15 must-track SLA metrics to keep your team and customers aligned

What separates good support teams from great ones?

It’s not just quick replies or polite agents, it’s clear, measurable commitments. Without them, even the most dedicated teams can miss the mark, leaving customers and teammates overwhelmed. 

That’s where service level agreements (SLAs) come in. They’re your team’s secret weapon for setting expectations, staying accountable, and delivering top-notch customer experiences every time. Ready to learn how SLAs can transform your support strategy? Let’s dive in.

What are SLA metrics?

First, let’s tackle what an SLA is. An SLA, or service level agreement, is an agreed upon amount of time for businesses to resolve customer requests. So SLA metrics, then, are measurable benchmarks outlined in a service level agreement between a company and its customers. They define expectations — and hold teams accountable — for critical aspects of customer support, such as response and resolution times, ensuring consistency and transparency throughout the customer service journey.

Why do SLA metrics matter?

If you want to have an efficient team and happy customers, SLAs are essential. In fact, in industries like SaaS, healthcare, and telecom, they’re non-negotiable, because failing to meet SLA commitments can result in compliance penalties, customer churn, and damage your brand’s reputation. Some support orgs actually monetize SLAs – promising tighter turnarounds as part of premium service offerings. For some companies, however, they simply offer helpful benefits — benefits like:

• Clarity for customers: Having metrics in place creates clear expectations for customers. By being transparent with these expectations, you’ll reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings, reduce overall friction, and foster trust with your customers. 

• Accountability for teams: Measurable goals help track performance and align team priorities. Plus, when these metrics are public and performance is visible, team members are more likely to be motivated to do their part to meet the goals. 

• Proactive issue resolution: Trends in your metrics can signal when — and where — processes need improvement. By tracking these metrics closely, teams can be proactive about making changes rather than waiting until processes are broken and customers are upset. 

15 key SLA metrics in customer service

Every business is unique, so what your team chooses to track will depend on your industry, your product or service, and your customers. To set you on the right path, here are 15 key metrics to consider tracking:

1. First response time (FRT)

Measures the time it takes for support to acknowledge a customer request. Lower FRT reduces frustration and fosters trust with your customers. 

2. Average resolution time (ART)

Tracks the time required to resolve an issue fully.

3. First contact resolution (FCR)

The percentage of tickets resolved during the first interaction. High FCR reduces ticket escalations and improves customer satisfaction.

4. Service availability/uptime

Especially critical in SaaS, this metric measures the reliability of a service provider.

5. Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

Measures customer happiness after an interaction. A quick, post-support survey is an easy way to capture customer feedback and track CSAT.

6. Net promoter score (NPS)

Evaluates customer loyalty by asking if they’d recommend your service.

7. Time to resolution (TTR)

Tracks the total time from ticket submission to resolution.

8. Average speed to answer (ASA)

Monitors how quickly your team answers incoming chats or calls.

9. Abandonment rate

The percentage of customers who abandon a ticket, live chat, or call before receiving help.

10. Turnaround time (TAT)

Measures how quickly your team completes a task or delivers a service.

11. Time service factor (TSF)

The percentage of customer interactions handled within a predefined time frame.

12. Mean time to recover (MTTR)

Tracks how long it takes to restore service after an outage.

13. SLA compliance rate

Monitors adherence to contractual SLAs, ensuring you meet customer commitments.

14. Escalation rate

The percentage of customer issues escalated to higher support tiers.

15. Adherence to promised resolution times

Tracks whether your team meets stated resolution deadlines.

These 15 metrics provide a strong foundation for measuring and improving your customer service performance. But they’re just the beginning. For a deeper dive into customer service metrics and ones to know about, with actionable tips on how to optimize them from Front’s Head of Support, check out our ultimate guide to customer service metrics.

