What is “Hold Time“?
This is a call center term that is used to describe the total amount of time a caller spends on an agent-initiated hold status. This is the exact moment when the caller is connected with the agent, has some discussion, then the agent decides to put the call on hold. During this time, the caller is technically not disconnected – they’re just waiting for the agent to get back to them. There are several reasons why agents put customers on hold. It may be to ask their supervisor for help in resolving customer concerns or pulling up the caller’s record. Whatever it may be, it’s important to keep the hold time at a minimum as it might affect the level of customer satisfaction.
Here at Everise, we use exage® agent intelligence which enables supervisors, coaches, and agents to improve the performance of our experience centers. This coaching platform provides an advanced level of performance management and data-led analysis that can be used in coaching and increasing the performance of every agent.
What does high hold time mean?
Having a higher hold time is an indication that something is wrong with the way the team is handling the call. Excessive hold time spoils the customer experience. Fortunately, companies can easily track down where the problem is. Since it’s possible to drill it down to an agent level, you can start evaluating the process from there. This would allow you to come up with strategies or tools to improve the agent’s average hold time.
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