If you were trying to figure out how well a busy restaurant was doing, you wouldn’t just count how many customers they served, right? You’d probably also want to know how long each table took— from ordering to paying the bill. In the world of contact centres, “table time” would be your Average Handle Time or AHT
Average handle time measures how long it takes a customer care agent to deal with a customer interaction from start to finish. That includes the time spent on the call, any time the customer is on hold, and the post-call admin work too. It’s an important metric because it shows how efficient your contact centre is—and whether you’re keeping up with demand or falling behind.
So, how do you measure AHT?
To measure average handle time, you take the total time your agents spend handling calls (talk time, hold time, after-call work) and divide that by the number of calls they handled.
Most systems automatically track all of this for you, so you don’t have to do the math manually. Tools like QContact track AHT in real-time and give you immediate insights. The average across industries is 6 minutes and 10 seconds, but what’s considered ‘good’ really depends on your business. Sprinklr
Managers can also see average handle time at the individual agent level, which helps with which helps with coaching and planning resources more effectively. If your average handle time is low, that’s generally a good thing. It means your team is handling more calls in less time. But… that’s only part of the story.
Low AHT isn’t always a win
A low average handle time is not always a good thing. Why? Well, if the average handle time is too low it could mean agents are rushing through customer interactions. Customers might feel like they’re being hurried off the phone, which can lead to poor experiences and lower CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) scores. So balance is important. You want handle times to be efficient, but not at the cost of the customer feeling like they weren’t heard or helped. On the other hand, high AHT could point to issues like unclear processes, poor training, or systems that just aren’t working well together.
Why does AHT matter?
Imagine it’s the December holiday season and a well-known gift store is buzzing with incoming inquiries, some about refunds, others about delivery times or last-minute gifts.
Now, let’s say every call runs just one minute longer than it should. One minute might not seem like a big deal—until it’s happening across thousands of calls. Longer wait times lead to frustrated customers and completely swamped agents. During one of the busiest times of the year, this would result in missed sales and increased payroll costs, as the business scrambles to hire more people just to stay on top of demand.
When AHT creeps up, so do your expenses and unfortunately, customer expectations don’t drop just because your team is under pressure.
What’s a “good” AHT?
It really depends. Some industries, like healthcare and insurance, naturally have longer calls. However, other industries like retail or delivery can resolve interactions quicker. There’s no one-size- fits-all number. Also, AHT isn’t just about calls anymore, it applies across channels like live chat, WhatsApp, email, and more. Each one has its own tempo. For example, a chat might last longer than a phone call, but agents can often manage multiple chats at once. What counts as a “good” handle time really depends on the channel you’re measuring. What matters most is consistency, quality, and whether your average handle time matches the kind of service you’re aiming to deliver.
AHT in the Bigger Picture
AHT is only one piece of the puzzle. To really understand how your service is doing, pair it with other key metrics:
- First Call Resolution (FCR): This metric shows how often problems with customers are solved in a single call. When used with AHT, it helps figure out if short handle times are really useful or just a sign of being rushed.
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS): shows how happy or unhappy a customer is with a business. A quick call doesn’t mean much if the customer is unhappy when they hang up. High AHT combined with high CSAT could indicate more thorough service.
- Abandonment rate: Tracks how many customers hang up before speaking to an agent. If AHT is too long and queues are growing, more people may give up waiting.
- Contact volume: Understanding how many people are getting in touch overall helps give context to AHT. High volume with low AHT can be a good sign—unless quality suffers.
Together, these metrics tell a more complete story about your customer service performance. AHT might reveal how quickly things move, but these additional insights show whether it’s working well.
Bottom Line
Average Handle Time is more than just a number on a computer. It shows the delicate balance between operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Aiming for a low average handle time is usually a good thing to do, but it should never be at the expense of giving customers a good experience.
The most important thing to remember is to know what your business needs, make sure your processes are working as well as they can, and give your agents the tools they need to handle calls quickly without sacrificing quality.
If you pay attention to both efficiency and understanding your customers, you can turn average handle time from a simple metric into a strong tool for achieving success and retaining customers.
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Want to lower your average handle time without cutting corners?
With QContact’s performance tracking tools, you’ll get real-time insights into what’s working, where delays are happening, and how to support your team more effectively.
So you can measure what matters—and improve what counts 😉