How to measure and track SLA metrics

Effectively measuring and tracking your SLAs requires thoughtful planning and the right tool. Here’s how we recommend getting started:

1. Define SLA goals

Start by identifying the most important metrics that align with both your business objectives and your customer service commitments. From there, collaborate with stakeholders to set realistic, measurable goals. 

2. Centralize data with a customer service platform

Tracking SLA metrics across multiple platforms will lead to data silos and team inefficiencies. A centralized tool — take Front, a complete customer service platform, for example — consolidates data from all communication channels, enabling a holistic view of performance. Having the right tool ensures that every SLA commitment, regardless of the channel, is monitored in real-time. 

3. Automate alerts for SLA breaches

Set up automated notifications for when SLA thresholds are about to be breached. For example, if a ticket is nearing the maximum resolution time, the team can automatically be alerted and take action. No one has to manually keep track, and everyone gets a reminder. 

4. Regularly analyze SLA performance

Schedule periodic reviews — monthly or quarterly, depending on your team’s needs — to assess reports and identify areas for improvement. When you’re consistently monitoring SLA adherence, you’ll be able to spot bottlenecks or inefficiencies, and you can make adjustments to ensure you maintain good standing with your customers. 

5. Recalibrate SLAs based on historical data

As your business grows and customer expectations change, your SLAs will likely need to change, too. Use previous reports to inform your SLA adjustments, which allows you to make data-driven decisions and keep your team on the right track.  

Best practices for setting and achieving SLA targets

Setting and achieving SLA targets involves a mix of strategic planning, collaboration, and ongoing improvement. Here’s how to excel:

Involve stakeholders early

Engage all relevant stakeholders — management, support agents, sales, and customers — when defining SLA metrics. Their input ensures the targets are realistic and reflect both the customers’ needs and the team’s operational capacity. 

For example, if you work with your customers to identify their most critical pain points, you can then prioritize related SLA metrics with your team and make an immediate impact on your relationship with your customers. 

Use historical data to set benchmarks

When it comes to establishing metrics, it’s important to use past performance data to guide new SLA targets that are challenging, yet attainable. Using historical data to inform the goals ensures they are grounded in reality rather than being arbitrary. 

Let’s say your team is regularly responding to most tickets within 5 hours. Set a resolution SLA slightly tighter, like 4.5 hours, to encourage efficiency without overwhelming the team. 

Automate SLA tracking and escalations

Manual tracking leaves your team susceptible to errors and inefficiencies. Automating tracking and escalations, however, takes the burden off your team and ensures consistent adherence to SLAs. 

Many help desk solutions provide teams with the ability to automate SLA monitoring so they can do things like automatically flag tickets that are nearing SLA deadlines, or trigger escalation workflows for high-priority service requests — all without wasting an agent’s time. 

Clearly communicate SLAs to customers

Transparency is key. Provide customers with a clear understanding of the team’s SLA commitments — take response and resolution rates, for example — so they know what to expect when interacting with your brand. A few places you can include SLA details:

• Support contracts

• In the FAQ section on your company’s knowledge base

• Email confirmations after customers have submitted tickets

Conduct quarterly reviews

The way your team works, and their SLAs, should evolve as your business grows and customer expectations change. How do you keep consistent, high-quality service as you scale? Schedule regular reviews — quarterly is great to start — for quality assurance and to adjust SLA targets based on performance metrics. A few things to tackle during your reviews:

• Look at SLA breaches and identify patterns and root causes

• Gather feedback from both support agents and customers to identify budding pain points

• Use said findings to fine-tune SLA metrics and team processes

Speed up your response times with Front

Your team shouldn’t have to manually keep track of every customer interaction — in fact, they can’t. That’s why SLAs are crucial. 

Ready to keep your team on track and your customers happy? Take the first step with Front today. 

Over 9,000 businesses worldwide use Front to revolutionize the way they are managing customer relationships and interactions. With real-time collaboration tools, comprehensive analytics and reporting, and customizable workflows, Front empowers customer support teams to work efficiently, work quickly, and create happier customers.