The cost price of a phone call with customer service in the Netherlands lies on average between five and fifteen euros per call, depending on the sector, the type of question, and the setup of your contact center. This amount is made up of personnel costs, technology, overhead, and indirect costs. In this article, we answer the most frequently asked questions about calculating the cost per call, the hidden cost items that organizations often miss, and how you convert these insights into a concrete business case for automation.
Which cost components determine the price of a phone call?
The cost price of a phone call consists of four main components: personnel costs, technology costs, overhead, and quality costs. Personnel costs form by far the largest part, usually between sixty and eighty percent of the total cost per call. The other components are smaller but certainly not negligible.
A clear breakdown looks as follows:
- Personnel costs: gross salary, social security contributions, holiday pay, sick leave, and training costs of the employee who handles the call.
- Technology costs: telephony infrastructure, ACD systems (automatic call distribution), CRM licenses, reporting tools, and management costs.
- Overhead: housing, management, HR, planning, and facility costs allocated to the contact center.
- Quality costs: time spent on training, coaching, quality monitoring, and resolving errors or complaints resulting from previous calls.
Anyone who wants to calculate the costs of customer service must include all these components. Organizations that only look at the hourly rate of an employee structurally underestimate the actual price.
How do you calculate the average call duration and what is the impact on costs?
The average call duration, also known as Average Handle Time (AHT), is calculated by dividing the total talk time plus the after call work by the number of handled calls in a period. The AHT has a direct and linear impact on the cost price: every extra minute of call duration increases the cost per call proportionally.
Suppose an employee has a gross hourly wage including benefits of forty euros. Then every minute of call time costs approximately 67 cents in personnel costs. An average AHT of six minutes then quickly leads to a personnel cost component of four euros per call, excluding technology and overhead.
Two factors determine the AHT most strongly:
- Complexity of the question: simple questions such as opening hours or status information are handled quickly; complaints, changes, or multiple questions take more time.
- System support: employees who have quick access to relevant customer information in a well-configured CRM handle calls demonstrably faster than colleagues who have to consult multiple systems.
Reducing the AHT by even one minute can already yield savings of thousands of euros per year with a hundred calls per day. That makes the average call duration one of the most powerful knobs you can turn when managing your customer service costs.
What is a realistic cost price per phone call in the Netherlands?
A realistic cost price per phone call in the Netherlands lies for most service organizations between five and fifteen euros. Simple, standardized calls in well-optimized contact centers come out at the bottom of this spectrum. Complex or long-duration calls in sectors such as government, housing associations, or utilities are more often at the top end or above.
The cost price differs greatly per organization and is determined by:
- The average call duration and after call work
- The salary level and the occupancy rate of the employees
- The degree of automation and self-service already present
- The ratio between first-line and second-line handling
- The technology costs per call at lower or higher volumes
It is useful to calculate your own cost price and compare it with the type of contact you receive. Organizations that have a lot of repeat contact are essentially paying twice for the same problem. That makes the cost per call not only a financial figure but also a quality indicator.
Which hidden costs are often overlooked?
In addition to the direct cost components, there are hidden costs that significantly increase the actual price of a phone call. The most underestimated are repeat contact, productivity loss due to system switching, and the indirect costs of poor customer experience.
Repeat contact and double handling
When a customer calls back because a problem was not properly resolved, you effectively pay twice for the same contact. In many contact centers, ten to twenty percent of the total volume is repeat contact. That means a significant part of your costs is directly avoidable if the First Contact Resolution goes up.
Productivity loss due to fragmented systems
Employees who have to switch between multiple systems during a call, manually look up a customer file, or register information in two places, lose valuable minutes per call. This increases the AHT structurally without it being visible in the budget. Yet these are real labor costs that weigh directly in the cost price of every phone call.
Other hidden cost items are:
- Waiting time costs: customers who drop out increase churn, which yields indirect revenue damage
- Training costs with high turnover, which occurs more often in contact centers than in other sectors
- Management costs of outdated or poorly integrated technology
- Errors that must be corrected after the call and cost extra back-office time
How do you use the cost price to build a business case for automation?
The cost price per phone call is the starting point of every serious business case for automation. By multiplying the cost per call by the volume of automatable calls, you calculate the potential savings that technology such as AI or self-service can yield. That gives a concrete financial argument for investment.
A practical three-step approach:
- Calculate your current cost price per call based on personnel, technology, and overhead costs divided by the total call volume.
