# What Is Average Response Time? How to Measure

Source: https://insertchat.com/glossary/average-response-time

> Average response time is how long customers wait for each reply in a conversation. Learn the formula, how it differs from first response time, and pitfalls.

Average response time is the average time a customer waits for each reply from a business across a conversation, not just the first one. It is calculated by adding up the wait before every business reply and dividing by the number of replies. It shows whether conversations keep moving after the first answer.

## How to calculate average response time

For every customer message that gets a reply, measure the gap until that reply, then average all the gaps for the period. A conversation with a two-minute first reply that then waits a day for the second answer has a fast [first response time](https://insertchat.com/glossary/first-response-time) but a poor average response time.

Averages are skewed by outliers, so many teams also look at the median. Exclude internal notes and automatic acknowledgments, and decide whether nights and weekends count. Email usually runs slower than chat or text, so compare each channel against itself.

## Example: an accounting firm in tax season

In March, an accounting firm’s email threads with clients get slower with each exchange as staff juggle returns. The first reply comes the same day, but follow-up answers about which documents to send take two or three days. Tracking average response time per thread reveals the slowdown that first response time alone hides. This scenario is illustrative.

## Keeping replies moving in InsertChat

InsertChat’s assistant replies to every message in a conversation, not only the first, on calls, chat, texts, and WhatsApp. For [email](https://insertchat.com/product/email), it can draft each reply for review or send automatically with a delay and a business-hours option, while complaints, payments, and legal topics wait for your team.

Conversations waiting on a person are marked needs-you, and queues show what is waiting for your reply. See the [accounting firm setup](https://insertchat.com/industries/accounting).

## What is the difference between first response time and average response time?

First response time measures only the wait for the first reply. Average response time includes every reply in the conversation, so it shows whether follow-ups stall.

## Is average or median response time better?

Median is more robust when a few conversations wait unusually long. Track both, and investigate the slow outliers rather than letting them hide in an average.

## Related terms

- [First response time](https://insertchat.com/glossary/first-response-time): First response time, or FRT, is how long a customer waits between contacting a business and receiving the first real reply, whether by chat, email, text, or a returned call.
- [First call resolution](https://insertchat.com/glossary/first-call-resolution): First call resolution, or FCR, is the percentage of customer calls or contacts fully resolved during the first interaction, without a callback, transfer, or repeat contact.
- [Shared inbox](https://insertchat.com/glossary/shared-inbox): A shared inbox is one workspace where a team sees and answers customer conversations together instead of in separate personal inboxes.
- [Omnichannel communication](https://insertchat.com/glossary/omnichannel-communication): Omnichannel communication means a business serves customers across phone, website chat, SMS, email, and messaging apps as one connected experience.

## Related InsertChat pages

- [AI email responder](https://insertchat.com/product/email)
- [Shared inbox](https://insertchat.com/product/inbox)
- [AI front desk for accounting firms](https://insertchat.com/industries/accounting)