Average Hold Time

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What Does Average Hold Time Mean?

The average hold time is the average time taken for an operator to answer a call or the time a customer waits in the queue before being answered.

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Techopedia Explains Average Hold Time

Handling time is the amount of time between when the system puts the customer on hold until the moment an agent becomes available (or the caller hangs up).

The average hold time is calculated by adding up all inbound customer call hold times and dividing that by the number of inbound customer calls answered by the agent or interactive voice response (IVR) system.

Firms have various options for reducing their average hold time:

  1. Increase their call handling staff to meet demand
  2. Offer more or better IVR to provide some of the services automatically
  3. Reduce handle times through improved call handling procedures, training and system development
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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.