Ticket Deflection
The specific measure of self-service resolving a would-be ticket before it is created.
Deflection rate % ≈ self-service sessions without a follow-up ticket / total self-service sessions x 100Ticket deflection is the narrower, self-service-centred sibling of deflection: someone searched the help centre or hit the chatbot, found their answer, and never opened a ticket. It is the ROI story every knowledge base is sold on.
The common formula compares searches or article views that didn't lead to a ticket against those that did — which is exactly where the trouble starts.
What it hides: this calculation assumes anyone who read an article and didn't file a ticket was helped. Many simply gave up, phoned instead, or churned. A credible deflection number needs a confirmation step ("did this solve your problem?") rather than inferring success from the absence of a ticket. See deflection vs resolution.