Abandonment Rate
Short definition
Abandonment Rate: The proportion of queued calls that callers end before reaching an agent.
Meaning and how it works
An abandoned call is generally one ended by the caller before agent answer; very short abandonments may be excluded by policy. Contact-centre routing and performance metrics need to be interpreted against service targets, staffing levels and the complexity of incoming requests.
Business applications
- Business scenario:
When abandoned calls rise, a manager reviews queue times and staffing coverage.
What to check before implementation
Agree on metric definitions and reporting periods. A single number without quality, repeat-contact and workload context can lead to misleading conclusions.