Analytics
Call Outcomes and Response Times
Call outcomes show what happened to your calls, while response times help you understand how long callers waited before ringing, an answer, or abandonment. Use these measurements together to identify where your team is responding well and where your call routing may need attention.
Where to find these measurements
Open the side menu and select Analytics. Choose the date range and inbox you want to review.
Start with the summary metrics, then review the outcome charts and SLA Timing Trends. In this chart, SLA timing refers to the response-time measurements explained below.
See Using Filters and Charts for help choosing the reporting period and navigating the charts.
Understand call outcomes
| Outcome | What it means |
|---|---|
| Answered | An incoming call connected to a teammate. Calls answered and then transferred are also included in the answered count. |
| Missed | An incoming call reached a teammate or ringing device, but nobody answered. This includes a caller hanging up after ringing began. |
| Abandoned | The caller disconnected before the call reached a teammate or ringing device—for example, while listening to a greeting or navigating a phone menu. |
| Voicemail | The caller left a voicemail recording. Hearing the greeting without leaving a recording does not count as Voicemail. |
| Forwarded | The call was routed onward to another destination rather than handled in that inbox. This does not, by itself, confirm that someone answered at the destination. |
| Transferred Out | A transfer was initiated from the call. This records the handoff activity, not a guarantee that the destination answered. |
Not every summary or chart displays every outcome separately.
Understand inbound, outbound, and internal calls
Call type describes the kind of activity, rather than its result.
- Inbound: Incoming calls entering an inbox.
- Outbound: Calls your team places to external numbers.
- Internal: Calls within your Waveline organization.
An outbound call can appear in outbound activity even when the person being called does not answer. Likewise, the number of incoming calls is not the same as the number answered.
Understand answer rate
Answer rate measures the percentage of incoming calls that reached ringing and were answered.
Answer rate = answered incoming calls that reached ringing ÷ all incoming calls that reached ringing × 100
For example, if 20 incoming calls reached ringing and 15 were answered, the answer rate is 75%.
Calls that never reached ringing are excluded from this calculation. This means answer rate is not simply the Answered Calls count divided by all Inbound Calls.
Review answer rate alongside abandoned calls
A high answer rate tells you that calls reaching your team are usually answered. It does not tell you how many callers disconnected before reaching that point. Review abandoned calls as well to understand the earlier part of the caller’s experience.
Understand abandonment rate
Daily Abandon Rate shows the percentage of incoming calls classified as abandoned. With daily points, each point represents one day. On mobile, longer date ranges group the trend into weeks; see Reading trend charts before interpreting a point as a single day.
For example, if a day has 100 incoming calls and 10 are abandoned, its abandonment rate is 10%.
Review changes over several comparable days. A higher rate may be a reason to investigate the greeting, phone menu, or other steps callers encounter before ringing begins.
Unlike answer rate, abandonment rate uses all incoming calls in its reporting scope—not only calls that reached ringing.
Understand response times
These measurements describe different parts of the caller’s experience.
| Measurement | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Time to First Ring | Time from entering the inbox until the first ringing attempt begins. |
| Ring to Answer | Time from the first ringing attempt until the call is answered. |
| Entry to Answer | Total time from entering the inbox until the call is answered. |
| Time to Abandon | Time from entering the inbox until the caller disconnects on a call classified as abandoned. |
A caller might spend 12 seconds hearing a greeting and choosing a menu option, then wait another 8 seconds before someone answers. For that call:
- Time to First Ring: 12 seconds.
- Ring to Answer: 8 seconds.
- Entry to Answer: 20 seconds.
The summary measurements show averages across calls with the relevant timing. SLA Timing Trends shows how those measurements vary across the selected period. On mobile, longer date ranges group trend points into weeks; choose a shorter range to inspect daily measurements. See Reading trend charts.
Read averages in context
Not every call has every timing measurement. A call that was never answered cannot contribute a Ring to Answer measurement, and an answered call does not contribute a Time to Abandon measurement.
Because the averages can use different groups of calls, the displayed average Time to First Ring and average Ring to Answer may not add up exactly to average Entry to Answer.
A displayed zero can also occur when there are no qualifying measurements. Check the call volume and outcomes before interpreting it as an immediate response.
Understand transfers and overlapping totals
Analytics measurements describe different aspects of activity, so they are not always separate groups that add up to the inbound total.
For example, a call answered by John Doe and then transferred to Jane Doe can contribute to:
- The incoming call’s answered count.
- Transfer activity.
- John’s direct-answer activity.
- Jane’s transfer-answer activity, if she answers.
Use each measurement for its intended question: how many calls were answered, how many handoffs occurred, or who handled the calls.
Analytics and Unhandled Calls serve different purposes
Analytics describes historical call activity. Unhandled Calls is a working list of calls that still need follow-up.
Following up with a caller or marking a call as handled does not turn the original missed call into an answered call in Analytics.
Similarly, changing which outcomes an inbox tracks as unhandled does not change the recorded outcome or Analytics classification.
See Unhandled Calls to configure and manage follow-up work.
Common questions
Why is answer rate different from Answered Calls divided by Inbound Calls?
Answer rate includes only incoming calls that reached ringing. Calls that ended before ringing began are outside that calculation.
Why do the call counts not add up the way I expected?
Some measurements overlap. A call can be answered and then transferred, and teammate activity can include more than one person handling the same caller. Check what each metric measures before adding totals together.
Why is a response-time measurement missing or zero?
There may be no calls with the relevant recorded event in the selected period. For example, an unanswered call has no answer time. Widen the date range and review the matching call activity.
Does Transferred Out mean the transfer was answered?
No. It records that a transfer was initiated. Use Call History to inspect what happened during an individual call.
How can I investigate an unexpected pattern?
Keep the relevant date range and inbox in mind, then review individual calls in Call History. Compare several examples before deciding whether to adjust the ring order, inbox hours, or call flow.