Join Dataflo @ SaaS Insider's India 2022 on May 26 - 27
Register Now

Median First Response Time

KPI

The median first response time is the amount of time it takes for a teammate to respond to a customer inquiry or request.

Why is first response time necessary to measure in Intercom?

Do you know responding quickly to customer inquiries and concerns contributes to greater efficiency in generating leads?

Yes, you have heard it right. When you respond quickly to customers, you show them that you are here to help them, even if that first response is a brief reply to reassure them that you are looking into their issue.

The median first response time is the amount of time it takes for a teammate to respond to a customer inquiry or request. This measure illustrates how well an organization's customer service or support functions. 

As a result of the first median response, the organization can determine customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, and its overall reputation.

It is essential for teams to respond to customers promptly, monitor their response speed, and ensure that all conversations have been addressed.

What is a good first response time benchmark?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as Intercom's average first response time (or any other customer communication platform) will depend on your business's and customers' specific needs.

However, a quick response to customers can help build trust in your brand.

One of the customers of Dataflo states that their company aims to provide a high-quality customer experience by striving for an average first response time of 26 seconds or less on Intercom. 

This quick response helps them meet customer needs and expectations efficiently, which can also lead to generating new leads. The organization can continually enhance customer service and foster customer loyalty by setting this target.

Using this benchmark as a target for improvement, the organization can identify any necessary changes to its processes or resource allocation to respond to customers more quickly.

What does average response time tell you?

An average response time can indicate the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization's customer service or support function. A shorter average response time may be seen as a positive sign, suggesting that an organization can handle customer inquiries in a timely manner—in contrast with longer-than-average responses that might suggest delays or backlogs.

The average response time can provide valuable insight into how effectively a company's customer service or support function operates and can be used to identify ways to improve that process.

Keeping the average first response time low is crucial so customer satisfaction (CSAT )stays high.

What is the formula for calculating First Response Time (FRT)?

The first response time is calculated by subtracting the time of the initial Ticket from the time of the first response. Here's how it works:

First Response Time Formula
First Response Time Formula

For example, if a customer Tickets service at 10:00 AM and the company responds at 10:15 AM, that would be counted as a 15-minutes first response time.

Average first response time (FRT)

The average first response time is calculated by taking the total of the first response times and dividing it by the number of tickets resolved.

For instance, the formula for calculating FRT during a particular hour of the day can be:

Average FRT Formula
Average FRT Formula

For example, let's say you receive 100 Tickets for service and track the first response time for each Ticket. To calculate the average first response time, you add up all first response times and divide that number by the total number of tickets.

Here's an example of how you might use this formula:

Ticket 1: First Response Time = 15 minutes

Ticket 2: First Response Time = 10 minutes

Ticket 3: First Response Time = 5 minutes

Ticket 4: First Response Time = 20 minutes...

Ticket 100: First Response Time = 12 minutes.

To calculate the average first response time, you would add up all of the first response times and divide that number by the total number of Tickets:

Average First Response Time = (15 + 10 + 5 + 20 +... + 12) / 100 = 12 minutes

This means that, on average, it took your organization 12 minutes to respond to a Ticket for service.

Median First Response Time

To find the median first response time, you'll need to gather data on the first response time for a series of Tickets and arrange the data in numerical order. 

The median is the middle value, so to find the median first response time, you will need to determine the middle value in the list of first response times.

Here's an example of calculating the median first response time:

Gather data on the first response times for a series of Tickets.

Arrange your data in numerical order (from most minor to largest).

If there is an odd number of data points, use the middle value as your median; if there is an even number of data points, use an average of two middle values as your median. For example:

Ticket 1: First Response Time = 15 minutes

Ticket 2: First Response Time = 10 minutes

Ticket 3: First Response Time = 5 minutes

Ticket 4: First Response Time = 20 minutes….

Ticket 50: First Response Time = 15 minutes

Ticket 51: First Response Time = 10 minutes….

Ticket 100: First Response Time = 12 minutes

After arranging the data in numerical order, the middle value (for 100 data points) would be the 50th and 51st values. In this case, the median first response time would be the average of these two values: (15 + 10) / 2 = 12.5 minutes. This means that the median first response time for these 100 Tickets was 12.5 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions
What is median first response time?
What is a good first response time benchmark?
How to calculate Average first response time?
Calculator
Calculate

No Answer

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Related Metrics
Datasources
A SaaS metric once a week

A weekly email from Dataflo to help you with learning the SaaS metrics

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
GTM Operating System for Scaling SMBs

Dataflo is a dedicated GTM Operating System that helps you take data-driven decisions across the go-to-market teams from Day 1.