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Customer waiting time is the total time a thread spent in a Todo status, summed across the thread’s entire lifetime. It differs from first response time in one way: it counts every stretch the thread was in Todo, not only the initial wait before the first reply.

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How it’s calculated

Each time a thread enters Todo (for the first time or after being re-opened), a timer starts. When the thread leaves Todo (moved to Done or Snoozed), that window closes. Customer waiting time is the sum of all those windows. Time in Snoozed or Waiting for Customer status does not count. The metric is attributed to threads created in the selected period, regardless of when the individual waiting windows occurred. In Team reporting, a thread is credited to every user it was ever assigned to, not only the final assignee.

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Statistical views

Median: the midpoint waiting time across threads created in the selected period. Half waited less, half waited more. 90th percentile: 90% of threads had a lower total waiting time than this. High values suggest threads are sitting unattended across multiple back-and-forth cycles.

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How to use it

If customer waiting time is high relative to first response time, threads are likely returning to Todo repeatedly without reaching resolution. Comparing customer waiting time against resolution time shows what fraction of the total resolution window the customer spent actively waiting.