Setting up SLA
An SLA is a service level agreement. It defines how quickly your team has to react to a request.
Metrics
- First response time — from the customer's message to the first agent reply;
- Next response time — for subsequent messages in the conversation;
- Resolution time — from the request to the conversation being resolved.
Creating an SLA
- Open Settings → SLA.
- Create a new agreement.
- Enter a name and the target value for each metric.
- Save.
The agreement is applied to conversations either by hand or through an automation rule, for example by label or priority.
Which targets to set
Start from your current numbers. Open Reports → Conversations, look at your actual average first response time and set a target slightly tighter. An SLA nobody can hit is an SLA whose breach report nobody reads.
Account for the channel: in live chat a customer expects minutes, in email hours.
Business hours
Line the SLA up with the inbox's business hours: if the team works nine to six, a 30-minute first response target should not be breached by messages arriving overnight.
Monitoring
Compliance is shown under Reports → SLA: the share of requests met, the breaches and the averages. See "SLA and CSAT reports".