Roper
Get started

Ticket deflection calculator

Estimate what answering repeat questions without a person is worth, and the break-even point where a help center and AI answers pay for themselves. You supply the numbers; nothing is assumed.

By the Roper team · Published

The starting numbers are placeholders. Replace each with your own; the result is only as good as they are.

Picks the Roper plan: Pro up to 3, Team above.

Reading, looking up, replying, tagging.

Salary plus overheads, or what your own hour is worth.

Share of conversations a help article already answers in full. Measure it: see below.

Of those repeat questions, the share you expect a help center or AI answer to settle.

Conversations deflected
60
of 120 repeat questions
Time saved
6 h
a month
Value of that time
$240
$4 per conversation
Roper Pro
$39
a month, AI included

$201 a month ahead. At these numbers the time saved is worth $240, which is $201 more than the $39 plan.

Break-even: the help center and AI would need to answer 10 conversations a month without a person (3.3% of your conversations) to cover the plan.

The short answer

Ticket deflection is the share of customer questions answered without a person, usually by a help center article or an AI answer built on one. To value it, multiply the conversations you deflect by the minutes each one costs and your hourly rate. This calculator also gives the break-even point: how many conversations a month a tool must deflect to cover its price. It assumes no industry average, because the honest figure is your own, so measure your repeat-question share first.

Roper is made by the team that wrote this calculator. It uses only the numbers you enter and Roper's published plan prices, and it does not quote vendor deflection percentages.

How the numbers are worked out

  • Cost of one conversation = minutes per conversation ÷ 60 × your hourly cost.
  • Repeat conversations = conversations a month × the share that are repeat questions a help article could answer.
  • Deflected conversations = repeat conversations × the share you expect to be answered without a person.
  • Time saved = deflected conversations × minutes per conversation ÷ 60. Value of that time = time saved × your hourly cost.
  • Plan price is Roper Pro at $39 a month if up to 3 people answer support, and Team at $129 a month for more. AI answers are included in both.
  • Break-even = plan price ÷ the cost of one conversation, rounded up. It is the number of conversations a month the help center and AI would have to answer for the plan to pay for itself in time saved.

How to measure your repeat-question share

Every other number in the calculator is easy to know. This one is not, and it moves the result more than any other. A two-week count is enough.

  • Tag each conversation for two weeks with the topic it was about. A tag like login, invoice or export is enough.
  • Count how many topics came up three or more times, and how many conversations they account for. Divide by all conversations in the period.
  • For each repeat topic, check whether a help center article already answers it in full. Only those count as deflectable. A question that needs a person to look at an account is not a repeat question.
  • Use the share you measured, and be cautious with the deflection rate: start at a level you would be happy to beat, not the best case.

What deflection does not tell you

  • A deflected conversation is not always a solved one. A customer who gives up looks the same as one who got an answer. Watch how many people ask for a human after an AI answer, and read a sample of the conversations.
  • Time saved is not always cash saved. If you are a solo founder, the value is hours back, not a smaller payroll. The result is that time priced at the hourly cost you entered.
  • AI answers can be wrong. An answer drawn only from your help center, with citations and an easy hand-off to a person, is safer than one that improvises. See how to stop AI support hallucinations.
  • It counts one benefit. It does not count faster replies for the questions that do need a person, or a help center that works while you sleep.

Questions

Common questions

What is ticket deflection?
Ticket deflection is answering a customer's question without a person handling a conversation, usually through a help center article, a search result or an AI answer that cites one. The ticket never reaches a human because the customer already has the answer.
What is a good ticket deflection rate?
There is no reliable universal figure. Percentages published by vendors depend on how each one counts a deflection, so this calculator does not quote them. Measure your own repeat-question share for two weeks, then check how many customers still ask for a person after an automated answer.
How do I calculate the cost per support ticket?
Divide the minutes a person spends on an average conversation by 60 and multiply by their hourly cost. For example, 6 minutes at $40 an hour is $4 a conversation. Include the time to read, look things up, reply and tag.
What does break-even mean in this calculator?
It is the number of conversations a month that a help center and AI would need to answer, without a person, for the saved time to equal the plan's price. If it is more than your count of repeat questions, deflection alone would not cover the plan at the hourly cost you entered.
How does Roper handle deflection?
Roper's AI answers from your published help center articles, shows which articles it used, and offers to hand the conversation to a person when it cannot help. It is included in the plan price rather than billed per resolution.

Sources

Answer the repeat questions once, and keep the human path open.

One inbox, one help center, one flat price. $39 a month for Pro.

Get started Try the live demo