Why did my Zendesk first reply time jump?
The Zendesk help pages give 3 common reasons. The first to rule out: Ready-made reports count calendar hours, not business hours, so time outside your working hours is part of first reply time there.
What causes it?
Ready-made reports count calendar hours, not business hours, so time outside your working hours is part of first reply time there.
In the Zendesk help:
Display information on pre-built reports in calendar hours. However, metrics for business hours are available and can be used in your own reports.
Understanding ticket reply time, read 2026-11-12.Most bot or automated replies do not stop the first reply clock, so tickets first handled by automation keep counting until an agent replies.
In the Zendesk help:
That means most automated or bot-related actions in conversations aren’t considered when calculating the first reply time, with the exception of legacy autoreplies that recommend articles.
Understanding ticket reply time, read 2026-11-12.If you share tickets with another account, a reply made from that account does not end your first reply time.
In the Zendesk help:
When an agent adds a public comment from another account using ticket sharing, this doesn't count toward your account's first reply time.
Understanding ticket reply time, read 2026-11-12.
How do I check it myself?
Compare the business hours version with the calendar hours version to see whether the jump is time outside your working hours.
In the Zendesk help:
Both metrics are stored with the ticket data, so you can use either (or both) to build reports.
Understanding ticket reply time, read 2026-11-12.Open a few of the slowest tickets and look at when the first public agent comment was made.
In the Zendesk help:
The Zendesk first reply time metric measures the time between ticket creation and the first public agent comment after that.
Understanding ticket reply time, read 2026-11-12.
How does Zendesk work with Feder?
- Connect Zendesk to Feder and it joins your Experience apps.
- When you connect Zendesk, Feder checks the connection straight away and shows Connected only when that check passes. If a reading cannot be taken later, Feder shows it as not read, never as zero.
Some numbers are too quiet to judge daily, such as a form filled in a few times a week. Until there is enough of your own history to judge a change, Feder says it is still learning and scores nothing, rather than guessing.
See whether you can trust the numbers in Zendesk, one of your Experience apps. Feder only reads. It never changes anything in Zendesk.
What else goes wrong with these numbers?
- Why did my Zendesk satisfaction score drop?Zendesk
- Why did my Zendesk solved ticket count change?Zendesk
- Why did Google Analytics stop collecting data?Google Analytics
- Why aren't my key events showing in Google Analytics?Google Analytics
- Why does Google Analytics show (not set)?Google Analytics
See every question.
Where do these answers come from?
Every cause and check on this page comes from the Zendesk help pages, quoted above with the date we read them. Last reviewed 2026-11-12. We read them again by 2027-11-12. If one changes, this page changes or comes down.