How to measure ticket deflection without lying to yourself

Ticket deflection should mean a customer received a useful answer or completed a task without needing a human ticket. It should not count abandoned chats, unresolved loops, or forced automation as success.

Start with a baseline: ticket volume by intent, first response time, handle time, and CSAT before AI. Then compare resolved AI chats, handoff rate, repeated questions, and quality samples by the same intents.

Pair deflection with customer quality metrics. If tickets fall but complaints rise, the automation is hiding friction instead of solving it.