Average handle time (AHT) is one of the most important metrics in call center monitoring due to its usage in performance assessment.
AHT is often viewed by many call centers as an important apparent KPI that helps define agents’ productivity. The push for quick call resolution times is based on simple economics: Shorter calls deplete more labor expenses and enable more streams of clients or phone callers to be processed.
But at the same time, one can overly focus on AHT goals sometimes to the detriment of the interaction with the customer.
In this article, we’ll give you a brief rundown on AHT so you have a good idea of what this customer service metric entails, how it can be calculated, and how one can work towards optimizing the value for the benefit of the call center.
What is Average Handle Time (AHT)?
Average handle time is still simpler and almost equal to the average talk time. It concerns the average time, to the nearest minute or second, that call center workforce spends solving clients’ cries on the phone.
AHT is logged into your call center software and it is one of the basic Lead indicators and KPIs that call centers utilize when evaluating customer support.
Call handling time may include the time for which the customer dots contact the centre till he is connected to the agent, wait time, actual time spent in discussion/ counseling with the agent, and other time required to hang up the call including the time required to document the call.
AHT is sometimes associated with the company’s image, customers, and agents. In theory, the shorter the time it takes to solve a particular customer concern, the happier the customer.
However, it is also equally paramount to consider the human element which is indeed present in this organization on a large scale.
Contact centers should also need to monitor average talk time as an important data point to enhance customer experiences. Other measurements include; time to answer, first level resolution, customer satisfaction index, and Net Promoter Score.
It is also important for you to know that customers are happiest when their concern is fixed at the initial attempt. Shortening handle time is not always the best thing to do; so avoid putting pressure on the customers.
Reasons to Measure AHT:
Here are some essential reasons to measure AHT:
- Agent Productivity: AHT offers the call center manager an understanding of how effectively the agents resolve the problem of the customer. It assists in achieving the most out of labor when agents can deal with more volume to the consumer.
- Service Level Monitoring: Managing call centers or centers that focus on responding to numerous calls within the shortest time possible with an average of 30 to 60 seconds. Longer calls are preferred because they translate into shorter handle time per call, which allows calls to move faster through the queue where staffing tries to answer as many calls as possible within the service-level timeframes.
- Identifying Improvement Areas: Keeping written records of the AHT of individual advisors as well as the overall performance of the call center over a while offers the baseline data for pattern recognition. This may mean that some agents require some remedial work or additional training to properly sell for spikes. Outperformers offer models for emulation that are not commonly seen in benchmarking.
- Staffing and Capacity Planning: It also reveals details about the usage patterns of the facilities and grounds and sends signals about staffing patterns in the past, making current and future AHT forecasts essential for capacity planning. This is a good example of how understanding turnover rates and length of calls ensures that enough agents are available at the right time.
- Cost Analysis: First of all, it is important to understand that a call center’s costs are tightly connected with the amount of time spent on answering the calls, which is why AHT has a profound impact on the company’s financial standing. This is particularly true because any small reduction in average handle time can eventually translate into substantial cost savings based on the sheer number of interactions that a large call center organization processes in a given timeframe.
Though aggressive AHT goals in a call center are detrimental if taken to the extreme and come at the cost of affecting the customer experience, moderate targets coupled with customer-oriented approaches contribute significantly to optimization of efficiency, capacity, and quality assurance.
Importance of Average Handle Time
Understanding average handle times is crucial for improving business efficiency and customer satisfaction. For instance, with average handle time calculations, you can:
- Meet customer service expectations
- Persuade your managers to turn customer support into a source of income
- Identify internal bottlenecks
- Assess the product and the quality of the available resources
- Add or redistribute resources
How to calculate average handle time?
To arrive at a common average handling time formula, it is crucial to understand that this formula may be different depending on the channel you are using. Here are three versions of the AHT formula, for the particular channel of customer service communication:
An AHT formula takes handling time and follow-up time into account when calculating the numbers sent through phone calls. For those who would like a more extensive view of how long it takes to complete a call and would also like to see a more detailed view of follow-up times, one can swap “after-call work” with “follow-up times. ”
The Average Handle Time AHT = (time spent in talk + time spent in hold + time spent in follow-ups) /Total time taken in the call.
AHT formula
For instance, let’s assume a typical day saw you take 10 phone calls but on average, you were on the phone for 50 minutes, on hold for 5 minutes, and used the last 5 minutes to input notes in CRE.
