Glossary · Customer Satisfaction
- First Response Time
- How long a customer waits for your first reply. The single metric that shapes support perception most.
First Response Time in Practice
FRT is a leading indicator. If FRT rises, CSAT will follow within one to two weeks. Therefore, monitor FRT daily, not monthly.
Common failure modes:
- Auto-replies counted as first response (they aren't)
- No measurement outside business hours
- Mixing all channels into a single metric
Instead, track FRT by channel, by priority and by agent. The aggregate number hides the variation that actually moves CSAT.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on channel. Live chat: under 1 minute. Phone: under 30 seconds to agent. Email: under 4 hours in business hours, under 24 hours overall. Social media: under 1 hour. SLA commitments should be set 20-30% faster than the customer actually expects.
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