Assignment to First Reply
Also known as: Post-Assignment Reply Time
Assignment to First Reply is the time between a ticket’s last assignment and the first agent reply on it. In Zendesk Explore it is available in the messaging datasets in seconds, minutes, hours, and days, with business-hours variants.
Why Assignment to First Reply Matters
First reply time bundles two very different delays: how long a ticket waited for an owner, and how long the owner took to respond. Assignment to first reply isolates the second, which is the only part an individual agent controls. When first reply time degrades, comparing the two tells you whether the fix is routing and coverage or agent capacity and coaching.
It is most useful in messaging and omnichannel routing, where conversations can be offered to several agents before acceptance and the pre-assignment wait can dominate the total.
How to Calculate
First agent reply timestamp − Last assignment timestamp
In TicketBoard
TicketBoard helps you track assignment to first reply and related metrics from your Zendesk data. Connect your account for instant visibility.