop It Back: Feed insights from PRR into QA and coaching. Highlight wins.

Common Pitfalls

Overcounting: Only include issues with a clear resolution before the customer contacted you. Pre-emptive messages alone don’t count.
Siloed Data: You’ll need product, engineering, and CX aligned to catch and count proactive events accurately.
Ignoring Customer View: If customers don’t recognize the issue was resolved, you won’t get credit. Messaging matters.

References

Let PRR be your early warning system. Great support doesn’t just respond. It anticipates.