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Front Desk / When it goes quiet
Turn 10 - the endings
When it goes quiet
Not every contact ends in an answer. Some are abandoned before anyone replies, some are closed without a resolution, and some are closed by a clock rather than a decision - and the record of each of those endings looks different.
Desk stub
- Abandoned before an answer
- 266 chats, 3% of chats
- Closed unresolved
- 418 of the 3,480 escalations
- Reopened
- about 130 of those 418
- Auto-close
- a quiet period in this sample, 72 hours
- What survives
- the case, not the conversation
the turnOne numbered serving of a contact, with its clock and what it cost the desk
the ceilingWhat a level may give away without asking, set by the evidence it can see
the transcriptThe only record that a contact happened, kept 24 months on this sample
Direct answerThree endings are worth knowing: a contact abandoned before an agent replies, a case closed without a resolution, and a case closed by a clock rather than a decision. On the sample desk 266 chats a month are abandoned before an answer, 418 escalations are closed unresolved, and about 130 of those come back - each reopening carrying its own handling cost a second time.
Subject the three ways a support contact ends without an answerUnit the ending - abandoned, unresolved or closed by a clockSample 12,000 contacts, 3,480 escalations, 418 unresolvedAuto-close after a quiet period - 72 hours in this sampleBoundary the complaint clock that follows is cycle 15’s subject
The three endings
ending 01Abandoned before an answer
A chat that never gets connected, or one the player leaves. On this sample that is 3% of chats -
266 contacts a month - and the record is a transcript with an arrival time and no reply. It is worth
keeping that transcript, because it is evidence of a wait and of nothing else.
An abandoned contact costs the desk almost nothing and costs the reader the whole question.
ending 02Closed unresolved
A case that reaches the second line and is closed without the outcome the player asked for. On this
sample 418 of the 3,480 escalations end this way, which is 12% of the escalated cases and 3.5% of
every contact in the month. “Unresolved” is not the same as refused: the answer may be
that nothing was wrong with the account.
An unresolved case still has a record, and it is the record that a later route depends on.
ending 03Closed by a clock
A case with no reply for a period - 72 hours in this sample - closes on a timer rather than on a
decision. That is efficient and it is also why a slow reply can end a case that had not been decided.
For a reader the practical rule is the same in every desk: a case that has had no answer is still
worth one follow-up with the reference attached.
Reopening a case is not free: 130 reopened cases a month at the second line’s 14 minutes is
another 728.00 of handling, and it is charged to the same question.
What the endings cost
Abandoned, unresolved and reopened, priced on the sample desk
abandoned chats at 3% of 8,880 266
the desk pays almost nothing, the reader pays the question
escalations that end unresolved at 12% of 3,480 418
as a share of all contacts 3.5%
reopened at 31% of the unresolved 130
second handling at 14 minutes of 24.00 an hour 5.60
cost of the reopenings in the month 728.00
a case with no reply for 72 hours closes on the timer
the record survives the close, which is the point
the reference is what allows it to be reopened at all
One follow-up, with the reference. The most useful single action after a quiet case is a message that repeats the reference, restates the ask and adds nothing else. It reopens a defined case rather than starting a new conversation, and it costs the desk one handling time instead of two.
- Check whether the case was closed unresolved or closed by the clock, because they need different next steps.
- Repeat the reference at the top of every follow-up, so the record accumulates in one place.
- Restate the ask in one sentence, and name the amount or the date you need if there is one.
- If the case has a clock attached - a complaint period - use that clock and not another chat.
266 abandoned the reference 728.00 reopening 418 unresolved illustrative percentages