CX & Support Metrics

Ticket Aging

Definition

Ticket aging is a measure of how long open support tickets have been unresolved, usually grouped into buckets (for example 0–1 days, 1–3 days, 3–7 days, 7+ days) to show where tickets are getting stuck.

Also known as: aging reportticket ageopen ticket aging

How it works

For each open ticket, age is the elapsed time since it was created (or since it was last updated, depending on the report). An aging report then distributes open tickets across time buckets so you can see the shape of the backlog at a glance.

A healthy queue skews toward the newest buckets; a growing tail of tickets in the 7+ day bucket is a warning sign that some requests are being neglected.

Why it matters

Aging catches the tickets that averages hide. A good average resolution time can still conceal a handful of very old, frustrated customers. Watching the oldest buckets — and clearing them first — protects CSAT and prevents SLA breaches on stale tickets.

Frequently asked

How is ticket aging different from resolution time?

Resolution time measures closed tickets after the fact; ticket aging measures how long currently open tickets have been waiting — a live view of the backlog, not a historical average.

Why bucket tickets by age?

Buckets reveal distribution. Two teams can share the same average age while one has all fresh tickets and the other has a dangerous tail of week-old ones — buckets make that difference visible.

Related terms

Ticket Backlog

Ticket backlog is the number of open, unresolved support tickets that have accumulated and are still waiting to be handled at a given point in time..

Backlog Rate

Backlog rate is a measure of how the volume of unresolved support tickets is changing — typically the ratio of open or incoming tickets to those being resolved over the same period..

Average Resolution Time

Average Resolution Time is the average length of time it takes to fully resolve a support ticket, measured from when it's created to when it's marked solved..

SLA Breach

An SLA breach occurs when a support team fails to meet a target defined in a Service Level Agreement — for example, not sending a first response or resolving a ticket within the promised time window..

Ticket Status

Ticket status is the field on a support ticket that shows where it is in the resolution process — common values are new, open, pending, on-hold, solved, and closed..

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