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What is it?

Estimated Wait Time is the estimated length of time an interaction will wait in the queue until it is accepted by an agent. The calculation is based on how long the interaction has been waiting in the queue and the average time to answer for the last 15 minutes. After the wait time is calculated, the value is rounded up to the minute. For example, if the calculation returns 25 seconds, the Estimated Wait Time is one minute. You can retrieve an interaction’s Estimated Wait Time using the real-time stats flow notation and play the value back to the customer.

The value returned by Estimated Wait Time is the current expected wait time. For example, your flow asks for the Estimated Wait Time shortly after putting the interaction on a queue and you get a value of 10 minutes. If you then ask for the value again after 4 minutes, you will likely get a response back saying the updated Estimated Wait Time is 6 minutes. It is possible that due to updated information made available over the last 4 minutes, the new Estimated Wait Time has increased or decreased.  For example, it could return 5 minutes or 8 minutes as well.

Using the REST API, you can retrieve the following related statistics:

  • Current Time in Queue
  • Estimated Wait Time
  • Average Moving Time to Answer
  • Current Position in Queue

Key Benefit(s)

This feature helps agents and supervisors monitor call volumes and reduce wait times.

Good to Know

Before making a query for Estimated Wait Time or Position in Queue, an interaction must first be added to the queue. We recommend waiting a couple seconds after putting an interaction on a queue before querying for Estimated Wait Time or Position in Queue to ensure the data is available in reporting. If you get a null response back for the Estimated Wait Time or Position in Queue, you may need to wait another second for the data to become available. Currently, you cannot query the wait time for a queue without putting the interaction on a queue.