Connect to IntercomRepeat Contact Rate
Repeat Contact Rate measures the percentage of support contacts that are follow-ups from customers who already contacted support about the same issue within a defined window (typically 7–30 days). It is a quality signal: high repeat contact rate means issues are not being resolved the first time, costing time on both sides and increasing churn risk. FCR and repeat contact rate are inverses — improving one naturally improves the other.
Repeat Contact Rate = (Contacts from customers who reached out about the same issue within 30 days ÷ Total contacts) × 100
"Same issue" identification requires either customer self-report, agent tagging, or topic modeling. The simplest proxy: any second contact from the same customer within 7 days, regardless of stated issue. Define your window before tracking.
B2B SaaS, all channels
Calculate repeat contact rate
- 1Relying on agent-tagged categories to identify repeats — agents consistently under-tag repeat contacts because flagging them reflects on resolution quality.
- 2Setting the window too short — 24-hour windows miss most repeats. 7 days is a minimum; 30 days is more realistic for complex technical issues.
- 3Treating all repeat contacts as agent failures — many are caused by product bugs, unclear documentation, or policies the agent cannot change.
- 4Not cross-referencing with CSAT — a customer who contacts repeatedly and gives low CSAT each time is a high churn risk, not just a metric anomaly.