- Identify the automatable volume by categorizing call types. Questions about opening hours, status information, simple changes, and frequently asked questions are usually well automatable.
- Calculate the return by multiplying the automatable volume by the cost price per call and comparing this against the investment in technology and implementation.
Suppose your contact center handles a thousand calls per day at an average cost price of eight euros, and thirty percent of those calls are automatable. Then that potentially represents a saving of 2,400 euros per day, or over 600,000 euros per year. Even if the automation only captures half of that volume, the business case is convincing for most organizations.
It is important to also include the soft benefits: shorter waiting times, higher employee satisfaction, and better accessibility outside office hours. These are harder to quantify but strengthen the business case significantly.
How Pegamento helps you calculate and lower your cost per call
We help service organizations to get a grip on the actual costs of their customer contact and convert those insights into a feasible and well-founded business case. No abstract reports, but concrete analyses that are directly usable for decision-making.
What we specifically do:
- We map out your current cost structure, including hidden costs such as repeat contact and system loss
- We identify which call types are most suitable for automation via AI, Agentic AI, or self-service
- We build a well-founded business case with realistic savings, implementation costs, and payback period
- We implement tailor-made solutions with standard building blocks, so you don’t pay for unnecessarily complex architecture
- We guide the entire process, from analysis to implementation and ongoing optimization, as a single point of contact
Everything under one roof: advice, technology, and execution, without you having to manage multiple suppliers. Do you want to know what your phone calls actually cost and where the greatest gain can be achieved? Contact us and we will look at the possibilities together.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I recalculate my cost per call?
It is wise to recalculate the cost price per phone call at least once per quarter, and immediately after significant changes such as salary increases, a new CRM system, or a change in call volume. Cost prices are not static numbers: personnel turnover, new technology, and shifts in the type of questions customers ask can quickly influence the cost per call. By measuring regularly, you signal cost increases early and can adjust in time.
What is a good First Contact Resolution (FCR) score and how do I improve it?
An FCR score of seventy to eighty percent is considered a benchmark in most sectors, with leading contact centers achieving scores above eighty percent. You improve the FCR by better training employees on problem-solving, giving them direct access to relevant customer information in an integrated CRM, and structurally analyzing callback reasons. Identifying the most common causes of repeat contact is the fastest way to concrete improvement.
Which call types are least suitable for automation?
Calls where emotion, complex judgment, or a high degree of customization play a role are least suitable for full automation. Think of escalations, complaints about drastic situations, or calls where a customer feels vulnerable, such as with debt counseling or medical questions. For these types of contacts, human contact is essential for customer satisfaction and care. Automation can support here, for example by providing the employee with relevant customer information beforehand.
How do I prevent cost per call cuts from coming at the expense of customer satisfaction?
The key is to cut back on avoidable contact instead of on the quality of necessary contact. By using self-service and automation for simple, repetitive questions, you keep human capacity available for calls that really deserve attention. Customers value speed and problem-solving; if automation contributes to shorter waiting times and better accessibility, customer satisfaction actually rises. In addition to your cost per call, always monitor your CSAT or NPS score to check if the balance is right.
What is the difference between cost per call and cost per contact, and which metric is more relevant?
Cost per call measures exclusively the costs of telephone contact, while cost per contact includes all channels: email, chat, social media, and self-service. In an omnichannel environment, cost per contact is the more relevant metric because customers increasingly switch between channels and a full picture of your service costs otherwise becomes distorted. Yet the cost per call remains valuable as a management tool, precisely because telephony is still the most expensive and most used channel in most organizations.
How do I involve my management in the business case for automation without losing them in technical details?
Always present the business case in financial and strategic terms, not in technological ones. Start with the current costs per call, multiply this by the automatable volume, and show the payback period in months. In addition, add soft benefits such as improved accessibility, higher employee satisfaction, and lower recruitment costs due to less turnover. A concrete calculation example with your own figures, such as the example of 600,000 euros annual savings from this article, makes the business case tangible and convincing for decision-makers.
Can I also use the cost per call to benchmark my contact center's performance against competitors?
Yes, but do this with the necessary caution: sector averages are a useful reference point, but direct comparisons are only meaningful if the underlying definitions match. Not every organization includes the same cost components, and a low cost per call in another organization may be the result of lower salaries, more self-service, or simply a different type of customer questions. Use benchmarks as a signal to determine if further research is needed, and always base your improvement priorities on your own cost analysis.
