Zendesk Time Tracking, and What to Do With It
Zendesk time tracking is easy to turn on, and the data is only worth having if you decided in advance what question it answers.
How Zendesk time tracking works
Zendesk offers a time tracking app that records how long agents spend on each ticket, storing it in a field you can report on in Explore. Time can accumulate automatically while a ticket is open and be adjusted manually.
Marketplace alternatives add billing, approvals and per-customer reporting, which is what you need if support time is invoiced.
Decide the question first
Time data collected without a question becomes a surveillance tool, and agents will treat it as one. Pick the question before you turn it on.
Not a good question: who is fastest. That produces rushed replies and lower CSAT, reliably.
What the data will show you
Two findings show up in nearly every team that measures properly.
First, handle time is dominated by a small number of ticket types, and usually not the ones people assumed.
Second, a meaningful slice of logged time goes on tickets that duplicate another ticket: reading it, searching for the original, deciding whether they match, and merging. Four minutes a duplicate is conservative, and at a tenth of the queue that's real money. Run it through the duplicate cost calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Is time tracking the same as Zendesk handle time?
Zendesk handle time is what the time tracking app measures: the minutes an agent actually spent inside the ticket. Explore's own duration metrics measure elapsed time, which is a very different number.
Does Zendesk have built-in time tracking?
Through an official app that stores time in a ticket field you can report on. Marketplace apps add billing and approvals.
Should time tracking be used for agent performance?
Be careful. Measuring speed alone produces rushed replies and worse CSAT. Use it for capacity and billing.
See the hours going to duplicates
Track handle time and a slice of it's agents dealing with tickets that duplicate another. That slice is removable.
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