MTTR vs FRT
- FRT is the time to the first response.
- MTTR is the time to full resolution.
A team can have great FRT but terrible MTTR if the first reply is fast but the back-and-forth drags on.
How MTTR is measured
MTTR = Sum of resolution times / Total resolved tickets
Tickets that escalate to engineering, finance, or third parties typically extend MTTR. Some teams report MTTR with and without "external dependency" tickets separately.
Benchmarks for 2026
| Industry | Typical MTTR |
|---|---|
| SaaS (B2B) | 8 hours |
| E-commerce | 90 minutes |
| BFSI | 24 hours |
| Telecom | 14 hours |
| Travel | 4 hours |
How to improve MTTR
- AI summaries at handoff (no agent has to re-read 40 messages)
- Internal escalation playbooks for common cross-team issues
- Knowledge base search inside the agent UI
- Workflow automation for predictable resolution paths (returns, refunds, password resets)
Common use cases
- Reporting on team productivity
- Identifying tickets stuck in handoff loops
- Measuring impact of new tooling or automation
- Capacity planning
Related terms
First Response Time (FRT)
First Response Time (FRT) is the time between a customer's first message and the first substantive reply from a support agent — one of the most-watched customer support metrics because it correlates strongly with CSAT.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
A service-level agreement (SLA) in customer support is a documented commitment about how fast tickets will be acknowledged and resolved, typically expressed as a time threshold by priority or customer tier.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)
CSAT — Customer Satisfaction Score — is a survey metric measuring how satisfied a customer was with a specific interaction, usually on a 1–5 scale, reported as the percentage of respondents scoring 4 or 5.
Ticket Deflection
Ticket deflection is the practice of resolving customer questions before they become an agent-handled ticket — typically via self-service knowledge bases, AI agents, or smart routing.
See mttr (mean time to resolution) in Bublly
Bublly bundles unified inbox, AI agents, ticketing, and analytics — covering everything in this glossary in one platform.
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