Most companies dramatically underestimate support costs by counting only direct agent salaries. Simple calculations miss reality: agents have substantial benefits costs, use various tools, require training, report to managers, and spend less than their full time on tickets (rest is training, meetings, breaks). The true fully-loaded cost per ticket is significantly higher than salary-only calculations suggest. Misunderstanding this leads to chronic under-budgeting and "where did all our money go?" conversations.

Cost per ticket varies substantially by channel and complexity. Email support typically costs less (asynchronous, batch processing). Phone support costs significantly more (synchronous, lower volume per agent). Live chat falls between. Simple transactional tickets cost less while complex technical support costs substantially more. For support teams handling substantial monthly ticket volumes, blended costs depend heavily on channel mix. Shifting portions of volume to self-service can generate significant annual savings.

Strategic leaders use cost per ticket to drive optimization. Self-service deflection moves expensive agent-handled tickets to much cheaper knowledge base interactions. Automation handles simple requests at a fraction of the cost compared to agents. Improved agent productivity through better tools and training can substantially reduce costs by increasing tickets handled per agent. Large support operations can save substantial amounts annually through optimization while improving customer satisfaction. Companies that don't track this metric often significantly over-spend.