According to the research, over 82% of respondents find AHT metrics an important KPI for call center work (specifically, for 45% it is essential, and for 37% it is quite meaningful). Working as an outsourced call center, we don’t underestimate the impact of AHT on our agents' productivity and customer satisfaction. In our endless race for result enhancement, we have received an award from ECCCSAs for the Best Improvement Initiative, which primarily focused on AHT.
In this article, we will explain the average handle time and the formula for its accurate calculation. We explore the main causes of high AHT and proven strategies that can help you improve the results of your entire customer service department.
AHT, or average handling time, is the average duration of an agent’s interaction with a customer. It includes hold time, the conversation itself, and any necessary after-call work. Essentially, these KPI metrics indicate the amount of time your agents spend handling customer requests and reflect the productivity of your call center.
The AHT formula depends on the type of average handle time you need to find out. For instance, you may be interested in AHT for chats, emails, or phone call conversations, which will impact the type of data collected.
AHT for calls = (hold time + talk time + after call work time) / total number of calls
AHT for chats = total handle time of chats / total number of chats
AHT for emails = (total time of communication + waiting time) / total number of emails
So, for a better understanding of how to calculate AHT, let’s see how it works in practice. Imagine your call center receives 200 calls. If you summarize the times of interactions, it includes 2,000 minutes of talking, 600 minutes of holding time, and, let’s assume, 400 minutes for after-call work.
So, in this case, the average handle time call center KPI will be the following:
(2,000 + 600 + 400) / 200 = 15
It means that your average handle time is 15 minutes.
You can measure the time in seconds, minutes, or hours, but use only one type of unit of measurement per calculation; otherwise, the results may be unreliable.
According to the Erlang calculator, the average handle time industry standard is 6 minutes and 3 seconds. However, the average handle time may vary for different types of call centers. For instance, for the telecommunications sector, it is 8 minutes and 48 seconds, while for the financial and business services sector, it is only 4 minutes and 42 seconds.
Improvement of average handle time can boost and enhance overall operational efficiency. It will increase customer satisfaction as call center agents will be able to process more requests, handling a larger number of customer interactions. If call centers improve AHT, they can also lower customer support costs, as fewer representatives will be needed for handling the same volume of interactions. Additionally, the increased number of satisfied customers will positively impact customer retention and increase the budget's income from customer support.
When reviewing SLAs and KPIs, and looking for ways to improve average handle time, you may still wonder if it is worth the effort. To make it as clear as possible, let’s review the real case we faced during our collaboration with a music distribution platform.
With a shorter average handling time, our agents were able to process eight requests per hour, which increased from 3.5, showing an impressive improvement in resolution time as well. The ability to handle more calls per working day and achieve better first-call resolution results also allowed us to increase overall customer satisfaction from 51% to 88%.
Lower average handle time and a smaller number of required employees for a project enabled cost savings related to additional hiring, as our existing staff was more than capable of handling the desired number of requests.
Wonder how to reduce AHT for your customer support department? We prioritize SLA compliance and achieve AHT targets by leveraging our expertise and the latest technologies.
Planning how to reduce the average handle time, you need to understand what causes the issues. We have identified the primary reasons that prevent call centers from achieving an industry benchmark.
In our experience, the speed of assistance directly depends on the agent’s knowledge of the sphere and product nuances. When an agent has a deep knowledge and understanding of the company’s products, they can simply and quickly explain to customers how to handle the issue they are facing.
However, knowledge is important; agents’ training is no less essential for productive work. This is why we prepare our staff to deal with various types of situations and apply different techniques for quick and effective problem-solving.
You will not find an answer to how to reduce AHT as an agent if outdated technology is the only option available to the staff. Make sure that your team members have access to advanced solutions that can support the team at every stage of their operations.
For instance, we recommend using AI in call centers to streamline a significant portion of routine operations, allowing agents to focus on more complex tasks. Solutions with translation functionality can enhance agents’ capabilities and simplify communication with customers from various regions.
Smart call routing is a foundation of effective query management. For instance, you can use AI technologies to analyze incoming tickets and forward them to the most suitable agents, speeding up resolution and reducing the average handling time. The reliability of the knowledge base, meanwhile, can impact whether agents can easily refer to the company’s data and use it to find the relevant way to assist callers.
Our average handle time analysis often shows that the main reasons for long average handle time in our clients’ work processes are operational bottlenecks. The first thing we do when taking on a new project is to analyze what we can improve in the standard workflow to make communication faster without compromising quality.
For instance, inefficient after-call work caused by the need to update multiple systems manually can seriously slow down an agent. In this case, we try to automate the workflow as much as possible. However, this is only one example of operational bottlenecks; in reality, they can be caused by a variety of factors, including technology issues, poor solution design, lack of training, and others.
The willingness to provide training for new agents is always a good thing, but it doesn’t mean you have to lower hiring standards too much. Accurate agent selection is always a top priority for us. We focus on candidates' hard and soft skills, as well as their experience working in call centers, to determine if they possess the necessary expertise to join our teams. Establish hiring standards and select employees who can meet the requirements of your call center metrics.
The predefined structure of conversation is more important than it seems. For instance, the AHT may rise if there are no standards for conversational flow, such as opening, problem diagnosis scenario, or closing patterns. If the agents have to jump between topics or repeat questions, they will become overwhelmed, and the resolutions will take longer.
