Glossary
Ticket deflection
The share of questions the agent resolves without reaching a human agent. It is the steadiest return metric for an agent, because cost per ticket is a number the operation already tracks.
Deflection is the share of questions resolved without a human. It is the easiest agent metric to defend internally, because the operation already knows its cost per ticket, so the business case is one multiplication.
It is also the easiest to fake. An agent that answers badly until the person gives up counts as a deflection, and the cost reappears later as churn. Measure it next to resolution: did the same person come back with the same question within 48 hours.
The realistic ceiling is set by the question mix. Repetitive, documented questions deflect well. Anything that needs a decision, an exception or an apology should escalate on purpose, not by accident.
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