Track These 5 Customer Support Metrics to Boost Efficiency

Summary

The post presents five customer support metrics the author found useful while scaling Intercom’s team to over 15,000 customers. It warns against using data as a crystal ball and advises keeping metrics in perspective. Total conversations reveal support trends but can mislead if used alone. Conversations per teammate per day is central to hiring planning, with Intercom adjusting its target from 35 to 30 as the team grew. Response time should be examined via median and 90th percentile, not just average, and grouped by hour and day to detect understaffed periods. Customer satisfaction is measured through lightweight surveys like a simple Good/OK/Bad link or a Net Promoter Score to anticipate churn.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Tracking total conversations over time reveals support trends, hiring needs, and workload, but it can mislead if not paired with other metrics because not all conversations require the same effort.

2. 2

   Conversations per teammate per day is a cornerstone of recruitment planning; Intercom revised its target from 35 to 30 as the team became larger and more complex.

3. 3

   Response time should be measured using median and 90th percentile, not just average, and grouped by day and hour to identify times that need shift changes or more hires.

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