Help desk metrics to track

Great IT support doesn’t happen by chance — it’s built on smart strategies and a talented team that’s enabled with efficient tech and workflows. But how do you know if your IT support is truly effective? It’s a challenge that can befuddle even the best teams. The answer lies in help desk metrics.

Think of help desk metrics as your IT support report card. They reveal what’s working, what’s falling short, and where there’s room for improvement. 

But tracking these metrics isn’t just about crunching numbers — it’s about gaining insight into where your team is spending their time and identifying bottlenecks so you can fine-tune operations. Used effectively, help desk metrics will point you to ways you can resolve problems faster, and create happier, more productive users that are focused on growing your business.

To help you assess your IT support effectiveness, we’ve outlined some of the key metrics you should be tracking.

Understanding help desk metrics and their importance

Help desk metrics are vital performance, efficiency, and user experience indicators. By wiring up your systems so you can eyeball these help desk metrics on a regular basis —  ideally weekly — you can identify strengths and soft spots in your help desk operations. Let’s zoom in and examine key help desk metrics and highlight their role they play in optimizing support processes.

What are help desk metrics?

Help desk metrics are the numbers and data points that help you measure the performance of your IT support team. 

These metrics track customer satisfaction, including how quickly and effectively your team responds to issues.

At their core, help desk metrics are about answering three key questions:

1. How quickly are we responding to issues?
2. How effectively are we resolving them?
3. How happy are our customers with the support they’re getting?

Observing these metrics lets you spot trends, identify bottlenecks, and make data-informed decisions that can improve your IT support.

Why help desk metrics matter

You might be thinking, “Why the heck should I bother with all these numbers? Can’t we just focus on fixing issues?” Here’s the thing: without metrics, you’re flying blind (or driving without a GPS). 

Tracking these numbers helps you:

• Improve customer satisfaction – Knowing how long it takes to resolve issues lets your team set realistic expectations and deliver better experiences for your end users. It also helps you spot outliers so you can sleuth out the root cause of underlying issues that drive up response times.
• Boost team efficiency – Metrics help you identify where your team is spending their time and where they might need more resources or training. Or, perhaps, they’re spending time on repetitive tasks that can be automated.
• Save time and money – Looking at the right metrics will also help you spot recurring issues and inefficiencies that you can engineer out of the system and reduce costs.

6 key performance indicators (KPIs) for help desk success

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, let’s focus on key metrics you should track. These are the KPIs that’ll give you a clear snapshot of your help desk’s performance and highlight areas for improvement.

1. First Response Time (FRT)

First Response Time (FRT) measures how quickly your team acknowledges a support request. It’s the digital equivalent of saying, “We see you. We’re on it. We’ve got your back!”

A fast first response reassures customers that someone is looking into their issue. It generates goodwill, which is especially helpful when an issue takes a little longer to fully resolve. Depending on your business and the complexity of the issues you handle, aim to keep your FRT at an hour or less.

2. Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)

Mean time to resolution is the average time it takes to resolve a support ticket from start to finish. This metric is an excellent indicator of your team’s efficiency and problem-solving skills.

A lower MTTR translates into happier customers and, equally important,  less downtime and lost productivity for your business.

3. Ticket volume

Ticket volume is the number of support requests your team receives over a given period. It shows your team’s workload and highlights trends. For example, If you notice a spike in tickets during certain times of the year (aka cyclicality), you can plan ahead by adjusting staffing levels. 

Protip: if you’ve got more than 20 tickets per day and you feel like your hep desk is at capacity it can be useful to understand when those tickets are coming in over the course of the day so you can forecast capacity.

4. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores

CSAT scores measure how satisfied your customers are with the support they’re receiving. Most of the time, you'll be collecting this feedback through surveys, follow-up emails, or even quick rating prompts after a ticket is closed. A high CSAT score is a clear sign that your team is doing a great job, while a lower score can highlight areas for improvement. 

5. Resolution rate

The resolution rate is the percentage of tickets resolved within a specific period of time. That time frame may vary based on the category of problem. Aim for a high-resolution rate of 90% and higher, as it shows that your team is effectively working on most tickets. A resolution rate below 80% is a sign that either your team is struggling to keep up with the ticket volume or that you need to tweak your process or target time frame.

Resolution rates below 70% mean that something is out of whack. When one out of every four tickets is lingering beyond your desired resolution time, it’s going to lead to frustrated customers and is a sure sign your approach needs some adjustments.

6. Escalation rate

Escalation rate measures how often support tickets are escalated to higher-level technicians or specialists. While some escalations are inevitable, a high escalation rate could indicate gaps in your team’s knowledge or resources that you might want to address with additional training or better documentation. 

At the same time it could also be a sign that you’re mis-routing tickets. For example if the help desk is re-routing every Salesforce-related ticket to the Salesforce admin then perhaps you can tweak a rule that sends them directly to the admin.

How businesses measure and improve help desk performance

Businesses implement various measurement and improvement strategies to track their help desk performance and enhance the support they provide. Here are the most common ways organizations assess their help desk metrics.

Using help desk software

One of the easiest ways to track metrics is to use help desk software. Tools like Jira, Zendesk, Freshdesk, and ServiceNow have lots of native capabilities that make it easy to monitor high-level performance metrics, generate reports, and spot trends. 

These platforms come with built-in analytics dashboards, so you can see how your team is performing at a glance.

Setting benchmarks

Seeing the data is great. But you also need to set some goals. That’s where benchmarks come in. You need benchmarks to compare and determine if your metrics are on track. 

Set these benchmarks by looking at industry standards as well as your own historical performance data. Once you’ve set the benchmarks, use them to measure your progress over time and celebrate improvements, big or small.

Regular training and knowledge sharing

Keeping your help desk team’s knowledge and skills sharp is critical. Regular training sessions and a well-maintained knowledge base can improve performance. Your help desk gets smarter with every ticket they work on. Encourage them to share tips and best practices with each other.

Analyzing data for process improvement

Use your data to identify bottlenecks, recurring issues, or areas where your team might need extra support. For example, if GitHub access requests take longer to resolve, you might need to adjust your workflows or provide additional training.

Feedback loops for improvement

Finally, don’t forget to listen to your customers and your team. Review feedback and performance data regularly to spot areas for improvement, and invest in ongoing training to keep your help desk running at its best. 

Enhance your IT support

We know that great IT support isn’t just about fixing issues — it’s about creating a frustration-free experience for your users. Tracking the right metrics helps teams fine-tune their support, improve response times, and keep customers happy.

If you’re ready to transform your help desk with smarter metrics and smoother operations, we’d love to help. Let’s make IT support better — together!  

Start exploring how Fixify can transform your help desk today.