First response time varies 5.5x across verticals at the same GMV. The all-industry average hides all of it. Here are the numbers that actually matter for your vertical.
- 5.5x first response time spread across verticals at the same GMV
- 1.6 hrs fastest vertical FRT vs. 9.1 hrs slowest
- 2.4x ticket volume per order varies by vertical
The problem with averages
The all-industry median first response time at $10M GMV is 6.3 hours. That number describes no one.
A Hardware brand responding in 1.6 hours and an Apparel brand responding in 8.8 hours are both measured against the same average. One looks fast. The other looks slow. But without vertical context, neither comparison is useful.
Where the gaps are
Not every metric differentiates equally. Across 14 verticals at $10M GMV, first response time varies by 5.5x. No other operational metric comes close.
CSAT varies by 0.2 points. Resolution time varies by 1.5x. Neither will tell you whether your operation is ahead of or behind your peers. First response time will. Source: Airtable - Smoothed by GMV
Your benchmark
Find your vertical. These are the median metrics at $10M GMV, sorted by first response time.
Ticket volume varies too
For every 100 orders, how many turn into a support ticket? That number varies widely by vertical. An Electronics brand generates about 46 support tickets for every 100 orders, nearly one ticket for every two orders. A Food & Beverages brand generates about 20, roughly one in five.
This is not good or bad. It reflects product complexity and how much customers need to ask before and after buying. If you are in a high-ticket-volume vertical, that is your baseline, not a problem to fix. The right question is whether you are above or below your vertical peers.
The bottom line
The all-industry average is not your benchmark. Your vertical is. First response time is the metric with the most variation across verticals and the one most likely to tell you whether your support operation is ahead of or behind your peers.
Find your row in the table above. That is where you start.
Methodology
Platform-level performance data from Gorgias merchants, smoothed by GMV band and industry vertical using Gaussian kernel smoothing. Metrics reported at the $10M GMV band. First response time and resolution time are medians aggregated per account, then median across accounts. CSAT measured on a 5-point scale. Tickets per 100 orders measures support volume relative to order volume. Accounts require at least 30 tickets to be included. Data as of March 2026.
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