First contact resolution (FCR)

First contact resolution (FCR) is the share of customer issues that are resolved in the customer’s first interaction, with no further contact needed about the same issue.

The generic formula. FCR is the number of issues resolved on first contact divided by the number of issues handled, as a percentage. Every word in that formula needs a definition: what counts as one issue, what counts as resolved, and how long to wait before deciding that no follow-up came.

Two published definitions.

• Amazon Connect Customer reports the percentage of cases resolved on the first contact. It considers only closed cases, counts only call, chat and email contacts, and scores a case as resolved on first contact when exactly one contact is linked to it. Cases reopened and closed again within the reporting interval still count.
• Microsoft Copilot Studio’s metrics reference defines FCR as the share of cases resolved on the first interaction without a return contact within seven days.

The first ties FCR to the case record. The second ties it to whether the customer came back. The same operation can score differently under each, so compare FCR only across a shared definition.

Measurement choices. Teams also have to decide whether a transfer between departments ends the first contact, whether a customer switching from chat to phone is a new contact, and whether a conversation fully handled by a bot counts.

For agent-to-agent requests. A2A gives a natural unit for the count. A request lives in one task, and when the business’s agent needs more details it moves the task to input-required and continues on the same task ID once the details arrive. A task that reaches a completed state without a second task for the same issue is a first-contact resolution. This is a design choice for whoever reports the metric; A2A itself defines no metrics.

Neighbouring terms. Average handle time measures effort per contact, and containment rate measures how many contacts automation finishes alone.