The ROI of Self-Service and Case Deflection
For a number of years, we are seeing a growing trend: customers WANT to self-serve. No matter how good the live support offering is, customers are showing an overwhelming preference for self-ledresolution, with 81% of B2B technical content users reporting they would like to resolve technical issuesby themselves.
The potential for technical content to facilitate self-service is immense. Recent Technology & ServicesIndustry Association (TSIA) research suggests that up to 60% of support tickets could have beenresolved through documentation. Among these resolved tickets, 36% were successfully addressed withthe help of how-tos, user guides, and knowledge-base articles.
Furthermore, the Zoomin 2023 IndustryBenchmarks reveal the effectiveness ofintegrating documentation within the supportprocess. On average, organizations thatincorporate documentation as part of their caseresolution experience an impressive self-servicerate as high as 82%. This indicates thatcustomers are able to find the information theyneed and resolve their issues independently,resulting in a significant reduction in the numberof support cases. In fact, the case deflectionrate, which represents the percentage ofsupport tickets that are successfully resolvedthrough the Zoomin Case Deflection widget,stands at an impressive 39%.
These statistics highlight the tangible impact that well-crafted technical content can have on improvingcustomer satisfaction and reducing the workload on support teams. By enabling customers to self-serveand by deflecting support cases, businesses can achieve significant cost savings by minimizing the needfor live support interactions.
1. B2B self-service report 2022 by Zoomin and Frost & Sullivan
2. Incident lifecycle management webinar by TSIA
3. https://docs.zoominsoftware.io/bundle/zfs-user-guide/page/how_to_add_the_zoomin_case_deflection_component to your salesforce. experience site.html
In order to determine the cost savings achieved by case deflection and self-service initiatives,the equation needs to factor in metrics such as the average handling time, hourly salaries ofsupport agents, and the number of tickets resolved with technical content.
Some support centers adopt the known, simple formula to estimate their average cost per ticket:
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However, when looking at the complexity of variables involved in support costs, such as communicationchannels and resolution complexity, this formula may not capture the full picture. In addition, the cost ofproviding support can vary depending on factors such as the company's industry, size, location, and theexperience level of the support agent.Considering these factors, we recommend assessing the average cost of a support ticket by consideringthe hourly salary of support agents, which typically falls between $14.50 and $24.00. Additionally, it isimportant to factor in the average time required to resolve a ticket, which is approximately 6.2 hours.5Based on these figures, the estimated cost range to handle a ticket ranges between $89.90 and $148.80.This estimate encompasses the support agent's hourly salary and the time invested in resolving the issue.This alternative nuanced formula is calculated as follows:
Entry Level Hourly Salary x Time to Resolve x Number of Tickets
+Advanced Support Hourly Salary × Time to Resolve × Number of Tickets
+Product / R&D Hourly Salary × Time to Resolve × Number of Tickets
4. https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Six-Flags,-Inc./salaries/Customer-Service-Team-Lead
5. https://abdalslam.com/copy-statistics
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Some companies have reported even higher estimates for the cost per ticket resolved. In certain cases,the cost per ticket can reach as high as $280 or even $500.6These higher estimates may account foradditional factors such as specialized expertise, advanced support requirements, or more complex issues.
The actual cost savings will vary depending on the specific circumstances and volume of B2B ticketsfor each organization. However, we have found that the potential for cost reduction through self-serviceand case deflection typically ranges from $100,000 up to $5,000,000 monthly, making it a valuablestrategy for businesses looking to optimize their support operations and improve their bottom line.
Zoomin offers customers the ability tocontinuously monitor their case deflection casesand to calculate the money saved by their users’self-service.
Based on the industry benchmarks mentionedabove, and statistics from Zoomin’s customers’ database, we estimate the average cost perdeflected ticket at $100.
With support tickets that require additionalhandling time by SMEs such as Product and R&Dteams, we estimate the average cost perdeflected ticket at $250.
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6. According to certain Zoomin customers' internal data
. How many support tickets do your customers open in a year?
. How many of these tickets could have been solved by the customers having access to technicalcontent? (These will now become the baseline as these are the only tickets that could have beendeflected or resolved with documentation.)
. How many of the total tickets were resolved by entry-level support? (none or %)
.How many of the total tickets were resolved with advanced support? (none or %)
.How many of the total tickets were resolved by Product or R&D? (none or %)
Hourly Salary (industry benchmark)
Average handling time (industry benchmark)
Number of tickets
(your data)
Cost per ticket
(your data)
ROI
Entry Level Support
$14
1 hour
?
?
?
Advanced support
$20
4 hours
?
?
?
Product/
R&D
$80
13 hours
?
?
?
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Storm is a SaaS B2B company, located in the US.
Their support team handles 100,000 support tickets yearly.
This means these tickets could have been deflected through self-service. Based on this informationwe can calculate the ROI or the total savings incurred when customers serve themselves.
Using their internal support tagging they were able to show 30,000 tickets were tagged as“resolved by customer knowledge”.
Hourly Salary (industry benchmark)
Average handling time (industry benchmark)
Number of tickets
(your data)
Cost per ticket
(your data)
ROI
Entry Level Support
$14
1 hour
25,000
$14
$350,000
Advanced support
$20
4 hours
14,000
$80
$1,120,000
Product/
R&D
$80
13 hours
1,000
$800
$800,000
Product/
R&D
$2,270 000
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In preparing this B2B whitepaper, we have gathered valuable insights from various reputable sources.We would like to acknowledge the following resources for providing the information referenced in thisdocument:
1. Archbee Blog "Technical Documentation Impact on Finances" Available at:
https://www.archbee.com/blog/technical-documentation-impact-on-finances
2. HDI Library "Metric of the Month: Desktop Support Cost per Ticket" Available at:
https://www.thinkhdi.com/library/supportworld/2017/metric-of-month-desktop-support-cost-per-ticket.aspx
3. TSIA Report "The State of Self-Service report" Available at:
https://www.tsia.com/App/UI/Viewfile.aspx?id=21694
4. CX Trends "CX Trends 2020 Full Report (PDF)" Available at:
https://d1eipm3vz40hy0.cloudfront.net/pdf/cxtrends/cx-trends-2020-full-report.pdf
5. TrustRadius "Help Desk Statistics" Available at:
https://www.trustradius.com/buyer-blog/help-desk-statistics
6. TSIA Webinars "Create an Exceptional Self-Service Customer Experience with Knowledge Management" Available at:
https://www.tsia.com/webinars/create-an-exceptional-self-service-customer-experience-with-knowledge-management
7. Indeed "Customer Service Salaries" Available at:
https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Six-Flags,-Inc./salaries/Customer-Service-Team-Lead
