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How to calculate:
Average first response time (FRT)

Tom Roberts  -  November 2nd, 2023

What is Average first response time?

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!)

Why is Average first response time Important?

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.

Equation

Average First Response Time = Sum of First Response Times ÷ Total Number of Tickets
Most help desk softwares will let you get the first response time for each ticket. Once you have these, add all the times together and divide by the total number of tickets.

Average first response time Benchmark

According to the 2023 Customer Service Quality Benchmark Report, the First Response Time (FRT) benchmark for 2023 is 4h42min.

How to Improve Average first response time

Enable push notifications

Your agents can't respond to a ticket if they don't know it exists! Push notifications alert an agent the second a new ticket is created. This means better awareness of ticket activity and shorter response times.

Want help improving?

We are always happy to help people out with their KPIs regardless of what support software they use. Give us a shout on our contact page - let's talk.