The AHT (Average Handling Time) in technical customer service has a significant impact not only on personnel costs but also on customer satisfaction. In particular, technical problems that are difficult for customers to understand and describe have a huge impact on the average handling time. How can companies improve their AHT? Especially in technical customer support, an innovative solution is needed here. We took a closer look at the reasons for too long AHT and a solution to improve it.
Reasons for a long AHT
A customer service phone call can often drag on due to numerous individual reasons. One thing is certain, no matter what the reason: Every unnecessary second spent on the service hotline costs money and wears on the patience of customers and staff.
Complexity of the request
Customers usually contact customer service when problems arise. Often it is not comprehensible for those affected what the problem is and how it could be solved. After all, they would not otherwise ask the customer service for help.
Ineffective communication
The complexity of the request and layman’s know-how lead to lengthy explanations on the part of the clients and to lengthy question and answer scenarios on the part of the staff. Often service agents have to ask questions several times or obtain information that customers do not have at hand in time or do not have at all. The conversation is thus unnecessarily drawn out.
