How each metric is counted
The exact rule behind every figure in Analytics, from tickets created to one-touch rate and survey response rate, and the rules all reports share.
On this page
Every figure in Analytics follows the rules on this page. The same definitions appear when you hover the i beside a figure, and on Analytics > Metrics glossary, which you can search.
Rules every report shares#
Left out everywhere: tickets marked as spam, trashed or deleted, and deleted messages.
A reply from your team is a public message written by a person on your team that did not fail to send. Internal notes never count. Rules and other automations send as the helpdesk's bot account, and bot accounts' replies never count as replies, so an automatic answer does not stop a response clock.
A customer message is any public message not written by your team, including the one that opened the ticket.
Days run from midnight to midnight in the helpdesk's time zone.
Rates are worked out from the two totals for the whole range, never by averaging daily rates. A rate whose bottom number is zero shows as a dash.
Medians are the middle value: half the tickets were faster, half slower. With an even number of tickets, the median is halfway between the two middle ones. Averages are the plain mean, so one ticket that waited a week pulls an average far more than a median.
Times count every hour unless you switch on Business hours only. Then only time inside your business hours counts, leaving out nights, weekends and holidays.
Ticket and message figures#
| Figure | Kind | How it is counted | Dated by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tickets created | Count | Tickets opened in the range | When the ticket was opened |
| Tickets replied | Count | Different tickets that got at least one reply from your team in the range. A ticket answered on several days counts once | When the reply was sent |
| Tickets closed | Count | Tickets closed in the range that are still closed. A ticket reopened and still open does not count | When it was last closed |
| Messages sent | Count | Replies your team sent in the range | When it was sent |
| Messages received | Count | Customer messages in the range, including the first one on each ticket | When it was received |
| Messages per ticket | Ratio | Customer messages plus team replies on the tickets opened in the range, whenever they were written, divided by those tickets | When the ticket was opened |
| Share of tickets created | Percentage | A row's tickets created (a channel, tag or agent) divided by all tickets created in the range, each ticket counted once. Tag shares can total over 100% | When the ticket was opened |
Because messages per ticket counts later messages on the range's tickets, it can still rise for a few days after the range ends.
Response and resolution times#
| Figure | Kind | How it is counted | Dated by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median first response time | Time | For each ticket, the wait between the customer's first message and your team's first reply after it; then the middle value | When that first reply was sent |
| Average first response time | Time | The same waits, averaged | When that first reply was sent |
| Median resolution time | Time | For each ticket closed in the range and still closed, from opening to its last close; then the middle value | When it was closed |
| Average resolution time | Time | The same times, averaged | When it was closed |
A ticket with no customer message, or that nobody on your team has answered yet, has no first response time. The report pages show the medians; the averages are listed in the glossary page and returned by the API.
One-touch rate#
One-touch rate (percentage) takes the tickets closed in the range that are still closed and got at least one reply from your team, and gives the share that got exactly one. Tickets closed without any reply are left out of both numbers. It is dated by when the ticket was closed.
Satisfaction figures#
| Figure | Kind | How it is counted | Dated by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average satisfaction score | Score from 1 to 5 | The sum of the scores divided by how many there are | When the customer gave the score |
| Satisfaction rate | Percentage | Scores of 4 or 5 divided by all scores | When the customer gave the score |
| Scores received | Count | Scores customers gave | When the customer gave the score |
| Surveys sent | Count | Surveys that went out, answered or not | When the survey was sent |
| Survey response rate | Percentage | Surveys sent in the range that have a score now, divided by surveys sent in the range | When the survey was sent |
Unanswered surveys affect only the response rate. A survey answered after the range ends still counts as answered for the range it was sent in.
Which agent a figure follows#
With an agent picked in the filters, or on the Agents report:
The sender gets tickets replied, messages sent and first response times.
The assignee now gets tickets created, tickets closed, messages received, messages per ticket, resolution times, one-touch rate and every satisfaction figure.
A ticket two people replied to counts once for each of them.
