Contact Ratio
What is Contact Ratio?
Contact Ratio (also called Contact Rate or Contacts per Customer) measures the average number of support interactions a customer initiates per period. It normalizes contact volume against customer base size, making it useful for forecasting and product health analysis. A rising contact ratio means customers are encountering more problems or finding the product harder to use. It is a product-quality signal as much as a support metric.
How is Contact Ratio calculated?
Contact Ratio = Total support contacts in period ÷ Number of active customers in period
"Active customers" typically means customers who logged in or used the product at least once in the period. A contact ratio of 0.3 means 30% of active customers contacted support in the month. Segment by customer tier. Enterprise customers naturally contact more frequently and at higher complexity.
What is a good Contact Ratio?
B2B SaaS, monthly
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What are the most common Contact Ratio mistakes?
- 1Tracking contact volume without normalizing for customer base size. A 20% volume increase is fine if your customer base grew 30%.
- 2Not segmenting by customer tier. Enterprise customers naturally contact support more and at higher complexity.
- 3Ignoring spikes after product releases. A post-release contact ratio spike is a product quality signal, not a support capacity problem.
- 4Conflating contact ratio with support demand. Contact ratio measures intent; actual ticket volume depends on how well self-service is working.