The Average First Response Time is the duration between a customer requesting support and the first reply from an agent. It is always important to get your support interactions off on the right foot with a speedy first response. Reassuring your customers that a response is on the way is essential to a great customer experience.
According to SuperOffice's 2021 survey, The average response time to handle a customer service request is 12 hours and 10 minutes. Beating this is a decent starting goal for support teams. Aim for a 2 hour response at the minimum. Once this is done they can move on to the trickier goals for excellent service (a 5 minute SLA for example!)
A quick first reply puts your team on track to make a great first impression. Most customers prefer a quick initial response to a delayed 'perfect' response; even if it is just establishing that their issue is being looked into.
A slow first response can cause a user to assume their request has not gone through. Missed first emails can result in customers sending in multiple messages in different channels throwing off your statistics and causing headaches for your team.