What is Resolution Rate?

Resolution rate is the percentage of support tickets that get resolved out of all tickets received in a period. It's a fundamental throughput metric — are you actually closing what comes in? A resolution rate consistently below 100% means a growing backlog of unresolved issues.

What resolution rate tells you

It's a capacity and effectiveness check: if you receive 500 tickets and resolve 450, you're not keeping up, and the unresolved 50 pile into a backlog. Tracked over time, resolution rate shows whether your team's throughput matches incoming volume — and when it's time to add capacity or automation.

Resolution rate vs first contact resolution

Resolution rate asks whether tickets get resolved at all; first contact resolution asks whether they're resolved in a single interaction. A team can resolve nearly everything (high resolution rate) but only after multiple back-and-forths (low FCR). You want both high — resolving fully, and resolving fast.

Formula

Resolution rate % = (Resolved tickets ÷ Total tickets) × 100

Example: Resolving 450 of 500 tickets received gives a resolution rate of 450 ÷ 500 × 100 = 90%.

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Questions about Resolution Rate

What's a good resolution rate?

You generally want it at or near 100% over time — anything consistently lower means your backlog is growing. Short-term dips during volume spikes are normal; a sustained gap is the warning sign.

Is resolution rate the same as FCR?

No. Resolution rate is whether tickets get resolved at all; first contact resolution is whether they're resolved in one interaction. See first contact resolution.

Related terms

First Contact Resolution (FCR)

First Contact Resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer issues fully resolved in a single interaction — no follow-ups, no callbacks, no reopened tickets. It's one of the strongest support metrics because high FCR correlates with both lower costs and higher satisfaction: customers get their answer once and move on.

MTTR (Mean Time to Resolution)

MTTR (Mean Time to Resolution) is the average time it takes to fully resolve a customer issue, from first report to confirmed fix. Unlike response time, it measures end-to-end resolution speed — making it a strong indicator of how effectively your team and tools close problems, not just acknowledge them.

Ticket Deflection

Ticket deflection is resolving a customer's question before it ever becomes an agent ticket — through a help center, an AI agent, or in-product answers. The deflection rate is the share of potential contacts handled this way. Higher deflection means lower cost, faster answers for customers, and agents freed for complex work.

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