Check out everything about average resolution time (ART) and its significance in customer service. Learn strategies for improving ART to enhance customer satisfaction, streamline operations and boost efficiency.
Many businesses struggle with lengthy resolution times silently eroding their customer loyalty and driving up operational costs. Studies show that 74% of customers will abandon a brand after up to three bad experiences, making swift issue resolution more critical than ever.
The consequences of slow resolution times extend beyond immediate customer frustration. Support teams face mounting ticket backlogs, increased escalations and deteriorating team morale, while businesses watch their customer satisfaction scores plummet and churn rates rise. Let’s learn about the actionable approaches that leading customer service teams have successfully implemented to slash their average resolution times and boost customer satisfaction.
Average resolution time refers to a key metric that tracks how long it takes to resolve customer issues, from when they’re reported until they’re fully addressed. It provides valuable insights into a support team’s efficiency and problem-solving skills.
Businesses can measure their resolution time by dividing the total time spent resolving issues by the number of resolved tickets over a set period. The metric can vary based on the complexity of the issues and the channels used for support.
Key principles:
Let us dive into the importance of optimizing ART and understand how it serves as a cornerstone for delivering exceptional customer support.
1. Enhanced customer satisfaction: Faster resolution times boost customer satisfaction by making customers feel valued. Quick solutions lead to greater loyalty, repeat business and positive word-of-mouth, strengthening the brand’s reputation.
2. Improved operational efficiency: Reducing resolution times boosts team efficiency, enabling support to handle more tickets without extra resources. It not only improves workload management but also cuts operational costs by reducing the need for additional staff.
3. Increased employee productivity: Quick issue resolutions reduce stress for support agents, boosting job satisfaction and morale. Faster response times also allow them to help more customers, enhancing productivity and a sense of accomplishment.
4. Better resource allocation: Optimizing ART uncovers bottlenecks in the support process, enabling managers to better allocate resources, whether through staff training, new tools or enhanced knowledge systems, boosting efficiency.
5. Increased revenue and cost savings: Faster resolution times drive customer satisfaction, leading to repeat business and referrals, which boosts revenue. Efficient issue handling also cuts costs by reducing extended support interactions and follow-ups.
Check out the formula along with the steps required to calculate average resolution time to help businesses monitor their support team performance and identify areas for improvement.
Formula:
Average Resolution Time = Total Resolution Time / Number of Resolved Issues
Components of the formula:
The steps to calculate ART:
Choose a consistent timeframe for calculating ART (daily, weekly, or monthly). It ensures meaningful trend analysis and reliable insights over time.
Collect data on resolution times by subtracting the issue creation timestamp from the resolution timestamp for each ticket during the defined period.
Sum all individual resolution times to get the total resolution time, reflecting the total effort spent resolving issues during the specified period, measured in your chosen time unit (e.g., minutes, hours).
Count the total number of successfully resolved issues within the same period, ensuring it matches the issues included in your total resolution time for accuracy.
Divide the total resolution time by the number of resolved issues to calculate the average resolution time, reflecting the typical time it takes to resolve an issue in your chosen time unit.
Evaluate your ART against business goals and industry benchmarks to identify trends. While faster resolution times are ideal, quality shouldn’t be compromised. Aim for an ART of 24 hours for standard issues, with longer targets for more complex cases. Regular benchmarking ensures you’re setting realistic, effective goals.
Example:
Let’s consider a customer support team handling technical issues for a software company over a week:
Total = 3000 minutes
The number of resolved issues:
Total = 50 issues
Average resolution time = Total resolution time / Number of resolved issues
ART = 3000 minutes / 50 issues = 60 minutes per issue
The average resolution time is 60 minutes (1 hour) per issue. The insight helps the company evaluate whether their ART meets business goals and aligns with customer expectations.
Following are the actionable strategies to help you achieve faster resolutions, elevate customer satisfaction and transform your service approach for the better.
Selecting intuitive support software is key to improving resolution times. Choose platforms with user-friendly interfaces, customizable features and seamless integration with existing systems to help your team access information quickly.
Communication tools like internal chat systems and ticket management software can boost response times. The analytics platforms offer valuable insights into team performance, highlighting areas for improvement and tracking progress.
Actionable tips:
Creating a comprehensive FAQ section empowers customers to resolve issues on their own. 60% of consumers prefer using automated self-service options for simple customer service tasks. Cover common customer concerns, organize content logically and use clear, concise language.
