Fully Loaded Cost per Conversation
The true cost of human-powered customer support that includes not just salaries, but benefits, taxes, software, equipment, management overhead, training, quality assurance, attrition, and backfill expenses. Essential for accurately calculating AI ROI and understanding real support economics.
What Traditional Cost Models Miss
Legacy models typically focus on a single metric: dividing total support cost by the number of conversations handled. But this is an oversimplification that misses significant cost factors that impact the true economics of human-powered support.
Your true human cost per conversation goes far beyond salaries. It includes:
- Benefits and taxes
- Software and equipment
- Management overhead
- Coaching, training, and QA
- Attrition, backfill, and onboarding
Why This Matters for AI ROI
Understanding your fully loaded cost is critical for calculating accurate AI ROI. Industry benchmarks put the average cost per conversation well north of $1, and often much higher for complex queries. That's your breakeven point. Once your AI Agent starts resolving conversations below that threshold, it's not just cost-neutral—it's ROI-positive.
Teams that only consider direct labor costs dramatically underestimate the value AI delivers. By factoring in the fully loaded cost, organizations can accurately model the economic impact of automation and make better decisions about where to invest in AI capabilities versus human headcount.