WhatsApp SLA targets: first reply and resolution clocks in working hours
How to set first-reply and resolution targets for WhatsApp support: what each clock measures, when it pauses, and how an escalation ladder works.
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A WhatsApp SLA target is a goal for how fast your team answers and how fast it finishes, measured on your working calendar. Set two: a first-reply target, which never pauses, and a resolution target, which pauses while the customer holds the ticket. The targets are yours; no tool should state a response time for you.
What are the two targets?
| Clock | Starts | Stops | Pauses? |
|---|---|---|---|
| First reply | When the ticket opens | When a team member answers | Never |
| Resolution | When the ticket opens | When the ticket is finished | While it waits on the customer; a reopen starts a new cycle |
How do you choose the numbers?
- Pick a window you can meet on an ordinary day, not your best day. A target that is missed constantly teaches the team to ignore it.
- Separate by priority or team, since an urgent order problem and a general question need different clocks.
- Count in working hours. Decide which calendar applies to which team, including shifts, holidays and time off.
- Decide what pauses resolution. Waiting on the customer is the usual one.
- Name the escalation: who is told as a target gets close, and who when it is missed.
What counts as a reply?
In a one-to-one chat, a team reply answers every open ticket of that chat. In a group, only a reply tied to the ticket does: a linked message, a quote, a mention, or a team message inside the group reply window after the requester's own. A reply recorded late, or by hand, stops a cycle at its start.
How do you know how you did?
Reports show each target's attainment, the tickets that breached, open ticket age in four buckets, and response and resolution times at the median and the 90th percentile. A tile with nothing measured says so rather than showing an empty bar at zero. See WhatsApp support and sales reports.
What does counting in working hours look like?
An illustration, with invented targets: a team works 09:00 to 18:00 on weekdays, and the first-reply target is 30 working minutes. A ticket opens at 17:40 on Friday. Twenty minutes of the target run out before 18:00; the remaining ten start when the day opens at 09:00 on Monday, so the target falls at 09:10 on Monday. Nothing was missed over the weekend, and a message at 08:00 on Monday would count from 09:00.
The resolution clock behaves the same way, and pauses on top of that while the ticket waits on the customer, so a customer who replies on Wednesday resumes it where it stopped.
Where does WavesFlo fit?
Targets, calendars and the ladder are part of ticketing, on the same inbox and roles as everything else.
Every clock described here is a setting the workspace chooses for itself, and the features overview shows where first-reply and resolution targets sit beside the inbox, the pipeline and the reports.
Questions
What is an SLA target for WhatsApp support?
A goal for how quickly a ticket gets its first reply and how quickly it is resolved, measured in working hours.
What should a first-reply target be?
One your team can meet on an ordinary day. The right number depends on your customers and staffing, so WavesFlo states none for you.
Does the resolution clock stop when the customer is slow?
It pauses while the ticket waits on the customer and resumes when they reply.
Can targets differ by team?
Yes. A policy can be set by priority and team, and a team change re-targets the clock.