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8 tips to reduce your average handle time

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Your full guide to average handle time: 8 tips to reduce AHT

We all have 1,440 minutes in a day, and customers are reluctant to waste any of them on long customer support calls. When an issue arises, they want it resolved quickly.

In fact, recent research shows that 56% of consumers are less likely to spend money with a business that takes longer to respond than they expect. This expectation applies to every interaction, which is why average handle time (AHT) is a key customer support metric.

AHT as a key performance indicator (KPI) fits into a broader set of metrics that customer support managers track to evaluate overall performance:

Customer satisfaction (CSAT): This metric gauges how happy customers are with their support experience.
First call resolution (FCR): This tracks your ability to resolve customer issues on the first contact, effectively reducing the need for follow-ups.
Average speed of answer (ASA): This measures how quickly customers can reach a live agent.
Agent utilization rate: This metric shows how much time call center agents spend actively engaging with customers.
Customer effort score (CES): This evaluates how much effort customers need to put into getting their issues resolved.

Tracking the average amount of time agents spend handling calls along with these other metrics gives support managers a well-rounded picture of agent performance and helps them spot where service levels can be improved. While having a low AHT suggests that the team is working efficiently, it's important to also consider metrics like CSAT and FCR. This way, they can make sure that the quality of service isn't compromised in the pursuit of speed.

We’ll show you how to reduce AHT.

What is average handle time?

AHT tracks how long, on average, each customer interaction lasts from beginning to end. It helps you understand how efficiently your support team operates — plus, it has a direct effect on customer satisfaction.

AHT includes everything that happens during a customer contact:

The amount of time spent talking to the customer
Any time the customer is put on hold
The wrap-up time after the call or chat ends (when the agent is doing things like updating notes or completing forms)

To calculate AHT, you add up all these times for every customer interaction, then divide by the total number of calls. It's usually measured in minutes or seconds.

Here's a simple way to think about the AHT formula:

AHT = (Total Talk Time + Total Hold Time + Total After-Call Work Time) ÷ Total Number of Interactions

For example, if in one day your team handled 100 customer calls, and the total call handling time was 500 minutes, your AHT would be 5 minutes (500 ÷ 100 = 5).

Remember, AHT is an average, so some interactions will be shorter and some will be longer. The goal is to get a general sense of how long interactions typically take, which can help you plan staffing, identify training needs, and improve agent productivity.

How does AHT impact customer satisfaction?

Long wait times and high AHT can really hurt your customer satisfaction score.

When customers have to wait a long time to speak with an agent, they can get frustrated and annoyed before the conversation even starts. Nobody likes being stuck on hold, especially when they have an issue that needs solving. This early frustration can cloud the entire interaction.

That frustration then gets compounded if the call or chat drags on for too long when a customer finally reaches an agent. Customers value their time, and lengthy interactions make them feel like the company doesn’t respect that. They might think:

“Why is this taking so long?”
“Do they know what they’re doing?”
“I have other things to do!”

Research shows just how much wait times impact CSAT. When customers get timed out of a chat due to long waits, the chances of a negative CSAT score jump up to 80%. That’s a huge increase from the usual 20% negative rate.

Long AHTs can also indicate customers are being transferred multiple times or put on hold repeatedly. This makes them feel like they’re getting the runaround, which is incredibly frustrating.

The bottom line is that customers want their issues resolved quickly and efficiently. When wait times and AHTs are high, it signals to customers that the company isn’t able to do that, which ultimately negatively impacts the service experience and translates into poor CSAT scores.

What are the most common reasons for a high AHT?