You can apply scripts for each call type to make the flow clear for employees and reduce the chance of getting lost in the process.
Let’s review what affects average handling time and see how to improve AHT in a call center to achieve a better customer experience.
The logic suggests that the faster you jump to the solution, the faster you will solve the case. However, in reality, frustrated and upset customers will not let the agent do their job; instead, they try to interrupt and talk until they feel heard. We recommend letting customers finish their thoughts. Once they express frustration, they feel valued and understood and become more cooperative and attentive in the process.
However, there are situations when customers stray too far from the topic, and agents need to know when they can intervene and guide callers back on the right track. The balance between involvement and listening will increase the chances of fast handling and lower AHT.
Being polite does not mean using only open questions. They can help gather more information on complex problems, but once you are getting closer to the solution, closed questions with only “yes” or “no” options are the best friends of customer support representatives.
Closed questions allow agents to keep both their and customers' brains focused on the task and resolution. It is one of the working strategies for those who think about how to reduce talk time in a call center.
Technologies such as artificial intelligence can enhance the capabilities of customer support agents and increase their operational efficiency. For example, agent-assist solutions enable fast access to all relevant data required for a conversation with a customer.
Automation solutions, such as smart ticket and call routing, and auto-draft for replies, can minimize manual effort and increase the speed of all interactions. Real-time support channels, where more experienced agents can assist their colleagues with complex issues, can also make the teams’ lives easier.
The use of self-service options does not mean the complete replacement of the support team, but it can lower the number of queries with simple questions, as customers will be able to find answers themselves. Virtual AI-powered agents can assist with initial troubleshooting steps and pass the request to human agents if the customer needs more complex help.
Analytics can help with real-time monitoring and anomaly detection. For instance, supervisors may notice if the call takes longer than expected and check if they should intervene and provide assistance. AI live agents can listen to calls and support agents with relevant information or scripts. Real-time analytics also enables proactive staffing and routing adjustments during peak loads.
| Improve and simplify the agent workflow Optimizing requests and call handling processes with AI-driven solutions can streamline a range of routine procedures. | After-call work reduction Instead of manually updating the number of databases after the conversation, agents can use automated updates, saving time for other tasks and reducing AHT. |
| Effective call routine AI-powered solutions for the smart call routine will automatically analyze the intent of the call and transfer it to the most suitable and available specialist. | Agent training and development Trained agents with a deep understanding of processes and product knowledge can assist customers faster and achieve resolution in a shorter time, reducing AHT. |
| Analyze customer feedback Feedback analysis allows you to identify customers’ pain points and find the weak spots of the department. As a result, you can fix it and speed up support. | Customer self-service Automated responses to basic questions will save time for customers and agents. With round-the-clock AI-driven assistance, they can also get help any time. |
| Up-to-date knowledge base Keep your knowledge base up to date so agents can refer to it when searching for information. It will also help all team members to be on the same page. | Use of AI-enhanced tools Artificial intelligence is involved in a wide range of solutions for call centers and customer support departments, so that you can choose tools suitable for your teams. |
| Monitoring and performance analysis Constant monitoring of KPIs, including call center AHT, keeps you updated about current results and highlights bottlenecks and difficulties in agents’ work. | Staff improvement and motivation You can motivate employees with bonuses for reaching target AHTs. Also, we recommend fostering a supportive team environment to stimulate better work. |
Simply Contact is focused on delivering a high-quality experience and reducing AHT to assist more customers per day. Our partnership with Wizz Air is an example of how AHT reduction with the help of AI-powered solutions strengthens quality control. We developed and tested 25 strategies to reduce AHT, as well as optimized agents’ scripts and knowledge base to smooth the conversation flows.
As a result, we managed to reduce AHT by 30% and achieve an average call duration of 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Smart agent utilization enabled productivity improvement and better staffing during peak times. With the new approach, 120 agents on the line were able to handle 6,000 calls per day.
We continually work on upgrades, and our performance and ability to deliver positive customer experiences enabled us to secure the victory as the best customer service BPO in 2025. We have also won a silver award for technology and a gold for artificial intelligence.
The award from ECCCSAs for the Best Improvement Initiative, which primarily focused on AHT, is further proof of our commitment to monitoring key performance indicators and using them as a guide to customer satisfaction.
How to improve AHT without a quality loss? It is one of the most challenging tasks for the customer service department, as simply making conversations shorter is not enough to address the issue. Agents need to strike a balance between providing effective assistance in the short term and offering empathetic responses to queries. It is essential not to rush customers for better timing, but to keep them on track and guide them to the necessary solutions.
If the AHT becomes the sole target, rushing can make customers feel disconnected or left without proper assistance. They will be more likely to repeat calls and increase the workload on agents as they try to get assistance.
The same time standards do not work for all tasks, as different issues require different time frames. Instead of pushing agents to talk faster, supervisors can show effective ways to streamline workflows. Use technology to reduce wasted time without sacrificing care time.
So, what does AHT mean? It’s the average time you spend assisting customers. But do not underestimate its meaning for call centers. With average handle time monitoring, support departments can identify inefficient processes and see which agents need additional training. The lower the AHT is, the more queries agents will be able to handle within working hours, increasing customer satisfaction and improving their experience.
At Simply Contact, we specialize in creating personalized customer support solutions that drive business growth and customer satisfaction. Let us help you elevate your customer experience and stand out from the competition.
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