Allan Wille

Agent Wait Time is the total combined time a support ticket spends in pending status, waiting for a response from the requester. Unlike customer-facing metrics such as First Response Time or Resolution Time, Agent Wait Time measures how long the support agent waits between interactions. High pending time reduces agent efficiency and makes it harder to maintain context across complex tickets.

In an hour-based agency, the billable utilisation serves as a crucial metric, representing the percentage of billable hours employees spend on billable client projects. A higher billable utilisation indicates optimal efficiency and resource allocation, while a lower rate may suggest under-utilisation or potential areas for workflow improvement.

Cost per Lead (CPL) is the average amount spent on acquiring a new lead, inclusive of all marketing channels such as paid advertising, social media campaigns, and content marketing. Cost per Lead (CPL) is a crucial metric that helps businesses measure their marketing campaigns' effectiveness in generating leads. CPL is calculated by dividing the total cost of acquiring new leads by the number of leads generated. This metric is particularly valuable for businesses that want to optimize their marketing spend to maximize return on investment (ROI). Marketing teams can segment CPL by channel. For instance, they may focus on paid advertising and consider only the inputs relating to paid ad costs and leads generated. It's important to always include the right costs in your equation, especially if salaries, creatives, or equipment are the main drivers.

First Contact Resolution Rate (FCR Rate) is the percentage of customer support contacts resolved on the first interaction, with no follow-up required from the agent or customer. A high FCR Rate reduces support costs, lowers repeat contact volume, and improves customer satisfaction.

First Contact Resolution Tickets is the count of support tickets fully resolved on the first agent interaction, with no follow-up contact required from the customer.

Full Resolution Time is the time duration between the ticket creation date and the ticket solved or closed date. Along with a solution that helps the customer and solves the problem, the less time it takes to get to a resolution is good for you and good for the customer. Resolution time is usually measured in hours or days.

Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) is a standardised workforce measurement that converts all employee types—full-time, part-time, contractors, interns, and temporary workers—into equivalent full-time positions. This calculated metric provides a unified view of your total workforce capacity by expressing everyone's contribution as fractions of a standard full-time schedule (typically 40 hours per week or 5 days). Unlike simply counting heads, FTE gives you the true picture of your organisational capacity and enables accurate cross-company comparisons regardless of employment structure.

Requester Wait Time is the total combined time a ticket spends in the new, open, and on-hold statuses, measured until the ticket reaches a pending, solved, or closed status. It excludes pending time, which is when the ticket is waiting on the requester to reply, making it a direct measure of support team responsiveness rather than total ticket lifespan.

Ticket Reopen Rate (RR) is the percentage of resolved support tickets that customers reopen, signalling the issue was not fully resolved. Tracking this metric gives support teams a direct measure of resolution quality. A rising reopen rate can point to gaps in agent training, product knowledge, or escalation processes. Left unaddressed, it erodes customer trust and increases support volume.

Ticket Reopens is a count of how many times closed support tickets are reopened after a customer responds with an unresolved issue. When a customer replies to a ticket marked as solved, the ticket automatically reopens and receives an open status. Each reopen increments the count by one. A high Ticket Reopens count signals that resolutions aren't sticking — either because agents are closing tickets prematurely or because the underlying issue isn't being fully addressed.

Ticket Resolution Rate is the percentage of support tickets resolved out of the total number received in a given period. It measures how effectively a customer service team closes incoming tickets, reflecting both staffing capacity and agent efficiency. A rate below 100% means tickets are accumulating; a rate above 100% means the team is working through backlog in addition to new volume.

Tickets Solved is the count of support tickets that a customer support agent has marked as solved within a given period. Teams commonly set a daily Tickets Solved target per agent and monitor performance as a percentage of that goal. A solved ticket can be reopened if a customer needs further assistance; tickets that remain solved for a set period convert to closed, which cannot be reopened. Resolution rates vary based on agent experience, escalation level, the product or service being supported, and query complexity.