One of the most effective ways to calculate a contact center’s profitability is by monitoring cost per call.
The single KPI helps service leaders quantify: costs associated with marketing programs, costs generated by upstream issues, and the types of queries driving the highest costs.
Cost per call widely varies from site to site, and organizations that can conduct cost-per-call analysis may also pinpoint which locations are most profitable for the business.
What Is Cost Per Call? Definition and Formula
Cost per call is a contact center metric that calculates the total costs - both OpEx and CapEx - a contact center spends handling a single customer call.
Businesses often try to lower the metric to reduce expenses. Nevertheless, many are wary of driving it down too low, as a high degree of cost-cutting - in regard to agent experience, technology, and infrastructure - will likely have a detrimental impact on customer experience.
To calculate the KPI over a given period, follow this formula:
Cost Per Call = Total OpEx and CapEx Spend ÷ (Calls Offered - Calls Abandoned)
The equation is ideal for inbound contact centers but needs a little tweaking for outbound contact centers.
Why? Because outbound contact centers often engage in sales and lead generation, where not every call will lead to customer acquisition or query resolution.
As such, many organizations choose to divide total business expenses by the number of leads/sales to reflect profitability more accurately.
What Is a Good Cost Per Call?
Industry benchmarks suggest that an acceptable cost per call could range anywhere between $2.70 - $5.60, including "direct labor, indirect labor, and operational expenses."