CX Performance Indicator Benchmarks

This page details the key performance benchmarks and indicators measured across all Gladly customers, displayed as the average and median. You can decide which measure aligns best with your contact center goals. By understanding your contact center performance against these benchmarks, you can identify areas for improvement to ensure you are providing the best service experience possible or use it purely for informational purposes.

This benchmark data was collected over a year from hundreds of active Gladly customers and includes data from various industries, including but not limited to retail, health, and hospitality.

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Key benchmarks overview

Use the benchmark data as a guide to help you understand how your contact center is performing against other Gladly customers. Assess this data subjectively based on your contact center goals or contact center’s measures of success when compared against these benchmarks.

As a Gladly customer, you can measure your performance using the following key benchmarks, provided as the median and average from anonymized data across all Gladly customers:

1. First Contact Resolution (FCR)

2. Contact Handle Time (CHT)

3. After Contact Time (ACT)

4. Wait Time

5. Channel Mix

First Contact Resolution (FCR)

Issues were resolved during an Agent’s first interaction with the Customer without additional follow-up. FCR is one of the critical indicators of operational efficiency. Higher FCR rates typically correlate with improved customer experiences and reduced workload for Agents.

Formula: FCR Conversations ÷ FCR-Eligible Conversations

How to find your FCR in Gladly

Start with the Daily Trends Dashboard. Its FCR tile shows % FCR success over time and can be filtered by Channel (using the "First Channel" of the Conversation), so it's the fastest way to see how your FCR compares to the benchmarks above, channel by channel.

For a deeper agent-level view, use the First Contact Resolution by Agent (New) report. It's grouped by Conversation and Agent, using the Conversation's last-closed date as the time anchor, and includes FCR %, FCR Conversations, and FCR-Eligible Conversations columns in the CSV export. One thing to know: this report doesn't have a Channel filter, since it's built to answer agent-level questions rather than channel-level ones. To connect FCR trends back to a channel (for example, if you want to know whether your email FCR specifically is below the 66% benchmark), use the Daily Trends Dashboard tile or filter the Contact Export report by Channel and cross-reference against Conversations closed.

If FCR is trending below benchmark for a channel, check your Channel Mix report to see whether Customer volume has shifted toward a harder-to-resolve channel (email typically has more back-and-forth than chat or voice, for example), and your Contact Handle Time numbers to see if Agents are spending less time per contact than the topic requires.

Contact Handle Time (CHT)

Measures (in minutes) the total time an Agent spends on a Customer Profile while there’s an active Contact (i.e., a message). Monitoring CHT allows you to assess the efficiency of your service team. A lower CHT can indicate efficient problem resolution, but balancing efficiency with Customer satisfaction is essential.

How to find your CHT in Gladly

Use the Contact Summary (New) report. It includes Avg. Inbound Contact Handle Time and Avg. Outbound Contact Handle Time, and you can filter the report by Channel to line up directly with the benchmarks above (note that Voice here reflects phone calls only — it excludes voicemail and abandoned-call follow-ups). Time displays as hh:mm:ss (or d:hh:mm:ss) in the UI and as raw seconds in the CSV export, so divide by 60 to get minutes for an apples-to-apples comparison with the benchmark table.

If you want handle time broken out by Agent rather than by channel, use Agent Summary Glance (a lighter-weight view built from the broader Agent Summary report), which reports Contact Handle Time per Agent, split out by Phone Call, Chat, SMS, and Email.

Keep in mind Contact Handle Time is different from Active Conversation Handle Time (ACHT) — a Conversation-level metric (Conversation Handle Time ÷ Closed Conversations) that's being sunset in favor of Conversation Summary. Use Contact Summary (New), not ACHT/Conversation Summary, when comparing to these benchmarks, since the benchmark is defined at the Contact level, not the Conversation level.

After Contact Time (ACT)

The period (in minutes) an Agent spends post-Contact (e.g., a phone call, a chat) before a new Customer is routed to them. ACT is critical for understanding your Agents' total workload. Reducing ACT can increase capacity for handling more interactions and improve overall efficiency.

How to find your ACT in Gladly

Use the same Contact Summary (New) report you used for CHT — it includes Avg. Inbound After Contact Time and Avg. Outbound After Contact Time, filterable by Channel, on the same time anchor (Contact Ended At). Running CHT and ACT together in one pull is intentional: Gladly defines Total Contact Time as Contact Handle Time + After Contact Time, so the two benchmarks are meant to be read side by side.

For an Agent-level view (for example, to spot individual Agents whose ACT is inflating your channel average), use Agent Summary Glance, which reports After Contact Time per Agent, split out by Phone Call, Chat, SMS, and Email.

