On-Hold Time

Measure the average amount of time callers spend on hold and improve customer experience.

On-Hold Time

35 seconds vs. 41 seconds last quarter

Average seconds callers spend on hold, tracked weekly over the last quarter.

Overview

On-Hold Time measures the average duration callers spend waiting after being placed on hold, before an agent returns to the line.

Whether your call centre handles high call volumes or runs with limited agent capacity, hold time is often unavoidable. What matters is knowing how long customers wait, and what that number is telling you about your operation.

Why On-Hold Time matters

Long hold times frustrate customers, push up abandonment rates, and erode trust in your team's ability to deliver. If you're not watching this number, you're likely finding out about the problem after it's already cost you.

Tracking On-Hold Time helps you:

Identify staffing gaps: Consistently high hold times signal you need more agents during peak hours.
Improve customer satisfaction: Shorter waits mean better experiences and stronger loyalty.
Benchmark performance: Compare your hold times against industry standards to stay competitive.
Align scheduling with demand: Use hold time trends to match agent availability to call volume patterns.

The goal isn't just a prettier number on a report. It's knowing, without having to dig, whether your customers are waiting too long and what to do about it.

Formula

(Hold time for call A + Hold time for call B + ... + Hold time for call N) / Total number of calls put on hold

Example calculation: If 100 calls were placed on hold with a combined hold time of 3,500 seconds, your On-Hold Time is 35 seconds per call.

How to interpret On-Hold Time

Below 30 seconds: Excellent. Callers experience minimal wait and are likely to stay on the line.
30 to 60 seconds: Acceptable for most industries, though room for improvement exists.
Above 60 seconds: High abandonment risk and potential customer dissatisfaction.

Industry benchmarks vary by sector. Financial services typically aim for 20 to 30 seconds, while retail support may tolerate 45 to 60 seconds. Knowing where your number sits relative to your industry tells you whether you have a problem or a competitive advantage.

Key considerations

Distinguish hold time from wait time: On-Hold Time measures how long a caller waits after being placed on hold. Wait time covers the period spent in the queue before an agent picks up. These are different problems with different fixes.

Account for peak versus off-peak patterns: Hold times often spike during high-volume periods. Tracking trends over weeks or months surfaces the patterns you need to staff and schedule around, so you're not reacting every time a busy Monday catches you off guard.

Pair with related metrics: On-Hold Time tells part of the story. Combine it with First Contact Resolution, Service Level, and Abandoned Call Rate to understand the full picture of call centre performance.

Tracking On-Hold Time with Klipfolio

Checking hold time after the fact means you're already behind. Klipfolio connects to your call centre platform and surfaces On-Hold Time alongside the metrics that give it context: abandonment, resolution rates, and service level, all updated automatically.

Your team leads and operations directors see the same numbers, in the same place, without pulling a report or waiting for someone to compile a spreadsheet. When hold times climb, you know before it becomes a pattern customers remember.