There are several reasons why a company might end up with a high average handle time (AHT). Let's break down some of the most common culprits:

1. Lack of agent training

When agents aren't trained well, they often struggle to handle customer issues quickly and effectively. It's like sending someone to fix your car who's only read about cars in books but never actually worked on one. They might eventually figure it out, but it's going to take a lot longer. Poorly trained agents might:

Need to put customers on hold to ask for help
Take longer to find the right information
Struggle to understand and solve complex problems

2. Complicated call center process

If agents have to manage a ton of processes on top of answering questions and solving problems for customers, they’ll be distracted and spend their time inefficiently. Imagine trying to cook a meal while also doing your taxes and answering trivia questions. That's how it can feel for agents dealing with overly complicated workflows. This might include:

Having to switch between multiple software programs
Following long, convoluted scripts
Needing to fill out extensive forms for each interaction

3. Outdated contact center technology

Using old or clunky technology can really hold agents back. Without the most up-to-date call center technologies, there’s a good chance agents won’t be able to realize their full potential. Plus, managers may not have the same visibility into metrics.

8 tips for improving your average handle time

Ready to lower AHT? Here are some practical tips to experiment with:

1. Provide comprehensive training for your agents

Invest in thorough training for your team members. Well-trained agents can handle customer issues faster and more effectively. A lot of this can be solved with a detailed, structured onboarding program for new hires that shows them exactly how to resolve issues quickly and arms them with key product knowledge from the start. But you can also offer regular refresher courses and use good old-fashioned role-playing exercises to practice handling common support scenarios.

2. Use call recording to find areas for improvement

Listening to recorded calls can help you identify where agents are struggling or where certain processes are slowing things down. Schedule time to regularly review a sample of calls from each agent and look for common issues or bottlenecks across multiple phone calls and interactions. You can then use your findings to create targeted training or streamline any clunky processes that aren’t serving your team well.

3. Create and implement powerful scripts for agents

Good scripts can help agents navigate conversations more efficiently without sounding like robots. Start by developing scripts for common scenarios, but keep them loose so there’s plenty of room for flexibility and nuance in unique situations. You can include key phrases that help move conversations forward. These act as prompts to keep agents on track. Remember to regularly update scripts based on customer feedback and changing customer needs.

4. Consistently gather customer feedback

Understanding the customer’s perspective can help you identify areas for improvement that you might otherwise miss. You can extract useful feedback through post-call surveys, follow-up emails that allow for more detailed responses, and live at the end of the agent’s call. Consider implementing a net promotor score (NPS) system too. This measures customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking customers how likely they are to recommend your products or services to others, typically on a scale from 0 to 10.

5. Minimize small talk and call greetings

There’s a time and a place for small talk, and it’s not when someone has an issue that needs resolving. While being friendly is important, excessive chit-chat can unnecessarily extend call times. Avoid this by creating concise, friendly greetings that get to the point quickly, training agents to politely guide conversations back on track if customers veer off-topic, and encouraging agents to be efficient yet personable.

6. Create an accessible, shared knowledge base

A well-organized knowledge base can help agents find information quickly without having to put customers on hold. For best results, use a content management system that’s easy to navigate and regularly update your knowledge base with the latest information. As this is a self-service model, try to organize information so agents don’t have to trawl through hundreds of pages to find what they’re looking for.

7. Use AI where available

AI can handle simple queries which frees up human agents so they can tackle more complex issues that need a real-person input. Start by implementing chatbots to answer FAQs and use AI for initial call routing to get customers to the right department faster. You can also use an AI-powered suggestion system to help agents find relevant information quickly.

8. Use the right tools to manage your call center operations

Having real-time visibility into your metrics helps you make quick adjustments when needed. It’s a good idea to invest in robust call center management software and set up dashboards that display key metrics in real time. Then, train managers on how to interpret and act on this data quickly.

Take a metrics-driven approach to your customer experience with Assembled

Assembled’s suite of powerful tools helps call center managers make real-time decisions and take action to improve service quality and, as a byproduct, the customer experience.

Real-time dashboards show you what’s happening in your call center right now, giving you live updates on AHT, wait times, and agent availability at a glance. The platform also allows you to track how your agents are doing over time. You can spot trends, identify top performers, see where additional training might be needed and, with Assembled’s historical data feature, easily predict future call volumes. This helps you schedule the right number of agents at the right times, reducing wait times and improving customer satisfaction.

By using Assembled, you can: