How to reduce customer wait time: the answer, the hold, the callback and the fix
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
For a single question a customer waits four times: for someone to pick up, on hold, for the promised callback and for the problem to be solved. Measure each wait on its own: answer time, hold time, time to callback and days until the question is closed. Not knowing how long is what annoys people most, so put an exact time on every promise. The fastest way to bring answer wait close to zero is an AI operator that takes calls with no queue.
Where the customer waits
Wait time usually means just the ringing. In fact a customer waits in four places:
- Waiting for an answer: the phone rings and nobody picks up. The caller may give up and call another company.
- Waiting on hold: someone said “one moment”, then music or silence.
- Waiting for a callback: someone said “a manager will call you” but not when.
- Waiting for a fix: the question drags over several calls, and each time the customer explains everything again.
To the customer it all adds up to one thing: “it’s hard to get an answer from this company”. So measure all four waits, not just the first.
How to measure each wait
| Wait | What to measure | Target (example) |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | Seconds from ring to pick-up; share of missed calls | Under 10 seconds; under 5% missed |
| Hold | Time from “one moment” to coming back; number of transfers | Under 1 minute; one transfer at most |
| Callback | Time from the promise to the call | At the time named, no delay |
| Fix | Days from first call to closing the question | A simple question: in the same call |
Answer and hold times are in your phone system report. Log callback and fix times in the CRM or a simple sheet: when it was promised, when it was done.
A one-week wait audit
- Pick a week and export the list of all calls from your phone system: time, answered or not, length.
- Group missed calls by hour. They usually cluster at lunch, before opening and in the evening.
- Listen to 20 recordings and note how many times and how long the caller was put on hold.
- Count the “we’ll call you back” promises made that week and check how many were kept on time.
- Pick the biggest problem and make one change for the next week. Then repeat the audit.
For example: 420 calls in a week, 63 missed, which is 15%. Of those, 40 came between 1 and 2 pm, so lunchtime is the first gap to close. These numbers are only an example. More: missed calls.
Ways to cut the wait
- Put someone on duty at lunch and in the evening, or forward calls to another number.
- Don’t keep anyone on hold for more than a minute. “I’ll check and call you back in 15 minutes” works better.
- Put an exact time on every promise and log it as a task. A vague “soon” makes people wait longer.
- Keep answers to common questions (prices, address, hours) at every employee’s hand, so fewer calls get transferred.
- When a customer calls again, open the last conversation in the CRM so they don’t have to start from scratch.
With an AI operator, waiting for an answer almost disappears
Sado’s AI operator answers every call in about one second and takes more than ten calls at once: no queue and no lunchtime gap. It answers questions about prices, address and hours at once from your company’s facts, so there is less hold time and fewer transfers.
When it doesn’t know the answer, it says a manager will call back and creates a task. When a caller asks “call me in the evening”, it calls at that time itself, through auto-calls. Every call’s recording and transcript are in the portal. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
How long can you keep a customer waiting on the phone?
It depends on the business. A safe rule: measure answer time in seconds, don’t keep anyone on hold for more than a minute, and offer a callback if it will take longer.
How do you calculate the share of missed calls?
Divide missed calls by all incoming calls. For example, 63 ÷ 420 = 15%. Count several calls in a row from one number as one.
How do you keep track of callback promises?
Log every promise as a task with an exact time and check the open ones at the end of the day. If you’re running late, call the customer yourself and give a new time.