Enhance self-service options by building a searchable knowledge base and offering video tutorials for common issues. A well-organized knowledge base reduces support tickets, while video guides simplify complex processes for customers.
Pro tips:
Streamline your support process by creating clear steps for handling different issues. Use flowcharts or decision trees to guide agents through resolutions, ensuring consistency and saving time on decision-making.
Define team roles and implement response templates for common issues to boost efficiency. It reduces overlap, ensures accountability and maintains consistent yet personalized communication.
How to Implement:
Directing customers to the right support channel can drastically reduce resolution times. Analyze issue types to match them with the most suitable channels, ensuring complex problems are handled by the appropriate team.
Offering diverse contact options and educating customers on the best channel for their needs boosts efficiency. Share clear guidelines on each channel’s strengths via your website, onboarding materials or automated responses.
Pro tips:
Implementing a ticket prioritization system is key to managing resolution times. Set clear criteria based on business impact, affected users and contractual obligations to ensure critical issues are addressed first.
Train your team to quickly assess and categorize tickets, with clear escalation protocols for urgent cases. Equip them with the tools to prioritize effectively and resolve high-impact issues swiftly.
Actionable tips:
Effective training is key to efficient problem-solving. Provide comprehensive onboarding that covers product knowledge, customer service skills and support tools. Well-trained agents can handle issues with confidence from day one.
Ongoing refresher courses and skill-building opportunities ensure your team stays current on new products and best practices. Encouraging specialization helps agents develop deep expertise, improving resolution times for complex issues.
Actionable tips:
Categorizing customers by industry, product or issue type streamlines ticket routing. Develop a tagging system that captures key attributes, allowing tickets to be quickly assigned to the right team or agent.
Specialized teams with expertise in specific areas can resolve issues faster. The automatic routing ensures tickets are directed to the right team immediately, reducing resolution times.
Actionable tips:
Clear escalation criteria are essential for efficient resolution times. Set thresholds based on factors like issue complexity, time spent and customer impact to avoid delays.
Implement a streamlined handover process for complex cases, ensuring relevant information is transferred seamlessly. Establish communication protocols between support tiers to enhance collaboration and speed up issue resolution.
Pro tips:
Implementing chatbots for initial customer interactions can lighten the load on human agents by handling basic queries, gathering info and directing customers to self-service options. It frees agents to focus on more complex issues, improving resolution times. 74% of customers would choose a chatbot over a human agent to look for answers to simple questions.
Using automatic ticket assignments based on keywords and AI-driven suggestions from the knowledge base boosts efficiency. Tickets are routed to the right team quickly, while AI provides agents with relevant solutions, speeding up problem-solving.
Pro tips:
Regularly analyze resolution time data through dashboards tracking key metrics like ticket resolution time, first contact resolution rate and ticket volume. It helps identify trends and highlight areas for improvement.
Spot recurring bottlenecks and slow-resolving issues, using customer feedback to pinpoint opportunities for targeted improvements. A data-driven approach ensures your efforts focus on areas that will have the greatest impact.
Actionable tips:
Below are the average resolution time benchmarks across various industries and how you can leverage the information to enhance your operations.
| Industry | Average Resolution Time Benchmark |
| E-commerce | 24 hours |
| Software & Technology | 12 – 24 hours |
| Telecommunications | 48 hours |
| Financial Services | 24 – 48 hours |
| Healthcare | 24 – 72 hours |
| Retail | 12 – 24 hours |
| Travel & Hospitality | 24 – 48 hours |
| Manufacturing | 48 – 72 hours |
| Government & Public Services | 72 – 96 hours |
| Education | 48 – 72 hours |
| Automotive | 24 – 48 hours |
Let’s analyze the ideal average resolution times across different channels and get insights into setting realistic yet efficient goals for each platform.
1. Phone Support
Phone support should aim for quick resolutions, with an ideal target of 5-20 minutes based on the issue complexity. Simple queries should be resolved within 5 minutes, while more complex issues may take up to 20 minutes before escalation or follow-up is needed.
2. Email Support
Email support usually takes longer due to its asynchronous nature. Aim to resolve tickets within 24 hours, with an acknowledgment sent within 1-4 hours. Allow up to 48 hours for a complete resolution of complex issues.
3. Live Chat
Live chat should offer fast resolutions, with an ideal average time of 2-10 minutes. Simple queries should be resolved within 2-5 minutes, while more complex issues may take up to 10 minutes. Escalate unresolved issues beyond the timeframe.
