If you run a call center, you’re inundated with metrics to measure. This means you need to prioritize what your team should be measuring, and what call center agents need to target. When it comes to this prioritization, one of the most important metrics is average handle time (AHT).
In this blog post, we’re gonna get you up to speed on AHT, provide some industry benchmarks, and share tips & tricks to reduce this metric.
What Is Average Handle Time?
Average handle time, shortened to AHT, is basically the amount of time taken to help a customer. It measures the time it took a call center agent to handle the situation that the customer called for. It starts at the beginning of an interaction, such as when the agent answers the calls. Call center reporting tracks how long it takes agents to finish assisting a customer, and measures the length of time it took.
AHT does include the entire customer interaction. It starts when a customer call reaches an agent, but also includes things such as hold time, and aftercall wrap-up time/note taking. Many times, AHT directly correlates to customer satisfaction and agent performance.
Studies have found that the quicker you resolve a customer’s concern, the happier they will be. But, of course, AHT isn’t the only factor there. Your customers will be the happiest if you resolve their concerns on the first contact, but a shorter handle time isn’t always better. AHT as a metric needs to be used in tandem with other reporting and analytics to be sure that your customers are getting the best customer service possible.
So how do I calculate average handle time?
The most used average handle time formula is as follows: talk, hold, and follow-up time divided by the total number of calls.
AHT example
Let’s say you had 10 phone calls for the day and spent 40 minutes talking, 5 minutes on hold, and 5 minutes adding notes in your CRM.
Your average handle time formula in this scenario works out like this:
[40 mins + 5 mins + 5 mins ] / 10 calls = 5 minutes AHT
Importance of Tracking AHT: Call Centers
In a traditional call center environment, companies track AHT for two main reasons:
- Measuring agent efficiency
- Gauging customer satisfaction
When measuring agent efficiency, management can look at AHT per agents, and see if it has to do with interactions, or agent training. If an agent takes longer than average to remedy customer inquiries, they may need more training. When using AHT to gauge customer satisfaction, management can see that whether customer’s questions are getting answered quickly. The quicker questions get answered, the less likely there is to be a churn in customers.
AHT Industry Benchmarks
One recommendation by DeAnna Kerley, Customer Success Manager at Kustomer, is to lay out AHT’s per service type. She suggested the following handle times for these call centers:
Service Type Average Handling Time (Minutes)
Delivery 4.45
Marketplace 7.5
Retail 6.25
Services 8.7
The average handle time across these services is 6.73 minutes.
Another report by Cornell University tracks AHT by company size and sector:
Sector & Company Size Average Handling Time (Minutes)
Large Business 8.7
Telecommunications 8.8
Retail 5.4
Business & IT Services 4.7
Financial Services 4.7
The average of these industries is 6.46 minutes.
What is a good AHT?
What can be considered “good” truly does depend on your company, though. You can look at all of the industry standards in the world, and still not know what YOUR average handle time should be. That’s because only you and your agents know your customers the best, and understand what they need, and how long it should take to get them taken care of.
Once you’ve got your AHT metrics, it’s important to gather customer feedback. With both of these together, you can decide whether you’re spending too much time with customers, or not enough.
Cutting Down AHT & Improving Customer Experience
Specialized agent training
When a new agent starts, there should be a priority placed on agent training. Specialized agent training lets you tailor your customer service function. You can base training around select inbound inquiries, customer segments, etc.
Pair up high AHT agents with a low AHT “partner”
Training shouldn’t end at the end of your onboarding process. Identify successful agents with low AHT and pair them up with an agent who has a high AHT. Working in real-time next to an agent means the low AHT agent can document and provide tips to avoid unnecessary delays.
These might be standard contact center practices or personal habits they can share with your wider team. Perhaps, there are macros and shortcuts available to speed up after-call work (ACW) tasks.
If your resource doesn’t allow for buddying up in real-time, you can use call recording to apply the same process after the call. Maybe even provide your partners with a designated weekly meeting check-in time to go over the week’s reporting.
Recording calls and live monitoring agents
A staple for call center reporting is none other than recorded calls. Giving supervisors/managers the ability to listen back on calls is a great training and retention tool. They can pull great calls to use as an example. It’s also just nice to have calls recorded, for accuracy or quality assurance reasons. Agents with a shorter handle time can listen to calls from those with a high AHT. Doing so can uncover triggers and behaviors that result in unnecessarily long calls.
Call recording is a great feature to determine if agents adhere to call center best practices and to uncover the causes of high call times. When you listen to a call, management can document how agents can improve the customer experience.
Going a step further and monitoring your agents in real-time can also be helpful. While it might sound creepy, live monitoring is interruption-free for both the customer and agent. CallHarbor offers Listen, Whisper, Barge for free in our user access package. It’s an amazing training tool that gives supervisors access to in-progress calls. If an agent needs help, they can even use advanced features like Whisper to coach the agent or Barge to take over the call and help.
Using AHT to Improve Customer Experience
All the above tools and techniques should form part of a comprehensive customer experience strategy. Prioritizing AHT improvement starts with a plan that’s specific and measurable. CallHarbor’s call center reporting & analytics are included in our user access for free. They are invaluable tools that help you measure and record what happens in your call center.
“Building a good customer experience does not happen by accident, it happens by design.”
– Clare Muscutt