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Average handle time

Average handle time is the average amount of working time an agent spends on one conversation from start to resolution.

Also calledAHT

It is a capacity metric, and it is easy to game by closing conversations early. It is most useful compared against itself over time, and most misleading compared between teams handling different kinds of question. Falling handle time with falling satisfaction is a warning, not a win.

Worth knowing alongside it.

First response time
First response time is how long a customer waits between sending a message and receiving the first meaningful reply from the business.
CSAT
CSAT is a customer satisfaction score collected by asking a customer to rate a specific interaction, usually on a short numeric scale immediately afterwards.
Deflection rate
Deflection rate is the share of conversations resolved without a person, usually because an automated answer was sufficient.