4. Social Media
Social media support demands quick responses. Aim to reply within 1 hour, with resolutions within 2-24 hours. Simple issues should be resolved within 2-4 hours, while more complex ones may take up to 24 hours.
5. Self-Service Portals
Self-service portals like knowledge bases and FAQs should offer instant solutions. The ideal “resolution time” is within 1-5 minutes of searching, with regular updates to ensure ongoing efficiency and relevance.
Now it’s time for you to learn about the shortcomings of using ART as a standalone KPI and learn about the solutions to ensure you truly understand your customer service performance.
ART often treats all issues the same, which can misrepresent efficiency, as complex problems naturally take longer.
You get a clearer view of performance by categorizing issues by complexity and calculating separate ARTs for each level, enabling fairer comparisons.
Limitation: ART prioritizes speed over quality, risking quick but shallow fixes that can lead to recurring issues and lower customer satisfaction.
Solution: Combine ART with metrics like customer satisfaction and first-contact resolution rates for a balanced approach that ensures quality in support.
Limitation: Teams may rush resolutions or close tickets prematurely to improve ART, leading to incomplete solutions and a poor customer experience.
Solution: Implement random ticket audits, customer follow-ups and track reopened tickets to ensure resolutions are effective, maintaining quality alongside speed.
Limitation: ART can be skewed by unproductive waiting times, such as when customers are unresponsive, giving an unfair view of the support team’s efficiency.
Solution: Implement a “working time” metric that excludes customer wait periods, offering a more accurate reflection of the team’s actual resolution efforts.
Limitation: ART overlooks proactive efforts like issue prevention and self-service, which reduce ticket volume but aren’t captured in the metric, undervaluing the strategies.
Solution: Track self-service usage alongside ART, measuring ticket reductions, success rates and the impact of proactive support on demand.
Check out the examples of average resolution time that will help businesses identify benchmarks, assess their performance and learn strategies to improve resolution times.
Zappos
Zappos, known for its outstanding customer service, optimizes resolution times by empowering agents with the freedom to resolve issues thoroughly, without relying on scripts or time limits. The approach may seem unconventional, but it leads to faster resolution by addressing problems completely during the first contact.
The company invests heavily in additional training, ensuring agents are equipped to handle a wide range of issues efficiently. The comprehensive strategy results in high customer satisfaction, proving that quality service can drive both speed and success, without focusing on traditional time-based metrics.
Amazon
Amazon has significantly cut its ticket resolution time by leveraging technology and self-service tools. Their comprehensive self-service portal, featuring detailed product info, FAQs and troubleshooting guides, enables customers to quickly resolve common issues without contacting support.
Amazon employs AI-powered chatbots and an advanced ticketing system that efficiently routes inquiries to the right department for more complex problems. The tech-driven solutions, paired with a robust knowledge base, allow Amazon to resolve most customer issues within minutes, drastically reducing overall resolution times.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom, known for its exceptional customer service, has optimized resolution times by adopting a “customer-first” approach. Empowering employees to make real-time decisions allows them to resolve issues on the spot, reducing the need for escalations and speeding up problem resolution.
Nordstrom has implemented a seamless omnichannel support system, enabling customers to switch between in-store, phone, email or social media without having to repeat their issues. The streamlined approach ensures swift, efficient resolutions, no matter the initial contact channel.
Average resolution time (ART) is a key metric that balances speed and accuracy in customer service. It plays a vital role in customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and business success. Companies show their commitment to excellent service by resolving issues quickly.
Faster ART boosts customer satisfaction by reducing frustration and valuing customers’ time, leading to stronger loyalty. It also enhances team productivity, enabling support staff to handle more issues and reduce operational costs.
Key takeaways:
Resolution times reflect how efficiently your support team addresses issues, highlighting the effectiveness of your processes, customer satisfaction and areas for improvement. Longer times may point to staffing or training gaps, while shorter times often lead to higher satisfaction and loyalty.
Average resolution time is calculated by dividing the total time spent resolving customer issues by the number of tickets closed within a given period. It measures the time from when a customer submits a query to when it’s fully resolved.
Regularly measuring ticket resolution time (weekly or monthly) helps track trends, spot patterns and fine-tune support strategies. Daily tracking can be especially beneficial for peak seasons or post-process changes.
A target of 24 hours or less is ideal for resolution time for eCommerce, though quicker responses within a few hours can enhance customer satisfaction. The key is balancing speed with the quality of resolution.
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