Hold Time
Hold time is the total time a customer waits for a response after submitting a ticket across all wait periods in the lifecycle, including initial response, investigation holds, and between-reply gaps. It is the customer-experienced latency inside an otherwise “active” ticket.
Why it matters for B2B support
Hold time is what the customer feels while the support team is working. For async B2B support in tools like Zendesk, hold time averages about 4–6 hours for P2 tickets and 16–48 hours for P3 issues. The largest component is usually investigation, not message drafting, because the agent may be working in ClickHouse, Stripe, or Linear while the customer sees only silence. Customers do not experience investigation as productive work; they experience it as waiting.
Key benchmarks
average customer hold time for P2 tickets in B2B SaaS support
of hold time attributable to investigation (the agent is working, customer is waiting)
of customers who experience > 24hr hold time on P2 tickets report intent to churn in next NPS
Altor investigation time that eliminates the 45-minute investigation hold on technical tickets
How Altor helps
Altor cuts hold time by collapsing the 20–45 minute investigation gap into a near-immediate diagnosis step. That lets agents return with substantive updates faster and reduces silent waiting periods.
FAQ
How is hold time different from first response time?
First response time measures the wait until the initial human reply. Hold time includes all later silence as well, especially the investigation gaps between updates.
Why does hold time drive churn risk so strongly?
Because customers interpret long silence as lack of progress or lack of ownership. In B2B, that uncertainty often reaches account managers and procurement before the issue is even resolved.
Related terms
See Altor investigate a real ticket
We connect to your systems and diagnose a real ticket in 2 minutes during US hours.
Book a Demo