What is average resolution time

How long should it take to fix a customer problem? If you have ever stared at an open ticket wondering whether it is taking too long, you are already thinking about resolution time. The question is not just about speed. It is about whether customers get a complete answer without unnecessary delays.

Average resolution time is the typical length of time between when a customer opens a support request and when that request is marked fully resolved. It tells you how efficiently your team moves from first contact to final fix. Here is what you need to know.

What is average resolution time?

Average resolution time, sometimes called mean time to resolution, is the average duration from ticket creation to ticket closure. It includes every step in between. Waiting for customer replies, internal research, escalations to other departments, and the actual troubleshooting all count toward the total.

Teams usually calculate it by adding up resolution times for all closed tickets in a period and dividing by the number of tickets. If ten tickets took 2, 4, 6, 3, 8, 5, 7, 4, 9, and 2 hours respectively, your average resolution time is 5 hours.

Why does average resolution time matter?

Customers remember how long a problem lingered, not just how quickly someone said hello. A fast first reply followed by days of back-and-forth feels worse than a slightly slower but complete answer. Resolution time captures that full experience.

For your team, this metric highlights process bottlenecks. If resolution times climb while ticket volume stays flat, something in your workflow changed. Maybe agents lack access to the information they need. Maybe escalation paths got longer. The number points you toward the friction.

How do you use resolution time alongside other metrics?

Never look at resolution time in isolation. Compare it with first response time to see whether delays happen at the start or during the solve. Compare it with CSAT to learn whether faster resolutions actually make customers happier.

Segment your data by ticket type when possible. Password resets should resolve in minutes. Billing disputes involving multiple departments might legitimately take days. A single average across all ticket types hides those differences and can push your team to rush complex cases. The chapter on ticket volume helps you understand how workload affects resolution speed.

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