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Reference

Cost per contact (CPC)

The full cost of running the contact center over a period divided by the contacts it handled.

Also called: cost per call, CPC.

Why it matters

It turns a budget into a unit a business can compare across channels, periods and options. Cost per resolution adds the repeat contacts an issue takes.

How it is calculated

Unit costs
Cost per contact = monthly TCO ÷ contacts. Cost per resolution = cost per contact × (2 − FCR). Marginal per contact = AHT minutes × wage × the marginal load (1.18, never above the loaded rate entered) per minute + voice share × line-open minutes × telephony priceCost per resolution uses the one-plus-repeat model. Unit costs stay on the loaded rate; deflection, repeat and handle-time savings are valued at the marginal load. Capturing them by not backfilling seats removes benefits too, about 10% more at the opening loads.As published in the TCO Calculator method, version 1.4.
Cost per resolution
Loaded cost per contact × CThe premium over cost per contact is (C − 1), the cost of repeat demand.As published in the Cost per Contact Calculator method, version 1.1.

Before you compare

  • What goes into the cost (technology, facilities, management, overhead) changes the figure more than anything the agents do. Say what you included.
  • Cutting cost per contact by adding contacts (for example through repeat calls) makes the center look cheaper and the customer's issue dearer.
  • The marginal cost of one more or one fewer contact is lower than the average: fixed costs do not move with volume.

Published figures

What publishers report for this measure. Each counts something slightly different, so read the definition before you compare; nothing here is averaged across publishers.

Cost of an inbound callBenchmark study

A cross-industry US average reported by contact centers. No free source publishes cost per contact by industry, so none is shown.

  • $7.20Average cost of an inbound call, US47% more than an email and 23% more than a web chat, as ContactBabel states it.ContactBabel, 2026. The 2026 US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide, key findings.

Measure yours