How We Calculate AI Agent ROI: The Methodology Behind Our Calculator
Transparent breakdown of the assumptions, inputs, and formulas behind our ROI calculator. Use this to pressure-test any AI vendor's ROI claims.
Our ROI calculator is designed to be conservative. We'd rather underestimate your return than oversell and under-deliver. Here's exactly how it works.
Support Savings
Input: Tickets per month, average handle time, agent hourly rate.
Calculation: We assume 65% deflection — the lower bound of what we typically achieve. Deflected tickets × handle time × hourly rate = support savings.
Note: We don't include benefits overhead, management time, or quality assurance in the agent cost base. If you do, the savings are higher.
Lead Gen Revenue Uplift
Input: Lead volume per month, current close rate, average deal value.
Calculation: We model a 30% close rate improvement from faster follow-up. This is conservative — Harvard Business Review data suggests the improvement can be much larger when moving from hours-long follow-up to minutes.
New revenue − current revenue = lead gen uplift.
Customer Success
Input: Current ARR (derived from lead gen inputs).
Calculation: We model a 5% churn reduction. In practice, our implementations typically deliver 30–40% reductions, but we use 5% to keep the calculator conservative.
Costs
We use a placeholder monthly cost of $5,000 for the platform. Actual pricing varies based on scope and volume — contact us for a detailed quote.
What the Calculator Doesn't Include
- Implementation and onboarding costs (one-time)
- Internal time required for knowledge base setup
- Uplift from improved agent productivity (we've seen 3× productivity gains, but this is hard to model generically)
Use the calculator as a floor estimate, not a ceiling.