Total Cost Per Call In Call Centers

By Author: Josh
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Have you ever wondered how much money you spend to handle a single call?

If you’ve mulled over the question, then you must be aware of the concept known as ‘cost per call.’

Cost per call is one of the most important metrics for contact centers. As an owner or a manager of a contact center, you must calculate your cost per call to make sure that you have no inefficiencies in your operations. Call centers often invest a lot in the best call center software, skilled agents, and other resources, but it is necessary to make sure that cost per call is counted correctly to keep budget and profit on track.

This article discusses cost per call in detail as well as the importance of cost per call and the ways to reduce cost per call.

What is the cost per call?

As the name indicates, cost per call is the cost incurred to handle a single call. It’s a metric that’s used to determine the budget allocation for each call. It calculates the overall efficiency as well as the agent ratio to calls. Whether your call center software calculates the cost per call or not, it is necessary to calculate it ...
... by yourself to keep things on the right track.

Factors that affect the cost per call

Starting from a contact center’s fixed costs to variable costs, many factors affect its cost per call. Here are some factors that affect the cost per call:

1. Agent wages and salaries

Agents’ salaries and wages have a huge impact on cost per call as they are the most substantial costs for contact centers. When the salaries and wages are high, then the cost per call will also be high. Lower wages can reduce the cost per call.

But this is an area contact center should not compromise to reduce cost per rate. High-quality agents are worth their salt. If you focus constantly on lowering salaries and wages, then you are more likely to get sub-par performance.

2. Technology costs

Technology is the lifeblood of every business, especially contact centers. Modern contact centers can’t operate without a wide range of technology tools like a call center solution. So technology costs are among the significant costs in contact centers.

The technology costs can include contact center software, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, business phone systems, call routing software, and more.

3. Overhead costs

Cost per call is massively influenced by several overhead expenses such as office rent, utilities, and other operational costs. These costs are mainly fixed costs and they remain the same irrespective of the number of calls handled. Contact centers must distribute their entire overhead costs across all calls to calculate the accurate cost per call.

4. Training costs

Speaking of agent training, contact centers need to train their agents at regular intervals to get the desired performance from them. When agents are provided initial and ongoing training using a call center solution or without it, they perform their tasks optimally. Training costs include trainers’ costs as well as costs incurred to create training materials, resources, stationery, etc.

5. Call volume and agents’ productivity

Call volume also affects the cost per call. Higher call volumes increase the cost per call as they require more resources and agents to handle the workload.

Contact center agents’ productivity and efficiency can impact the cost per call, which is why it is counted in all call center solutions. Agents who effectively and quickly handle more calls in a specific time reduce the cost per call.

6. Call duration

Cost per call has a huge bearing on the average call duration. The longer are the calls, the more time and resources they consume. Contact centers can reduce their call duration by leveraging automated systems and agent training. The best call center software calculates the total call duration.

7. Outsourcing costs

In case a contact center outsources its operations to any other service provider, it would have to bear additional costs such as contract fees, service level agreements, and other miscellaneous costs.

How to calculate the cost per call in a contact center?

Calculating the cost per call in a contact center involves considering various factors such as agent salaries, overhead costs, and call volume. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to calculate the cost per call:

Calculate the total costs:

Add all the costs that your contact center incurs in a specific period (for a month or a day).

Determine the call volume:

Determine the total number of calls handled by the contact center during the period.

Calculate the cost per call:

Divide the total costs by the call volume. The result will be the cost per call.

Formula:

Cost per call = total costs/call volume

Example:

Let’s imagine a scenario where a contact center spends $5,000 in overheads (rent, utilities, and other miscellaneous operational costs), $5,000 in agents’ salaries, and $2,000 in technology costs in a month. During that month, the contact center handled 3,000 calls.

Total costs = $5,000 + $5,000 + $2,000 = $12,000

Cost per call = $12,000 (total costs) / 3,000 (call volume) = $4 per call

In this example, the cost per call is $4.

Now, we can do the same to calculate the cost per call taking daily costs. Let’s suppose a contact center spends $150 in daily overheads, $200 in agents’ wages, and $50 in technology costs. On an average day, the contact center handles 100 calls.

Total costs = $150 + $200 + $50 = $400

Cost per call = $400/100 = $4 per call

In this example, the cost per call is also $4.

Note: Please do note that the calculation provides an average cost per call. It, however, doesn’t consider other vital factors such as call type complexity, call duration, or additional revenue generated from the rings.

Work on cost-per-call calculation and reduce it to keep increasing profit. Use the best tools and best practices to help reduce cost per call.

For more information visit https://www.acinfosoft.com/call-center-solutions/