Average Handling Time (AHT)
What is Average Handle Time (AHT)?
Average Handle Time (AHT) is a key performance metric commonly used in contact centers to measure the average length of a customer interaction. This important indicator enables contact center leaders to deploy adequate staff to handle the call volume while maintaining the requisite service and quality levels. By focusing on average call handling time, contact centers can identify the right level of efficiency that works for both customers and the business.
Why is AHT important?
AHT is a crucial operational and customer experience metric that plays an important role in workforce management – across forecasting, scheduling, optimizing occupancy and so on. A key measure of success for customers and agents alike, it is calculated as follows:
AHT = (Total talk time + total hold time + total after-contact work) / number of total contacts.
Long handle times can result in more people in the queue and longer hold times, driving up abandonment rates and resulting in missed service targets.
How to reduce Average Handle Time (AHT)?
Provide agents with domain, client, process, product, and service related training.
Create a knowledge base that both employees and customers can tap into, enabling them to easily find answers to common questions or issues.
Monitor interactions and agents to identify gaps, better understand customer requirements, and make improvements to AHT.
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