Prompt responses = happy customers = more sales!
The 24-Hour Response Rate metric is aimed at helping you build trust with your customers and create the best possible shopping experience for them. This guide will cover everything you need to know to meet your 24-Hour Response Rate metric targets.

What Is The 24-Hour Response Rate Metric?

This metric measures the percentage of customer-initiated chats that receive a response within 24 hours. The 24-hour countdown starts from the moment your customer initiates a chat with you. You need to respond within 24 hours for the chat to count as answered.
For sellers using Chatbot, weekend messages are excluded from the 24-hour window, but they must still be answered by Monday 12 PM local time. Failure to do so will negatively impact the 24-hour response rate calculation.

Please note: Casual or smalltalk replies (e.g., “Hi” or “Hello”) do not count as valid responses. You must provide a meaningful reply that addresses the customer’s inquiry.

Please note: For messages received from 12:00 AM Saturday to 11:59 PM Sunday, sellers using Chatbot must reply by Monday 12 PM local time for the response to count.

90%

How Your 24-Hour Response Rate Is Calculated

As mentioned above, there are two elements to your 24-Hour Response Rate calculation. One of them is the total number of chats you receive. The following table outlines which chats are included and which are not included in this number:
Now, let's see how this works in practice!

Where To Find Your 24-Hour Response Rate

You can check your 24-Hour Response Rate as follows: Seller Center > Customer Messages > Service Analytics > Shop Performance > 24h Response Rate

Tools to Help You Respond Faster and Smarter

• AI Recommended Replies: Launching September 12 – During a chat, the system will offer real-time reply suggestions based on the customer’s message. These automated suggestions help sellers craft meaningful, high-quality responses, improving customer satisfaction. The feature is auto-enabled for all sellers, so you can start using it immediately.
• Customer Insights: To give sellers more context about each customer, the chat workbench displays useful information such as contact history, sentiment, order activity, and engagement. These insights help sellers prioritize messages and respond more effectively, improving the overall customer experience.
• High Priority Folder: Chats will be organized to highlight your most important messages. For example, frequent shoppers, high-value orders, or customers showing negative sentiment may appear here. This can help you prioritize your responses!

Best Practices✅

• Stay on top of incoming messages. Check your Customer Messages daily and enable notifications so you never miss a message.
• Assign someone to manage your customer chats. Ensure there is always someone online during your business hours to reply messages. This is helpful, especially during peak periods like holiday sales.
• Leverage automation to ease your load. Consider automation tools to pre-empt and resolve common questions, like estimated delivery dates. This will help reduce your message load. Check out our Chatbot, Proactive Messaging, Reply Recommendations, Saved Reply, and FAQ Library tools. Read our articles, "Customer Service Chat Assistant" and "Saved Replies" for more information on these tools.
• Close completed chats.
• File spam away. Click on the "Mark as no response needed" icon for spam messages, so they do not affect your response rate.
• Track your 24-Hour Response Rate regularly.

What to Avoid⛔

• Ignoring messages. The 24-hour rule applies every day, except when the Chatbot is turned on and the message is received on a weekend. In that case, messages received over the weekend must be responded to by Monday 12 PM local time to count toward the 24-hour response rate. Failing to reply within this time frame can lower your 24-Hour Response Rate. If you will not be available for an extended period, consider using "Holiday Mode". This will temporarily close your shop and pause customer enquiries. Refer to this guide for more information about Holiday Mode.
• Avoid relying solely on automated responses. The Chatbot will not be able to resolve every questions from your customers. If it encounters a question it is unable to answer, it will forward the chat to you for resolution. You must answer these questions within 24 hours (except for weekends when using the Chatbot) because they count towards your 24-Hour Response Rate!
• Replying with smalltalk only (e.g., “Hi” or "Hello"). These messages will not count as valid responses in your 24-hour response rate calculation.

What Happens When Your 24-Hour Response Rate falls below 90%

If your 24-Hour Response Rate falls below 90%, you will receive a warning. If this continues, additional enforcement actions may be taken.
That is not to say you cannot appeal these violations. You may appeal if your 24-Hour Response Rate was affected by the following:

• You received a customer message that was abusive, spam or irrelevant to their order.

HOT TIP! Casual greetings like "Hi!" and vague messages are not considered irrelevant and still require a response from you! If you feel they are spam or do not require a reply, click the "Mark as no response needed" icon.

• You encountered a system bug when using the Shop Chat tool.
• You experienced a force majeure event that severely impacted your shop operations. This includes unforeseen incidents like fires or natural disasters.

HOT TIP! Before appealing your violation, always check the chats you replied too late or failed to reply. Gather evidence showing why you were not able to reply them in time. Head over to Service Analytics > All chats > Late response OR No response to check these messages.

Read our Seller Enforcement Policy for more information on violations and appeals.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

My shop is closed on weekends and holidays. Do messages sent on these days count toward my 24-hour Response Rate?

• These messages will NOT count towards your 24-Hour Response Rate if your shop is in "Holiday Mode" during weekends and holidays.
• However, they WILL count if your shop is not in "Holiday Mode" during these days. This metric applies to all customer-initiated chats you receive from Monday through Sunday, regardless of weekends, holidays, and your business/working hours.
• If the Chatbot is turned on, sellers must respond to any messages sent over the weekend (Saturday 12 AM – Sunday 11:59 PM local time) by 12 PM local time on Monday.

Can automated replies (e.g., Chatbot, FAQ Library) help improve my response rate?

• No, automated replies are not counted in your 24-Hour Response Rate. That is not to say they are not helpful! They are very useful in quickly addressing frequently asked questions, which in turn reduces the number of messages that actually require your attention.