Contact Center ROI: Calculation and 6 Ways to Maximize It

Focusing on customer experience is pivotal when you’re looking to build greater brand reputation, customer loyalty, and profitability. Research has found that investing in a customer-first operation can yield up to a 700% ROI over 12 years!

For sales and support teams, omnichannel contact center solutions have become a powerful means for creating a customer-focused experience. 

Contact center solution benefits are undeniable, however, you may be wondering about the return on your investment. While specific contact center ROI figures will vary, we’ll explore the fundamentals of determining contact center ROI.

Customer Experience and Contact Centers

In an era of high customer expectations, contact center roles go beyond handling inquiries and resolving issues; they are pivotal in delivering a seamless and personalized customer experience (CX). 

Here’s how omnichannel contact center improve CX:

• Centralized Support: Able to manage all interactions from a single platform.
• Omnichannel Support: Provides consistent experiences across multiple communication channels, including phone, email, SMS, social media, and more.
• Personalized Service: Uses CRM and data analytics to deliver tailored interactions.
• Efficient Issue Resolution: Skills-based routing ensures better first-contact resolution.
• Increased Operational Efficiency: Includes automation and adaptable workflows.
• Agent Training: Supervisor tools help ensure agents provide quality service.
• Advanced Technology Integration: Employs AI, chatbots, and analytics to help enhance service.
• Real-Time Performance Monitoring: Continuously tracks KPIs and customer feedback.
• Scalable Solutions: Easily adaptable to meet varying customer demands.

What is Contact Center ROI?

Return on Investment (ROI) is a crucial metric for any business investment, including contact center solutions. It quantifies the financial return you can expect from your investment relative to its cost.

The typical ROI for a contact center can vary widely depending on various factors, such as:

• the industry
• the scale of the contact center
• the chosen solution
• implementation strategies
• the improvements achieved.

The Importance of Contact Center ROI 

ROI will help your business determine the true value of your investment. With that knowledge, you can:

• Make Informed Decisions: ROI provides a clear picture of potential financial gains, allowing your business to compare different investment options.
• Justify Investments: Demonstrating a positive ROI can help secure buy-in from stakeholders and justify the expenditure.
• Measure Success: Post-implementation, ROI helps assess whether the investment is yielding the expected benefits, guiding future strategy and adjustments.

Calculating Contact Center ROI

The formula for return on investment (ROI) is a fundamental component of cost-benefit analysis.

ROI = (Net profit / Investment Cost) x 100

Net Profit = Total Revenue from the investment - Total Costs of the investment
Investment Cost = Initial and ongoing costs related to the cloud contact center solution

Determining Your Investment Costs

Looking the ROI formula above, let’s start by considering the following initial and operational costs associated with your contact center investment.

Initial Costs

• 75% of consumers prefer to shop at retailers that recognize them by name, recommend options based on their past purchases, and know their shopping history.
• Qualtrics XM Institute reports that 94% of consumers who rate a company’s CX as  "very good" are more likely to make future purchases.
• According to Bain & Company, organizations that excel at CX grow revenues 4-8% higher than the market.
• A McKinsey study found that companies that implement speech analytics can expect to improve their customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) by at least 10%,
• Another McKinsey study shows that a 10% increase in CSAT can lead to a 2-3% increase in revenue.
• According to Bain and Company, a 5% improvement in customer retention could increase profitability by 25% to 95%.

Related: 6 Steps to Improve Customer Experience in a Contact Center 

2. Increased Revenue Generation from Sales, Upselling, or Cross-Selling

According to Hubspot, the majority (72%) of sales professionals who upsell report it accounts for up to 30% of their company's revenue.

McKinsey and Company found that improved service-to-sales performance can lead to a 40% increase in sales conversion rates from service calls​. 

3. Cost Savings From Automation

• According to McKinsey, automation can reduce costs related to manual processes by up to 30%​ ​.

4. Cost Savings From Enhanced Agent Productivity

• Automating the identification of a customer's name, policy number, and reason for calling could reduce human interaction time by up to a third.
• A contact center with a 1% improvement in FCR (first call resolution) reduces its operating costs by 1%.

5. Preventing and Avoiding Costs

A contact center solution can also prevent several costs, ultimately contributing to savings and improved operational efficiency.

• Reduced Employee Turnover Costs: Contact centers that prioritize agent satisfaction can reduce employee turnover rates, reducing recruitment, hiring, and training costs.
• Lower Infrastructure Costs: Cloud-based contact center solutions eliminate the need for on-premises hardware and infrastructure, lowering upfront capital expenses.
• Minimized Downtime Costs: Solutions with robust redundancy and failover capabilities reduce downtime caused by technical issues or disasters, preventing revenue loss from missed opportunities.
• Compliance Fines and Penalties: Contact center solutions with compliance features help ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, avoiding fines and penalties for non-compliance and protecting the company's reputation.

Potential Contact Center ROI

Let’s explore contact ROI projections of a hypothetical mid-sized company. We’ll use some of the statistics explored in the above sections to inform our projections. Of course, ROI calculations will vary by industry, solution, scale, implementation, and more. Costs and revenue will differ considerably on a case-by-case basis. 

Consider AceRetail a mid-sized retail company with annual revenue of $10 million. By implementing a new cloud contact center solution, they aim to enhance their customer experience (CX) and operational efficiency. 