Changes and comparisons#
The change under a figure is the difference from the comparison period. Counts, times, scores and ratios show it as a percentage of the earlier value; rates show it in percentage points ("pts"). When the earlier value was zero there is no percentage, and tables say New for a row that had nothing before.
The comparison period is either the same number of days just before your range or the same dates a year earlier. When your range includes today, it stops at the same time of day.
Green means a change in the direction that is good for that figure: higher for tickets replied and closed, one-touch rate and the satisfaction figures; lower for response and resolution times and messages per ticket. Tickets created, messages sent and received, surveys sent and shares are neither good nor bad, and stay grey.
Live view figures#
| Figure | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Open tickets | Tickets open right now, snoozed ones included |
| Waiting on a reply | Open tickets where the customer wrote last. A reply from a rule or bot account is not an answer |
| Unassigned | Open tickets with no agent |
| Snoozed | Open tickets snoozed until a later time |
| Opened today | Tickets opened since midnight in the helpdesk's time zone |
| Closed today | Tickets closed since midnight that are still closed |
| Oldest open ticket | How long the open ticket opened earliest has been open |
Busiest times counts#
| Count | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Tickets created | Tickets opened in each hour of the week |
| Messages received | Customer messages in each hour of the week |
| Messages sent | Replies from your team in each hour of the week |
Hours are on the helpdesk's clock, and each square adds up every matching hour in the range.
Help center figures#
These are counted on live help centers without cookies, so a visitor is recognized for one day only. See Help center statistics and tracking.
| Figure | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Article views | Times customers opened an article. Search engine crawlers are left out |
| Visitors | Different people who opened an article, searched or clicked contact, counted once per day; the same person on two days counts twice |
| Searches | Searches customers ran |
| Searches with no results | The share of searches that found no article: questions your help center does not answer yet |
| Searches with a click | The share of searches after which the customer opened a result |
| Found it helpful | The share of answers to "Was this article helpful?" that were yes |
| Contact clicks | Clicks on the contact card, from customers who went on to write to your team |
Automation figures#
| Figure | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Resolved by automation | Flows the visitor said helped, plus chats a suggested article answered |
| Flows started | Times a visitor picked a flow in the chat window |
| Handed over by a flow | Flows that ended by passing the visitor to your team |
| Left before the end | Flows the visitor stopped before the end, including any still running |
| Resolution rate (per flow) | Flows the visitor said helped, out of flows started |
| Order requests | Problems, returns and cancellations asked for in chat; each one opens a ticket |
Each is dated by the day it began. The Automation report has the rest of the page.
AI agent figures#
| Figure | How it is counted |
|---|---|
| Drafts written | Drafted replies made in the range, by the AI agent and by built-in drafting |
| Drafts used | Of the drafts a person either used or discarded, the share they used. Drafts replaced before anyone decided are left out |
| Followed a skill | Drafts that followed at least one skill |
| The AI agent's changes | Notes, tags, drafts, skills and other changes the AI agent made, from the helpdesk's event log |
The AI Agent performance report explains the page in full.
For developers#
The API answers with the same numbers as the report pages. GET /api/metric-cards returns each definition above with its formula, other names people use for it and the reporting query that returns it. The API always counts every hour; the business hours option exists only on the report pages. See The REST API and API keys.
Related articles
- Analytics overviewFind the reports, read the ten headline figures on the Overview page, see how each moved against the period before and chart any of them over time.
- Filter, compare and export reportsPick a date range and a comparison, narrow a report to one channel, tag, agent or team, count business hours only, share the view and download it as CSV.
- Satisfaction reportRead your average survey score, the share of happy customers, how many answered the survey, the split of scores from 1 to 5 and their latest comments.
- Agent performanceCompare each person's replies, closed tickets, response and resolution times, one-touch rate and satisfaction score, and narrow the report to one team.
Still stuck?
Write to the Growth Dept team and a person answers. Say which helpdesk you work in and what you were trying to do.