Deflection Rate

How it works

Deflection rate is calculated by dividing the number of tickets closed without agent involvement by the total number of tickets received, then multiplying by 100. A healthy deflection rate for an ecommerce store using AI support is 60–80%. SaaS companies with complex products typically target 40–60% as a starting point, rising as the AI knowledge base matures.

Deflection rate should always be paired with CSAT — a high deflection rate with a low CSAT score indicates the AI is closing tickets by discouraging customers from escalating, not by genuinely resolving their issues. True deflection means the customer's question was answered correctly on the first attempt.

When you'll encounter it

You'll see deflection rate in weekly support reports, AI vendor ROI discussions, and board-level customer experience reviews. It is the single most cited metric when comparing AI support tools because it directly translates to cost savings: each deflected ticket is a ticket your team didn't pay an agent to answer.