If your ACT is running high, check whether Agents are staying in Focus mode after a Contact ends longer than necessary — see How does using Focus impact Agent performance on reports? for how Focus usage shows up in these numbers.

Wait Time

Refers to the time Customers spend waiting to be assisted by an Agent. In certain industries like hospitality or retail, short Wait Times are critical for quick resolutions, while in healthcare or financial services, longer Wait Times may be acceptable for more complex inquiries. Acceptable Wait Times also depend on the issue's urgency, making it essential to align with industry standards and your Customer expectations.

How to find your Wait Time in Gladly

Use the Channel Wait Time (New) report for a dedicated, channel-by-channel trend view. Its key metric, Avg Queued-to-Fulfilled Time, is the average duration from when a Contact was first queued to when it was fulfilled — the same definition behind this benchmark — and it also offers an Avg Queued-to-Fulfilled Time within Business Hours variant if you'd rather exclude after-hours queue time from the comparison. Note this metric only counts inbound, fulfilled Contacts (it excludes abandoned or forwarded Contacts), which matches how the benchmark above was calculated.

You'll find the same Avg. Queued-to-Fulfilled Time metric inside Contact Summary (New) if you'd rather pull Wait Time alongside Handle Time and After Contact Time in a single report rather than as a standalone pull. The Daily Trends Dashboard's Channel Wait Time tile is the fastest way to eyeball today's number against the benchmark without running a full report.

If your Wait Time is running above benchmark on a channel (email in particular tends to run in hours, not minutes, industry-wide, so don't be alarmed if your email number looks large next to voice or chat), check Channel Mix to see if volume has spiked on that channel, and your Service Level reports (formerly SLA Attainment by Channel / SLA Percentile, now rolled into Contact Summary) to see how that's affecting SLA attainment.

Channel Mix

Refers to the distribution of Contacts across different communication Channels (e.g., phone, email, chat, social media). Use this information to optimize resource allocation and improve customer satisfaction by ensuring you meet customers where they prefer to engage.

Channel Mix is a bit unique as there’s not a specific percentage you may want to align against. Still, you can use this benchmark to get a sense of what a comparable Channel Mix might look like based on this data for your contact center.

How to find your Channel Mix in Gladly

Use the Channel Mix report. It's grouped by Contact and time, anchored on the Contact's Queued At event, and gives you Contacts Inbound (count of inbound Contacts per channel) and % of Inbound Contacts (that channel's Contacts divided by total inbound Contacts) — the exact percentages you'd compare to the benchmark distribution above. It also reports Messages from Customer and Messages from Agent per channel, useful context for why a channel like email typically shows more messages per Contact than chat or voice. Note that this report is flagged for sunsetting, so for the latest view of the same data, use the Channel Mix tile in the Daily Trends Dashboard described below, or check Reports Sunsetting Overview for its eventual replacement once one is published.

The Daily Trends Dashboard also has a Channel Mix tile, filterable by Channel and Inbox, if you want a running view of your distribution alongside your other daily metrics rather than a standalone report pull.

If your mix looks heavier on a channel than the benchmark suggests (for example, well above 66% on email), that's worth reading together with your Wait Time and FCR numbers for that channel — a channel absorbing more volume than typical is often the one showing longer waits or lower FCR.

Interpret results

Above Median/Average

If your performance is above the median for any benchmark, you perform better than the average Gladly customer. Continue with your current strategies and look for ways to enhance performance further. Note that the reverse is true for Contact Handle Time and After Contact Time, where being below the median/average is ideal.

At Median/Average

Performing at the median indicates you are in line with the industry average. Consider setting goals for improvement in specific areas.

Below Median/Average: If your metrics fall below the median, analyze the underlying causes and develop targeted strategies to improve performance.

Improve your benchmarks

Analyze Data

Regularly review these benchmark data to identify trends and areas for improvement.

Implement Training

Provide ongoing training to Agents to enhance their skills and efficiency across your Channels.

Leverage Technology

Utilize Gladly’s features to streamline processes and reduce handling times.

Solicit Feedback

Gather feedback from Customers and Agents to refine your support strategies continuously.

By leveraging the benchmarking tools available through Gladly, you can gain valuable insights into your contact center performance. Regularly monitoring these benchmarks will help you enhance your strategies, improve efficiency, and deliver a superior service experience.

Going further with custom reporting

The reports above cover the standard, out-of-the-box view for each benchmark. If you need a custom cut — say, blending FCR with Channel Mix in one view, or reporting on a rolling window the standard reports don't support — Analyst users can build that in Insight Builder using the Contact Metrics or Conversation Metrics datasets, which carry the same underlying fields referenced above. All of these metrics are also available through the Reports API if you'd rather pull them into your own data warehouse and benchmark them there.