Abandonment rate
Abandonment rate is the call center metric showing the share of queued calls that the caller hangs up on before reaching an agent.
Abandonment rate is the number of callers who give up waiting and hang up, divided by all calls that entered the queue. It shows whether queue wait times are outlasting callers' patience. It differs from the missed-call rate in scope: missed calls include every unanswered call (after hours, busy, rang out), while the abandonment rate looks only at calls that joined a queue and were dropped while waiting.
How it works
The basic formula is abandoned calls ÷ calls that entered the queue. Calls dropped within a few seconds are often wrong numbers or accidental dials, so many reports count them separately as "short abandons". A caller who accepts a callback offer and then hangs up should not count as abandoned. Calculate the rate by time of day as well; a daily figure can hide a problem at peak hours.
Why it matters
Every caller who abandons is likely to call again, go to a competitor or complain. When the abandonment rate climbs, the usual causes are too few staff at peak times, long greeting menus and no information while callers wait. Queue callbacks, position and wait-time announcements, and letting a voice agent handle routine requests are well-known remedies. Track the rate alongside service level.
In Speakline
Speakline's call center reports show abandoned calls and the abandonment rate per queue, with calls dropped very quickly counted separately. You can turn on callback offers and wait announcements on queues. See Call center for details.