Here's something that might shock you:

The quality of your support doesn't matter if you respond too slowly.

You could have the most knowledgeable, empathetic, helpful support team in the world. But if customers wait 8 hours for that first reply, they're already gone.

They've canceled their order. Switched to a competitor. Left a bad review. Made up their mind that your company is shitty.

All before your amazing support team even got a chance to help.

That's the brutal reality of first response time.

It's not about how well you solve problems. It's about how fast you acknowledge that someone needs help.

And the data proves it: first response time is the single most important metric in customer support.

Let me show you why and more importantly, how to fix yours.

What Is First Response Time?

Let's start with the definition.

First Response Time (FRT) is how long it takes from when a customer reaches out to when they receive their first reply from your team.

Not when the issue is fully resolved. Not when they get a solution. Just when they get that initial "Hey, we got your message and we're on it" response.

Here's what counts:

• Customer sends email at 2:00 PM
• You reply at 2:45 PM
• First Response Time = 45 minutes

Here's what doesn't count as a response:

• Auto-replies like "We got your message, someone will get back to you"
• Ticket confirmation emails with no actual information
• Generic "Thank you for contacting us" messages

A real first response needs to either:

1. Answer the customer's question
2. Acknowledge their issue and give them next steps
3. Ask for clarification if needed

According to SuperOffice research, the average first response time across industries is around 12 hours for email. But customers expect under 1 hour.

That gap? That's where you're losing customers.

Why First Response Time Matters More Than Any Other Metric

You might be thinking: "But what about resolution time? What about customer satisfaction scores?"

Those matter. But first response time matters most.

Here's why:

It Sets the Tone for the Entire Interaction

The first response is like a first impression. You don't get a second chance at it.

When you respond quickly, customers think:

• "Oh good, they're paying attention"
• "This company is on top of things"
• "I'm in good hands"

When you respond slowly (or not at all), they think:

• "Did they even get my message?"
• "Do they care about customers?"
• "Maybe I should just go somewhere else"

Microsoft research found that 90% of customers rate an immediate response as "important" or "very important" when they have a customer service question.

Not helpful. Not thorough. Immediate.

It Reduces Customer Anxiety

Here's what happens in a customer's brain when they reach out for help and don't hear back:

5 minutes: "They're probably busy, I'll give them a minute"

30 minutes: "Did they get my message? Maybe I should send another one"

2 hours: "Are they ignoring me? This is frustrating"

6 hours: "Forget it, I'm canceling/buying elsewhere"

The longer customers wait, the more anxious they get. That anxiety turns into frustration. That frustration damages your relationship.

A fast first response kills that anxiety immediately. Even if you can't solve the problem right away, just acknowledging them makes a huge difference.

It Prevents Churn Before It Happens

Here's something most businesses don't realize: people cancel subscriptions at night when they can't get help.

They run into a problem. They reach out. Nobody responds. They get frustrated. They hit "cancel."

By the time your support team shows up the next morning, the customer is already gone.

Forbes found that companies lose $75 billion per year due to poor customer service. Slow response times are one of the top complaints.

Fast first response time prevents this. Even if a chatbot is handling the initial response, customers feel acknowledged and are less likely to rage-quit.

Learn how to prevent this in our guide on how to offer 24/7 support without outsourcing.

It Directly Impacts Customer Satisfaction

Want to know the easiest way to improve your CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) scores?

Respond faster.

Forrester research shows that 73% of customers say valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide good service.

And what values their time more than responding quickly?

Even if the resolution takes a while, customers are way more forgiving if you responded fast initially.

It's the Only Metric Customers Actually Feel

Think about it.

Customers don't know your average handle time. They don't see your ticket volume or agent utilization rate.

But they feel how long they waited for that first response.

That wait time is burned into their memory. It shapes their entire perception of your company.

That's why first response time is the most important metric. It's the one customers judge you on.

What's a "Good" First Response Time in 2026?

Alright, so speed matters. But how fast is fast enough?

Here are the benchmarks by channel:

Email Support

Industry Average: 12 hours (according to Toister Performance Solutions)

Customer Expectation: Under 1 hour

Best-in-class: Under 30 minutes

If you're responding to emails in 6-12 hours, you're average. But average isn't good enough anymore.

The companies winning on customer experience respond to emails in under an hour. Many do it in under 30 minutes.

Live Chat

Industry Average: 2 minutes 40 seconds (according to SuperOffice)

Customer Expectation: Under 2 minutes

Best-in-class: Under 60 seconds

Live chat is called "live" for a reason. Customers expect immediate responses.

If someone's waiting 5+ minutes on your live chat, they're going to leave. They came to chat specifically because they wanted speed.

Learn more about optimizing live chat in our guide on the best chat widgets for websites.

Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X)

Industry Average: 10 hours (according to Sprout Social)

Customer Expectation: Under 1 hour

Best-in-class: Under 15 minutes

Social media is real-time. When someone DMs your business on Instagram, they're not thinking "I'll check back tomorrow."

They expect you to respond like you would in a normal conversation, within minutes, not hours.