So the formula for the AHT of your calls is as follows:
Sum of talk times = 50 + 5 + 5 = 60 minutes. Number of calls = 10. AHT will be 60 / 10 = 6 minutes.
When you have established the handling time, the figure you arrive at can be used to water your staffing needs. If you have an idea of the average period to assist a customer, predict your headcount. Support requests for a particular product take at least 3-4 minutes more to address than other product offerings; they may create additional resource pages, undergo customer success training, or reduce information density to avoid getting too many support requests.
Strategies to improve AHT
The ability to handle calls in the shortest possible time and at the same time ensure that customers are satisfied is something that is considered critical in the communication industry. Average handling time is used to evaluate call centers’ performance and productivity because it helps identify the total time spent on each call. That is why AHT is a pivotal metric that enables call centers to increase agent efficiency, shorten the time customers have to wait for assistance and bolster customer satisfaction. The following is a list of possible ways that one can opt to use to help in fixing the AHT.
- Efficient call routing and handling:
One way of minimizing AHT is by implementing an efficient call routing strategy to channel the calls to the suitable agent swiftly. For instance, an auto-attendant that transfers calls about the knowledge areas of different agents for call handling and according to their availability desk is likely to limit the time a customer spends waiting on the telephone or holding without having their issue solved in the initial stage.
- Agent training and development:
Call center training and development is a way of enhancing the level of training of the call center agents to better answer the clients’ calls. It is equally important to teach such soft skills as active listening and effective communication to the agents, so that, they can easily pinpoint the actual requirement of the customer and give appropriate solutions in less time.
- Streamlining call scripts and processes:
The use of call scripts and enhancing the general flow of calls can help eliminate unnecessary time by providing specific instructions that an agent needs to follow during a call. By minimizing the number of steps followed in call scripts and the number of enquiries the agent is required to make, the time taken in handling the call reduces and therefore, more calls may be handled in a shorter time.
- Utilizing technology to reduce AHT:
Adopting technology, for instance, automated chatbots can assist in minimizing AHTF as clients shall be in a position to seek support for standard concerns at their ease. An intelligent assistant can easily offer all the information a client is searching for without the need to involve a human agent. Also, using the call center software is very beneficial since it assists the agents in responding to calls more efficiently by offering relevant information relating to customer history and concerns.
Final Thoughts:
In conclusion, Average Handle Time as a metric is significant for evaluating customer service efficiency and its effectiveness from the client’s perspective. From the components, significance and specifics of the constituents influencing AHT, strategies can be formulated to address and turn AHT into an advantage for businesses. All these factors point to three key areas that if optimally managed, can lead to efficient AHT delivery: Speed and quality, technology Application and Improvement. Furthermore, the companies need to understand that the AHT is not solely the amount of time taken on the call, but more about the quality of the callers’ experience during the process. It’s about the optimization of the process and the achievement of the maximum result – where every conversation with customers is efficient, and effective and leaves the customer satisfied. Therefore, constant tracking of AHT and embracing advanced approaches is important in anticipation of better service delivery. AHT has a positive outlook, with AI and automation on the horizon for customer interactions, this occurs at a faster and more efficient rate without losing the customer’s valued personal touch.
FAQS
A good AHT is unique to the respective industry, but; close to but not less than 5 min is perceived to be ideal concerning the quality of handling the clients.
Training, optimizing processes, and adopting novel technologies can help to achieve the goal of decreasing AHT while enhancing or maintaining the corresponding levels of service.
Lower AHT is preferable which results in faster time to solution and more customer satisfaction, but it should not compromise the quality of service being offered.
Computer telephony integration, real-time analytics tools and customer relationship management software, automated call distributors are some of the major tools used in measuring AHT.
Yes, AHT time can fluctuate significantly based on industry because customers are unique and could present different questions or issues that are more complex.
After-call work (ACW) includes the set of activities that the agents must perform after the call is done, including records updating or following up on the requests made by clients. This shows that an efficient management of ACW must contain AHT.
Agents have their skills developed over time, and this means that they would solve problems quicker, thus cutting down on the amount of time spent on on-call conversations, making them more efficient than new agents on duty.
To be specific, chatbots and other AI-based systems can easily respond to simple queries and then manage assistive and repetitive tasks freeing up human agents to address less kinetic cases and, therefore, decrease overall AHT.
