Why are my reply time averages so high?

If your reply times look higher than expected, start by finding the emails that are pushing the average up. Then work through the other checks.

1. Find the emails with long reply times

1. On the report, find the With Business Hours card (or Ignoring Business Hours).
2. Click the First Reply or Overall number. This opens the emails behind that average.
3. Open a conversation with an unusually long reply time and check the Date on each email.

This shows you exactly when the customer’s email arrived and when your team replied, so you can see what’s causing the long reply time.

2. Check which reply time is high

• First Reply Time is how long your team takes to reply to the first email in a conversation.
• Overall Reply Time is how long your team takes to reply to every email in a conversation, including later ones.

Knowing which one is high tells you where the delay is. See First Reply Time vs Overall Reply Time.

3. Check your business hours

When business hours are turned on, only time inside your working hours counts towards reply times. Make sure they’re set up correctly:

• For one mailbox: go to Entities → Mailboxes, open the ⋮ menu, and click Edit.
• For your whole account: click your name in the bottom-left corner, then Settings → Business Hours.

4. Check for outliers

A few very long reply times can push the average up a lot. Look at the emails behind the average to see whether a small number of them are causing it.

To leave those out, click your name in the bottom-left corner, then Settings → Global Filters, and open the Outliers tab. Turn on Exclude outliers from reports and set Exclude reply times over.

5. Check the mailbox and date range

• Is the high reply time only in one mailbox or team?
• Is it only in one date range? Compare it with earlier date ranges to see whether it’s a recent change or an ongoing trend.

Still looks wrong?

If the dates on the emails don’t match the reply time in your report, email support@timetoreply.com with:

• The mailbox
• The report and date range
• The subject of the email or conversation
• The reply time the report shows
• Screenshots of the email dates

A specific example helps our support team find the problem faster.