If you're struggling with social media response times, check out our guides on Instagram automation tools and managing multiple channels.

WhatsApp Business

Industry Average: 3-6 hours

Customer Expectation: Under 30 minutes

Best-in-class: Under 5 minutes

WhatsApp is a messaging app. People use it for quick, real-time conversations.

When they message a business on WhatsApp, they expect the same speed they get when messaging their friends.

Learn how to handle WhatsApp support at scale with our WhatsApp automation tools guide.

Phone Support

Industry Average: Immediate (once they reach an agent)

Customer Expectation: Under 3 minutes hold time

Best-in-class: Under 1 minute hold time

Ypur phone is the only channel where "first response time" means "time to reach a helpful agent." The clock starts when they dial, not when they start talking.

Long hold times kill phone support. If customers wait 10+ minutes, they'll hang up and try a different channel (or a different company).

How to Calculate Your First Response Time

You can't improve what you don't measure.

Here's how to calculate your FRT:

For Individual Tickets: FRT = Time of first reply - Time customer reached out

Example:

• Customer emails at 2:15 PM
• You reply at 3:45 PM
• FRT = 1 hour 30 minutes (90 minutes)

For Average FRT Across All Tickets: Add up all individual FRTs, then divide by number of tickets.

Example:

• Ticket 1: 30 minutes
• Ticket 2: 45 minutes
• Ticket 3: 120 minutes
• Ticket 4: 15 minutes

Total: 210 minutes ÷ 4 tickets = Average FRT of 52.5 minutes

Most support platforms (including Heyy.io) calculate this automatically and show it on your dashboard.

You should track:

• Overall average FRT
• FRT by channel (email vs. chat vs. social)
• FRT by time of day (are mornings slower than afternoons?)
• FRT by agent (who's fastest? who needs help?)

When you track these metrics, you can spot patterns and fix bottlenecks.

Why Your First Response Time Is Slow 

If your FRT is longer than it should be, here's why:

Your Team Is Answering the Same Questions Over and Over

Look at your last 100 tickets. I bet 50-60 of them are variations of:

• "Where's my order?"
• "How do I reset my password?"
• "What's your refund policy?"
• "How do I use [feature]?"

If humans are typing out answers to these questions manually every time, of course your FRT is slow.

These questions should be automated.

You Don't Have 24/7 Coverage

If customers are reaching out at 11 PM and your team doesn't see those messages until 9 AM, that's a 10-hour FRT right there.

And that's before your team even starts working through their backlog from the previous day.

After-hours messages pile up. By the time your team comes online, they're already buried.

The solution? AI chatbots that work 24/7. Customers get instant responses even when your team is offline.

Your Queue Management Is a Mess

When every ticket is treated the same, urgent messages sit in line behind low-priority ones.

A customer trying to complete a purchase and having checkout issues? That's urgent. They need help now or they'll buy elsewhere.

Someone asking about a feature request for next quarter? That can wait.

Without proper prioritization, your team wastes time on low-impact tickets while high-impact customers wait.

Learn how to fix this in our guide on customer service queue management best practices.

You're Handling Too Many Channels

Your team is switching between:

• Email inbox
• Live chat dashboard
• Instagram DMs
• WhatsApp Business app
• Facebook Messenger
• Maybe even Twitter/X mentions

Every time they switch platforms, they lose time. Messages get missed. FRT suffers.

The solution is centralizing everything into one inbox. Heyy.io brings all channels together so your team sees every message in one place.

Your Team Doesn't Have Enough Context

When an agent picks up a ticket, they start from scratch:

• Who is this customer?
• What did they buy?
• Have they contacted us before?
• What's their history?

If they have to hunt for this information, FRT gets longer.

Good support platforms automatically pull customer context, order history, past conversations, account details, so agents can respond immediately.

How AI Dramatically Improves First Response Time

Let me explain how this works:

AI Handles Common Questions in Under 10 Seconds

When a customer asks "Where's my order?", an AI chatbot can:

1. Pull their order number from the system
2. Check shipping status
3. Respond with tracking information

Total time: 5-10 seconds.

A person doing the same thing takes 3-5 minutes (and that's if they're not busy with other tickets).

See real examples in our post on how AI chatbots cut support backlogs and save your team time.

AI Works 24/7 Without Getting Tired

Your human team works 8-hour shifts. Maybe you have coverage for 12 hours a day.

AI works 24/7/365. No breaks. Someone reaches out at 2 AM? AI responds in 10 seconds.

That means your FRT is always fast, not just during business hours.

AI Routes Complex Issues to the Right Person

For questions AI can't handle, it doesn't just create a ticket and walk away.

Good AI:

• Identifies the issue type
• Assigns priority
• Routes to the right team member
• Provides context so the human can jump in immediately

This means when a human does respond, they already know what's going on. They don't waste time asking "Can you explain your issue again?"

FRT stays low even for complex problems.

Learn more about this in our guide on AI customer service best practices.

How to Improve Your First Response Time (Step-by-Step)

Alright, enough theory. Let's talk about what you can do today to improve your FRT.

Step 1: Measure Your Current FRT

You can't improve what you don't track.

