First Response Time (FRT) measures the time a contact center or business takes to respond to a customer inquiry. It is the time elapsed from the generation of a query by the customer to their first acknowledgment or response from the support team. A low FRT shows customers that you are responsive and effectively on top of inquiries. This creates a great first impression and improves customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Calculating Response Times
First response time is calculated as a unit of time typically hours, minutes, or seconds. It’s the difference between the time of response and query submission where you exclude automated responses. To calculate average first response times, simply divide this number by the total number of responses.
FRT = Time of First Response – Time of Customer Query Submission
Modern customer support is omnichannel, meaning it includes email, live chat, phone, and social media. Each of these channels has an acceptable response window. As a contact center is important that you know what the average first response time windows look like for different support channels. Then you must actively push to meet these time limits.
First Response Time Benchmarks
In omnichannel support, there are benchmarks for each channel that you provide customer support on. The benchmarks in our list are the average response times for each channel. These may look different for different industries.
- Email: Emails have an average response time of 4 to 24 hours. Any customer who reached out via email would expect you to get back the next day at the very least. Emails during stated business hours must be responded to within 2-4 hours.
- Live Chat: Live chat is supposed to be more instant than an email. Usually hosted on websites, these chat responses must go out in under a minute. Users here expect immediate assistance. Usually, these interactions are first handled by a chatbot to have quick response times. If a query does not have immediate solutions, then the query is transferred to a human agent.
- Phone: Over the phone, average response time is usually under 3 minutes. This means no caller should have to wait more than 3 minutes on hold. Using Voice AI assistants here can be a great way to improve response times.
- Social Media: Social media is often used to offer support on time-sensitive issues. These may be sales issues or public complaints. The average first response time for social channels like Twitter and Instagram is between 1 and 2 hours.
Why First Response Time Matters
A low First Response Time is the starting point toward having a great customer service interaction. While your ability to resolve issues is equally important, in the customer’s mind there’s a direct correlation between response times and service quality. Research has suggested that customers prefer a fast but ineffective resolution over a slow and effective one. Here’s how lowering FRT rates helps your contact center:
- Better Experience: When customers hear back from you in a short time frame, they feel valued. They see you as a business that gives the importance of their concerns. This creates trust and satisfaction.
- Reduces Churn: When customers feel valued, they are less likely to jump ship. They know that whenever they need help, you’ll be there to assist them promptly.
- Improved Perception: Fast responses, especially on social channels create a strong brand perception. When you tend to customer concerns quickly, other platform users can also see this. In their mind, a quick response from you means that you care about your customers and their concerns.
Best Practices to Optimize FRT
- Set Realistic Standards: There is no point reaching for an unrealistic standard from the get-go. Begin with an assessment of your current FRT rates and gradually try to improve them for each channel. Understand that there may be resource limitations that will hold you back in some cases.
- Use Automation Tools: Use automation wherever you can to improve your response times. This could be AI-powered chatbots, Voice AI agents, or Email automation to confirm receipt. Build an online library with self-serve options, so the customer doesn’t have to wait for you to get back to them.
- Prioritize Queries: For customer complaints, use a prioritization system to address urgent concerns first. Deal with large issues that affect several customers first. Then dial into individual complaints.
- Train your Customer Service Team: Your team should be trained to handle inquiries and customers across channels. In situations where resolutions may take some time, teach your team to manage customer expectations effectively.
- Preemptively Allocate Resources: When you are aware of high-traffic periods, preemptively allocate resources to deal with the increased demand. You can employ remote agents to deal with call overflow or use AI agents to buffer customers is also a viable solution.
Success with Quick Responses
First Response Time (FRT) is a direct reflection of how much your business values its customers. A quick response time is almost always going to make your customer feel valued. By setting clear and realistic goals you can chart a course to improve response times across all support channels. You can then use automation and staff training to lower response times. While First Response Time (FRT) is not the only contact center metric, optimizing it will always create a positive first impression that improves customer experience.