Estimated Initial Costs

Estimated Operational Costs (Annual)

Estimated Revenue From The Investment

1. Increased Revenue Generation

• From Enhanced Customer Experience:
  • Assume the company gets 10% more customers to rate its CX as "very good" as a result of the new contact center capabilities like sentiment analysis, personalization, automation, and more.
  • Increased Revenue from CX:
    • Annual revenue of $10 million.
    • Studies show 10% increase in customer satisfaction can improve revenue by 2-3%. Let's assume an average increase of 2.5%
    • Increased Revenue from Improved CX=$10,000,000×2.5%=$250,000
• From Upselling Revenue:
  • With enhanced upselling capabilities, AceRetail expects a 10% increase in upselling revenue, which currently accounts for 30% of their total revenue:
  • Increased upselling revenue: ($10,000,000 x 30%) x 10% = $300,000 
• Increased Revenue: $250,000 + $300,000 = $550,000

2. Cost Savings From

• Automation
  • Assume contact Center automation reduces manual process costs by 30%. Given that the annual operating cost of the contact center is $130,000
    • Cost Savings from Automation=$130,000 ×30%= $39,000
• Enhanced Agent Productivity
  • A 1% improvement in First call resolution (FCR) can reduce operating costs by up to  1%. Let’s assume that AceRetail can improve its FCR by 10% with total operating costs set at 130,000$
    • Cost Savings From Improved FCR = $130,000 x 10% = $13,000
• Operational cost savings: $39,000 + $13,000 = $52,000

Financial Projections

Year 1:

• Total Costs: Initial Costs + Annual Operational Costs = $220,000 + $130,000 = $350,000
• Revenue from investment: $602,000
• Net Profit: $$602,000 - $350,000 = $252,000
• ROI YEAR 1: 252,000/350,000 x 100 = 72%

Year 2 and beyond:

• Total Costs: Annual Operational Costs = $130,000
• Revenue from investment: $602,000
• Net Profit: $602,000 - $130,000 = $472,000
• ROI YEAR 2: (472,000/130,000) x 100 = 363%

6 Effective Ways to Improve Contact Center ROI

In large part, your contact center's ROI will be determined by how you implement and operate it. Here, we’ll explore how you can get started.

1. Track KPIs That Are Important For Contact Centers

Tracking and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) such as average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), and customer satisfaction (CSAT) is crucial for continuous improvement in a contact center.

By closely monitoring these metrics, you can identify inefficiencies, such as long call times or frequent repeat calls, and implement targeted improvements.

Improving FCR directly reduces the need for follow-up interactions, thereby cutting down on labor costs and enhancing customer satisfaction. These improvements collectively optimize operational efficiency and drive higher ROI.

2. Leverage AI Technology

Incorporating advanced technologies like AI chatbots can dramatically increase a contact center's efficiency.

For instance, AI can handle repetitive, lower-value tasks such as answering common questions or directing customers to the right department. This reduces the workload on human agents, allowing them to focus on complex issues that require a personal touch. As a result, response times decrease, customer satisfaction increases, and labor costs are reduced.

AI can improve customer experience in many ways, and the benefits collectively enhance the ROI by ensuring that resources are used more effectively and customer needs are met promptly.

3. Invest in Agent Training

Investing in comprehensive training programs for agents ensures they are well-equipped to efficiently handle a wide range of customer issues. Effective training can lead to quicker resolution times and higher first-call resolution (FCR) rates.

A well-trained agent can resolve issues more quickly, resulting in fewer repeat calls and shorter call durations. This reduces operational costs and boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty, boosting ROI through cost savings and increased revenue.

4. Use Data Analytics

With data analytics, you can gain deeper insight into operational performance and improve your contact center's efficiency to maximize ROI. Built-in data analytics in a contact center solution will allow you to pull information related to contact center and agent performance and make targeted improvements.

Here’s what that looks like within net2phone’s uContact contact center solution.

For example, analytics can reveal patterns in call volumes and peak times, enabling better resource allocation and strategic planning.

By using data-driven insights to optimize operations and enhance customer experiences, contact centers can reduce waste, improve service delivery, and increase ROI.

5. Provide Preventative Support

Preventative support involves proactively addressing potential customer issues before they arise. This can be done through proactive communication strategies, such as sending reminders, updates, or instructional content that preempts common problems.

For instance, a utility company might send reminders about peak usage times to help customers manage their consumption more effectively.

By reducing the volume of inbound calls and preempting issues, contact centers can lower operational costs and enhance customer satisfaction, leading to a smoother customer experience and a higher ROI.

6. Develop A Customer Experience Strategy

Creating a focused customer experience strategy is essential for maximizing contact center ROI.

Creating a CX strategy involves getting to know your customers in-depth, identifying all their touchpoints with your brand, and mapping their journey to identify pain points.

Through your contact center solution, you can use tools like sentiment analysis to gather insights and make data-driven improvements. Effective customer experience management is crucial for increasing contact center ROI, and we’ve detailed everything you need to know in our comprehensive guide on customer experience management.

Final Thoughts: The Strategic Value of Investing in a Contact Center

Research and Industry benchmarks show that investments in contact centers lead to increased sales revenue, cost savings, and better customer retention due to enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty.

A well-implemented contact center becomes a strategic asset, driving financial gains and fostering strong customer relationships, ultimately positioning businesses for long-term success.

Ready to transform your customer service operations and drive growth? Contact us today to learn how our net2phone’s contact center solution, uContact, can help you achieve these benefits and more. Our team of experts is here to help you implement the latest technology and best practices, ensuring your contact center becomes a powerful driver of efficiency and customer satisfaction.