How to calculate:
Average Resolution Time (ART)

Tom Roberts - November 2nd, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is Average Resolution Time?

Average resolution time is how long on average it takes your support team to resolve a ticket. It can also be calculated per-agent to give you an idea of who your most and least effective agents are.

This metric is also referred to as Mean Time To Resolution (MTTR).

Why is Average Resolution Time Important?

Monitoring this metric is important for guaging the overall health and performance of your help desk. If your average resolution time begins to increase you will need to investigate the undelying cause. It might indicate your support team needs additional training to handle more complex tickets or indicate a late of cooperation between the 1st and 2nd levels of support.

Equation

Average Resolution Time = Total Resolution Time ÷ Total Number of Tickets

While this is the correct equation, most help desk softwares can give you the resolution time for each ticket. With this you can work out the average by adding the times together and dividing by the total number of tickets.

Average Resolution Time Benchmark

The average resolution time customers expect varies hugely between different industries and support channels. Many different companies claim to offer a comprehensive benchmark for each industry. Really, we should ask ourselves what ART the customers want. Aircall surveyed customers and found 48% expect a reponse within 6 hours (with 15% looking for an answer withing 60 minutes!). We suggest a starting benchmark of 6 hours to aim for. This can be revised and improved as you go.

How to Improve Average Resolution Time

Quality Control

Do a quality check to understand a more complete picture of performance other than the number of closed tickets. Doing this helps you know if you are meeting customers’ expectations, rather than trying to move on to the next issue. Checking NPS and other customer satisfaction factors can compliment this strategy.

Agent Breakdown

Monitor your average resolution time but segmented by agent. This will help you to see who your most efficient agents are and which agents might require more training or extra support. Linking KPIs to the people who contribute to them is what changes dry reports into actionable insights.

Top support tools

Providing your agent with premier support software such as GoDesk or HelpScout will give them the tools they need to create the best support experience for your customers.

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.

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How to calculate:Average Resolution Time (ART)