Skip to content
Product Agents

Search Product Agents

Start with a guide, or search a topic

Looking for an explanation? Ask Pip

Support agent cost model

Coverage, checked resolution, vendor billing, handoffs, and human review.

Illustration: defaults are assumptions, not benchmarks. Any vendor price is dated beside the source; enter the actual contract price for a business case. Capacity released becomes cash savings only if spending changes.

A Today, without the agent
Example
Channel mix and handle timeExample
Chat
Email
Voice

Shares stay at 100%: moving one rebalances the other two. Handle time includes after-call work.

Example

Pay, benefits, tools and management, divided by paid hours.

Example
Example

Handling takes 1,147 h of 1,920 paid hours (60%). Training, meetings and gaps fill the rest.

B With the agent

Coverage

Channels the agent answers

85% of tickets arrive on a channel the agent answers.

Example

Topics on the agent’s written list. The rest go straight to a person.

The agent attempts 4,760 conversations a month.

Results

Example

Share of the agent’s attempts where the outcome was checked: the record changed, the customer confirmed.

Example

What the vendor’s dashboard calls resolved. With per-outcome pricing, the bill follows this number.

The vendor counts55%
Checked35%

1,666 checked resolutions a month. The dashboard shows 952 more, and the bill counts them.

Price

How the vendor charges
List price

Intercom Fin: $0.99 per outcome. Intercom counts an outcome when the customer confirms the issue is resolved, doesn’t ask for more help, or a Procedure completes, handoffs included. Intercom charges once per conversation.

Intercom pricingList price, checked September 29, 2026. Contracts can differ.

People’s time

Example

Approvals for refunds over the limit, plus quality review.

Example
Example

Keeping knowledge, procedures and saved test cases current.

Example

Often longer than the average: the easy tickets are gone, and the rep reads what the agent tried.

Covered tickets average 8.2 min today, so each handoff costs +1.8 min of rep time.

Example

The agent drafts the CRM note and tags on tickets people still handle.

Today$76,800$9.60 per ticket
With the agent$69,807per month
Change−$6,993−9.1%

Where the monthly cost goes

  • Total
  • Lowers cost
  • Adds cost
  1. Support cost today$76,800
  2. Checked resolutions−$9,081
  3. Agent price+$2,592
  4. Review, approvals and upkeep+$2,069
  5. Extra time on handoffs+$3,761
  6. After-call work automated−$6,334
  7. Net monthly cost$69,807

The axis starts at $60k, so the changes stay readable. The break on the gray bars marks the cut.

Point at a bar to see how the step is calculated.

How each bar is calculated
StepCalculationMonthly
Support cost today12 reps × 160 h × $40/h$76,800
Checked resolutions1,666 checked resolutions × 8.2 min × $40/h−$9,081
Agent price2,618 counted resolutions × $0.99 per counted resolution+$2,592
Review, approvals and upkeep(476 reviews × 4 min + 20 h upkeep) × $40/h+$2,069
Extra time on handoffs3,094 handoffs × (10 min − 8.2 min) × $40/h+$3,761
After-call work automated6,334 tickets people still handle × 1.5 min × $40/h−$6,334
Net monthly costToday’s cost plus every step above$69,807

Cost per result

The agent costs $8,422 a month in price, review time and extra handoff time. Divided by attempts, then by checked resolutions, next to a person doing the same work.

  • Per attemptLooks cheap: failures are spread thin.$1.77
  • Per checked resolutionThe number to manage.$5.06
  • A person, same ticketHandle time on covered channels × rep rate.$5.45

The agent’s price alone: $0.99 per outcome becomes $1.56 per checked resolution.

Rep time

240 h freed a month, about 1.5 reps.

  • Checked resolutions+227 h
  • After-call work automated+158 h
  • Review, approvals and upkeep−52 h
  • Extra time on handoffs−94 h
  • Every attempt without a checked resolution still reaches a person, at the handoff handle time.
  • Freed rep hours lower the bill only when the team hires less or takes on other work.

How to measure the pilotSimpler pilot calculator