Average Speed of Answer

In depth

Average speed of answer (ASA) measures how long, on average, a contact waits in the queue before an agent answers. As the formula shows, it is the total queue wait time divided by the number of answered contacts over a period. The metric comes from call-centre reporting, where it tracks the seconds a caller waits on hold, but it applies equally to any queued channel, such as live chat.

The important detail is the denominator: ASA is calculated only across contacts that were actually answered. A call that rang out or a chat abandoned before anyone picked up does not appear in the figure. That keeps ASA focused on one specific question, how quickly the people you did reach were reached, rather than the wider experience of everyone who tried to get through.

Because it isolates the queue, ASA is closely tied to the state of your support queue and to staffing. When more contacts arrive than there are agents free, the queue lengthens and ASA climbs. It is a different measure from first response time: first response time can start from a written request and may be met by an automated reply, whereas ASA specifically counts the wait for a live agent to become available.

What counts in average speed of answer?

ASA measures queue time, not conversation time. The clock starts when a contact joins the queue, having passed any menu or routing step, and stops the instant an agent connects. Anything that happens after that, the length of the call or chat itself, belongs to other metrics like handle time, not to ASA.

Two choices shape the number. The first is whether time spent in an automated menu counts as queue time; most teams start the clock once the contact is genuinely waiting for a person. The second is how abandoned contacts are treated: because they are excluded from ASA, a queue with heavy abandonment can post a flattering ASA while many customers never got through at all, which is why it is best read next to average wait time and abandonment.

What's a good average speed of answer?

There is no universal benchmark. A good average speed of answer depends on the channel and on what your customers expect: live chat is judged in seconds, while a callback queue may reasonably run to minutes. A figure that looks slow for one channel can be perfectly acceptable for another.

The most useful target is one your team can meet consistently, in your busy hours as well as your quiet ones, rather than a headline number borrowed from a different operation. Track the trend over time, and remember that the surest way to a lower ASA is a shorter queue: when routine questions are resolved before they ever reach an agent, everyone still waiting is answered sooner.