Check your support platform's analytics. What's your current average FRT?

If you don't have analytics, manually track 20-30 recent tickets:

• When did the customer reach out?
• When did you first respond?
• Calculate the gap

Do this by channel (email, chat, social) and by time of day.

Now you have a baseline.

Step 2: Set Realistic Goals Based on Your Channel

Don't try to fix everything at once. Pick your most important channel and focus there first.

Set goals based on industry benchmarks:

• Email: Get under 2 hours (then work toward 1 hour)
• Live chat: Get under 3 minutes (then work toward 90 seconds)
• Social media: Get under 2 hours (then work toward 1 hour)

Track progress weekly. When you hit your first goal, tighten it.

Step 3: Automate Your Top 20 Repetitive Questions

This is the highest-impact change you can make.

List your 20 most common questions. Then automate them using:

AI Chatbots: Best option. Handles questions instantly, learns over time, works 24/7. Heyy.io makes this easy.

Knowledge Base: Good for customers who want to self-serve. According to Salesforce, 78% of customers have used self-service portals.

Canned Responses: Quick fix for your team to respond faster manually.

Start with AI chatbots. They have the biggest impact on FRT.

Check out our guide on the best AI chatbots to reduce ticket backlog to find the right tool.

Step 4: Set Up After-Hours Automation

If your FRT spikes after business hours (and it probably does), you need 24/7 coverage.

But that doesn't mean hiring a night shift.

Set up an AI chatbot to handle after-hours messages:

• Answers common questions instantly
• Collects information for issues that need human follow-up
• Sets expectations: "Our team will respond within 2 hours when they're back online"

Customers get acknowledged immediately. Your FRT stays low even at 3 AM.

Step 5: Move All Channels Into One Inbox

If your team is making use of multiple platforms, they're wasting time.

Use a tool that brings everything together:

• Email
• Live chat
• WhatsApp
• Instagram DMs
• Facebook Messenger
• Twitter/X

Heyy.io does this. Your team sees every message in one place and can respond faster.

No more "Oh sorry, I missed your Instagram DM because I was checking email."

Step 6: Prioritize Urgent Messages

Not all messages are equal. Stop treating them like they are.

Set up auto-tagging based on keywords:

• Messages with "urgent," "cancel," "refund" → High priority
• Messages from VIP customers → High priority
• Payment or checkout issues → High priority

High-priority messages jump to the front of the queue. Your team sees them first. FRT for critical issues stays low.

Learn more about prioritization in how to manage customer support queues and clear backlogs faster.

Step 7: Give Your Team Context Automatically

When an agent picks up a ticket, they should see:

• Customer name and contact info
• Order history
• Past support conversations
• Account status

If your platform doesn't show this automatically, integrate it.

When agents have context immediately, they respond faster and more accurately.

Step 8: Monitor and Adjust Weekly

Check your FRT every week:

• What's the trend? Improving or getting worse?
• Which channel is slowest?
• Which time of day is the worst?
• Are certain agents consistently faster than others?

Use this data to make adjustments:

• Add more automation for slow channels
• Schedule more coverage during slow times
• Train slower agents on techniques faster agents use

Small improvements add up. A 10% improvement every week compounds quickly.

Here's what I want you to remember:

First response time shapes how customers feel about your entire company.

Fast response = "They care about me. I'm in good hands."

Slow response = "They don't care. I'm going somewhere else."

It's that simple.

And here's the good news: FRT is the easiest metric to improve.

You don't need to hire more people. You don't need to completely rebuild your support operation.

You just need:

1. Automation for repetitive questions
2. 24/7 AI coverage
3. Smart prioritization
4. One unified inbox

When you fix these four things, your FRT drops dramatically—often by 70-80%—within weeks.

Ready to transform your first response time? Try Heyy.io free for 14 days.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What's more important—first response time or resolution time?

A: First response time. Customers can tolerate a longer resolution time if they know you're working on it. But slow first response makes them feel ignored and drives them away. Acknowledge fast, then work on solving.

Q: How do I improve FRT without hiring more support agents?

A: Automate repetitive questions with AI chatbots. When you automate those, your existing team can respond way faster to the remaining 30%. 

Q: Should I measure FRT differently for different channels?

A: Yes! Customers expect different speeds for different channels. Live chat should be under 2 minutes. Email can be 1-2 hours. Social media under 1 hour. Set channel-specific goals and track them separately.

Q: What if I can't afford expensive chatbot software?

A: Platforms like Heyy.io start at under $50/month. That's cheaper than one hour of employee time per month. The ROI is immediate, you'll deflect hundreds of tickets and dramatically improve FRT. 

Q: How do I handle after-hours messages without working 24/7?

A: Use AI chatbots for after-hours coverage. They handle common questions instantly and collect information for complex issues that your team can address in the morning. Customers get acknowledged immediately (fast FRT) and know when to expect follow-up. 

Q: My team says they're too busy to respond faster. What do I do?

A: Automate the repetitive questions/tasks eating up their time. When AI handles 50-70% of tickets, your team suddenly has plenty of time to respond fast to what remains.