Connect to IntercomAverage Handle Time
Average Handle Time (AHT) measures the average time a support agent spends actively working on a single ticket or conversation — including writing responses, reviewing context, and any post-conversation tagging or notes. In voice support, AHT includes talk time, hold time, and after-call work. For async channels (email, in-app chat), AHT reflects total active focus time per ticket. It is the foundational input for staffing calculations and a proxy for ticket complexity.
AHT = Total handle time across all tickets ÷ Number of tickets handled
Handle time per ticket is the sum of all time an agent spent actively working on that conversation. Most helpdesks measure this automatically. Report in minutes. Clarify whether your tool tracks "time to first reply" or true "active work time" — they differ significantly for async support.
B2B SaaS, async email/in-app support
Calculate your average handle time
- 1Treating AHT as a pure efficiency metric — lower is not always better. Rushed tickets produce lower AHT and higher reopen rates.
- 2Comparing AHT across ticket types — a billing dispute and a password reset have fundamentally different handle-time profiles.
- 3Not segmenting by channel — voice AHT and async email AHT are incomparable metrics.
- 4Using AHT alone to measure agent performance — pair it with CSAT and IQS to confirm speed is not coming at the cost of quality.