Queue Time
Queue time is the duration a customer waits in line before being connected to a support agent, starting from when they enter the queue until an agent begins handling their request.
In Depth
Queue time is the customer experience metric that most directly drives frustration and dissatisfaction. Research consistently shows that customer satisfaction drops significantly after just 2-3 minutes of waiting. Queue time is influenced by call volume, number of available agents, average handle time, and routing efficiency.
Traditional approaches to reducing queue time involve hiring more agents — an expensive solution that does not scale well during demand spikes. AI offers a fundamentally different approach: instead of adding more agents to a queue, AI eliminates the queue itself. AI chatbots and voicebots handle interactions instantly without queuing, self-service options resolve common issues before customers need to queue, and intelligent routing ensures customers reach the right agent on the first attempt, avoiding re-queuing after transfers.
Organizations using AI typically report 70-90% reductions in average queue time.
Related Terms
Wait Time
Wait time is the total duration a customer spends waiting for assistance across all stages of a support interaction, including queue time, hold time, and transfer wait time.
Average Speed of Answer
Average speed of answer (ASA) is the average time a customer waits in a queue before their call is answered by an agent, measured from the moment they enter the queue.
Abandon Rate
Abandon rate is the percentage of incoming support interactions (calls, chats, or tickets) that customers abandon before receiving assistance, typically due to long wait times.
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