Cost per Call

Cost per Call (CPC) is a KPI that measures the total expense your call center incurs for each call handled, giving you a direct read on operational efficiency and cost control.

What is Cost per Call?

Cost per Call is the total operating cost of your call center divided by the number of calls handled in a given period. It tells you, in dollar terms, how much each customer interaction actually costs, so you can spot inefficiencies, set budgets with confidence, and make decisions grounded in real numbers rather than estimates.

Reporting frequency: Monthly

Cost per Call formula

Cost per Call = Total Cost of All Calls / Total Number of Calls

What to include in total cost:

• Labour costs: Salaries and wages for agents, supervisors, and managers
• Technology costs: Phone systems, CRM software subscriptions, and other tools
• Overhead: Office space, utilities, and general administrative expenses
• Training costs: Onboarding and ongoing development for call center staff

Why Cost per Call matters

If your Cost per Call is climbing, something is wrong: agent productivity, call routing, technology gaps, or all three. Catching that early means you can fix the root cause before it compounds.

For growing teams where headcount and call volume are both rising, Cost per Call is one of the clearest signals that your support operation is scaling efficiently, or that it isn't. You don't need a data team to interpret it. A rising number means costs are outpacing volume. A falling number means you're getting more done for less.

Tracking Cost per Call alongside metrics like Average Handle Time and First Call Resolution gives you the full picture: not just what things cost, but why.

Who tracks Cost per Call

• Call center managers use Cost per Call to assess team performance, manage budgets, and justify technology investments.
• CFOs and finance leads track it to understand the cost of service delivery and its impact on overall profitability.
• Team leads monitor it to identify coaching opportunities and process improvements at the agent level.

What is a good Cost per Call benchmark?

$10 per call is a common starting benchmark, but the right number depends on your industry, call complexity, and business model.

A simple retail inquiry will carry a much lower target than a technical support call for a software company. Outbound sales calls have a different cost structure than inbound support. The benchmark that matters most is your own: set a baseline, track it consistently, and aim for steady improvement over time.

How to improve your Cost per Call

Reducing Cost per Call is about increasing efficiency, not rushing customers off the phone. A few strategies that move the number:

• Invest in training: Well-trained agents resolve issues faster, which shortens call times without sacrificing quality.
• Improve call routing: Getting callers to the right agent on the first try eliminates transfers and wasted handle time.
• Add self-service options: An IVR system or a well-structured knowledge base handles common questions without agent involvement, reducing volume and cost.
• Automate your reporting: Manually compiling cost data from spreadsheets introduces errors and takes time away from managing your team. A real-time dashboard removes that friction entirely.

How to track Cost per Call

Pulling cost data manually from multiple systems, phone platforms, CRM, payroll, and overhead, creates the kind of spreadsheet complexity that produces errors and delays. By the time the number is ready, it's already out of date.

With Klipfolio Klips, you connect directly to your phone systems, CRM, and financial software so your Cost per Call updates automatically. See it alongside Average Handle Time, First Call Resolution, and other call center metrics in one place, without waiting for someone to pull the numbers. Your team works from the same current data, and you spend less time chasing figures and more time acting on them.