Response and Resolution Times: Getting Closer to the Heart of Service Quality

In any support team, how quickly you respond to requests — and how long it takes to fully resolve issues — are among the most important indicators of your service quality. These metrics impact everything from internal efficiency to customer satisfaction and retention.

Response Time and Resolution Time are often featured in service level agreements (SLAs), but they are much more than contractual numbers. They tell a story about your team’s ability to manage workload, communicate effectively, and ultimately deliver value.

In this post, we’ll explore these metrics in depth, why they matter, how to measure them, and how to use the insights to improve your service delivery.

First Response Time (FRT): Your Customer’s First Impression

First Response Time measures the time elapsed between a customer submitting a ticket or request and the first meaningful reply from your team.

It’s often the first real contact the customer has after submitting an issue, making it critical for setting expectations.

Formula: FRT = Time of first response – Time of ticket submission

Why FRT Matters

• Builds trust quickly: A prompt response reassures customers that their issue is being taken seriously.

• Reduces anxiety: Customers feel valued when they know someone is already working on their problem.

• Lowers escalation risk: Quick acknowledgement often reduces follow-up questions or complaints.

• Improves customer satisfaction (CSAT): Studies consistently show faster first responses correlate with higher satisfaction scores.

Beyond Speed: The Quality of First Response

Speed alone isn’t enough. A response that says, “We’ve received your ticket,” may be fast, but it doesn’t add value. Instead, aim for first responses that:

• Provide clear next steps or timeframes

• Ask relevant clarifying questions to avoid back-and-forth

• Share links to knowledge base articles if applicable

Time to Resolution (TTR): The Journey to a Solution

Time to Resolution captures the total time from ticket submission to final closure, when the issue is fully resolved or otherwise completed.

Formula: TTR = Time of final resolution – Time of ticket submission

Why TTR Matters

• Measures efficiency: How quickly your team can diagnose and fix problems.

• Identifies bottlenecks: Long resolution times often point to process issues, resource constraints, or dependencies.

• Tracks improvements: Over time, you can measure the impact of automation, knowledge sharing, or training.

• Reflects customer experience: Customers want their issues fully resolved as soon as possible.

Dealing with Complex Cases

Not all tickets are equal. Some issues require escalation, specialist input, or waiting on third parties, which can lengthen TTR.

To get a meaningful picture:

• Segment TTR by ticket priority or category

• Use percentile measures (e.g., 90th percentile) alongside averages to capture outliers

• Track reasons for delays such as awaiting customer response or vendor support

Key Metrics to Track and Analyse

To make the most of response and resolution data, consider these dimensions:

• By Priority Level: Different SLAs apply for P1 (urgent) vs P4 (low priority) tickets.

• Trends Over Time: Are you improving, stable, or slipping? Identify seasonal spikes or impacts from staffing changes.

• Team or Queue Breakdown: Which groups meet targets consistently? Where is support falling short?

• Breach Rates: Percentage of tickets breaching SLA thresholds highlights urgent improvement areas.

• Root Cause Analysis: Understanding why tickets take longer or get slow responses is key to fixing issues.

Linking Response and Resolution Times to Capacity and Occupancy

Response and resolution times don’t exist in a vacuum. When paired with capacity and occupancy data, they provide powerful insights:

• If your team’s occupancy is very high and resolution times are rising, you may be under-resourced or overloaded.

• Long first response times with low occupancy could mean inefficient workflows or unclear priorities.

• Fast response but slow resolution might signal complex problems requiring more expertise or improved escalation paths.

Using these metrics together helps you diagnose not just what is happening, but why — allowing smarter staffing, training, and process improvements.

A Practical Illustration: Revealing Hidden Challenges Through Response and Resolution Times

At a mid-sized software company, the application support team noticed that customer satisfaction scores were slipping even though their ticket volumes were steady. They decided to dig into their response and resolution metrics.

• First Response Time had gradually increased from an average of 30 minutes to over 2 hours.

• Time to Resolution had also climbed, especially on priority 2 tickets, from 8 hours to 18 hours on average.

By overlaying this with their occupancy data, they discovered that support consultants were spending much of their time on internal meetings and administrative tasks, pushing actual customer-facing work into tighter windows.

Further investigation showed that tickets requiring vendor escalation were stuck in limbo, extending resolution times significantly.

Armed with these insights, the team took several actions:

• Streamlined internal meetings and reduced non-essential admin tasks

• Improved escalation processes with vendors to reduce delays

• Trained consultants on time management and prioritisation techniques

Within three months, first response times dropped back to under 45 minutes, resolution times improved by 30%, and customer satisfaction rebounded.

This example highlights how combining response and resolution metrics with capacity and occupancy can uncover root causes and guide effective improvements.

Practical Tips to Improve These Metrics

• Set realistic SLAs: Base targets on historical data, not just industry benchmarks.

• Use automation: Auto-acknowledgements, routing rules, and AI chatbots can speed responses.

• Empower your team: Provide training and documentation to resolve common issues faster.

• Monitor and coach: Share reports regularly, and recognise high performers.

• Engage with customers: Keep communication clear and transparent to manage expectations.

Final Thoughts

Response and resolution times are fundamental to how your support function is perceived — both internally and externally. They reflect operational health, team workload, and the quality of customer experience.

By tracking these metrics alongside capacity and occupancy, you gain a complete view of your team’s performance and can make data-driven decisions to improve support quality, reduce burnout, and enhance customer satisfaction.