Help desk metrics that mean something

Average response time is the most-loved and least-useful help desk metric. It rewards fast acknowledgments without rewarding actual resolution.

Better questions to ask

• What percentage of tickets get resolved on first contact? This rewards depth, not speed.
• How many tickets per user per month? Ticket volume is a leading indicator. A spike means something changed, usually for the worse.
• How long do tickets sit in customer-waiting status? Tickets that stall waiting on the customer are tickets where we did not communicate well.
• What is the distribution of ticket categories? If 40 percent of tickets are password resets, you have a self-service problem, not a help desk problem.
• How does CSAT correlate with technician? If one tech is consistently producing happier customers, learn what they are doing differently.

What metrics not to chase

"Time to first response" rewards fast acknowledgment without rewarding resolution. "Tickets closed per technician" rewards closing tickets fast, including closing tickets the customer does not consider resolved.