{"id":11681,"date":"2017-02-01T17:58:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T17:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intercom.com\/?p=11681"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:59:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:59:10","slug":"roi-of-customer-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer support is an investment, not a cost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"opening_paragraph\">There\u2019s no escaping the fact that supporting your customers costs money, but how much money can you afford to spend while optimizing for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/books\/growth-handbook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">growth<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/customer-retention-5-best-practices-6-strategies-for-low-churn\/\">retention<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>Many companies respond to growth pressures by cutting the amount they spend on support, letting their customers\u2019 experience suffer as a result. Reducing your spend on customer support might look tempting in the short term, but will erode your profitability in the long run \u2013 unhappy customers will simply leave.<\/p>\n<p>At Intercom, we\u2019ve found <strong>customers who talk to support are worth 2.5 times more to us in MRR than the ones who don\u2019t<\/strong>. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve put even more emphasis on growing our support team \u2013 both in headcount, and tools for support, such as improved processes and training.<\/p>\n<p>Determining how much to invest in your support can be hard. It depends on your own financials, the stage of your company, the type of product you sell, etc. At Intercom, I&#8217;ve been responsible for marketing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/articles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Articles<\/a>, our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/customer-support-software\/knowledge-base\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">knowledge base product<\/a>, so I&#8217;ve been thinking a lot about how and why people invest in support. Coming from the world of SaaS finance, where part of my job was creating operating plans to grow the business, I believe the best way you can answer these questions is with a calculator. \u00a0Once you\u2019ve defined some factors about your business, you\u2019ll be able to clearly understand how much your company should spend to support your customers.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"calculating-how-much-to-spend-on-your-customers\">Calculating how much to spend on your customers<\/h2>\n<p>Start by determining each of these five elements per average customer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Acquisition cost:<\/strong> Money <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/what-is-customer-acquisition-cost\/\">spent on sales and marketing to acquire a customer<\/a>, e.g. paid content, advertising, conference sponsorships, etc. This is usually the biggest expense and makes up about 25-35% of Customer Lifetime Value.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Activation cost:<\/strong> Money spent on setting customers up for success, e.g. onboarding new customers, product education, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Retention cost:<\/strong> Money spent on avoiding customer churn, e.g. knowledge base upkeep, staffing, systems and technology, etc. This is referred to in some circles as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.totango.com\/customer-retention-cost-report.pdf\">the missing SaaS metric<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Annual recurring revenue:<\/strong> Money a customer pays in one year.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Expansion\/referral revenue:<\/strong> Any additional money a customer pays over and above their initial monthly spend, or how much additional money is collected without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/what-is-customer-acquisition-cost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acquisition costs<\/a> (e.g. they tell a friend, or move to a new company and implement your product there too).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve estimated these factors you can calculate how much money you should spend supporting each customer to reach your breakeven point and your return on investment for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/5-customer-acquisition-strategies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acquiring customers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the simple formulas:<\/p>\n<p><code>Breakeven per customer support spend = (Annual Recurring Revenue + Expansion Revenue + Referral Revenue) \u2013 (Acquisition Cost + Activation Costs + Retention Costs) <\/code><br \/>\nand<br \/>\n<code>Lifetime Value \/ Customer Acquisition Cost Ratio = (Annual Recurring Revenue + Expansion Revenue) \/ Customer Acquisition Cost<\/code><\/p>\n<h3>Actionable insights<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2jwseVW\">This spreadsheet<\/a> will automatically calculate your breakeven customer support spend and LTV:CAC ratio.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2jwseVW\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small\" src=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/ROI-of-Customer-Support-Calculator1.png\" alt=\"ROI of customer support calculator\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><em>Click above to open this spreadsheet\u00a0in Google Docs, or <a href=\"https:\/\/marketing.intercomcdn.com\/assets\/ROI+of+Customer+Support+Calculator.xlsx\">click here<\/a> to download it as an Excel file. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Most operating plans assume new customer counts. For example, if your breakeven customer support spend is $85, and you expect 1,000 new customers next year, then you can spend $85,000 more on customer support next year than you did this year while maintaining the same profit margin.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s up to you to determine the most effective way to spend that money \u2013 it could mean more teammates or optimizing your support tools by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/customer-support-software\/knowledge-base\">letting more customers help themselves<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For LTV:CAC ratio, a 3:1 ratio is ideal. 5:1 means you are not spending enough, and could be growing faster. 1:1 means you are spending too much to acquire customers and should find ways to reduce costs.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>These formulas are not the only things to consider when growing your SaaS business. Many people have written in depth about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forentrepreneurs.com\/saas-metrics-2-definitions-2\/\">calculating SaaS metrics<\/a>, and while their formulas are correct, they often ignore the role that customer support plays. For long term success, consider customer support just as much a lever for growth as sales and marketing.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s no escaping the fact that supporting your customers costs money, but how much money can you afford to spend while optimizing for growth and retention? Many companies respond to growth pressures by cutting the amount&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":11685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"category":[3],"tags":[142,149,151,182],"coauthors":[368],"class_list":["post-11681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-support","tag-customer-support","tag-growth","tag-startups-2","tag-strategy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Customer support is an investment, not a cost - The Intercom Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SaaS businesses should consider customer support as important for growth as sales or marketing. Use these formulas to calculate how much you need to invest.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Customer support is an investment, not a cost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SaaS businesses should consider customer support as important for growth as sales or marketing. Use these formulas to calculate how much you need to invest.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Intercom Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-01T17:58:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-30T11:59:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1968\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"932\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raechel Lambert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@raechellambert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@intercom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raechel Lambert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raechel Lambert\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/41b874759c3d3e22b9c8c0025c55dee2\"},\"headline\":\"Customer support is an investment, not a cost\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-01T17:58:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-30T11:59:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":648,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"customer support\",\"growth\",\"startups\",\"strategy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Customer Service\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/\",\"name\":\"Customer support is an investment, not a cost - The Intercom Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-01T17:58:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-30T11:59:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"SaaS businesses should consider customer support as important for growth as sales or marketing. Use these formulas to calculate how much you need to invest.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/roi-of-customer-support\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg\",\"width\":1968,\"height\":932},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Intercom Blog\",\"description\":\"Articles and Podcasts on Customer Service, AI and Automation, Product, and more\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Intercom Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"The Intercom Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/intercominc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/intercom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/intercom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/2491343\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.ie\\\/intercom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCJG0MvLP03kyzzAkD-w98aQ\",\"https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Intercom_(company)\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/41b874759c3d3e22b9c8c0025c55dee2\",\"name\":\"Raechel Lambert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/040237d3d85699d015e8726a7105ba3710aa3491ca822d8ca79bb55756cb679b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg9889e64bad23852dc63c877914107e4d\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/040237d3d85699d015e8726a7105ba3710aa3491ca822d8ca79bb55756cb679b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/040237d3d85699d015e8726a7105ba3710aa3491ca822d8ca79bb55756cb679b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Raechel Lambert\"},\"description\":\"I love coffee, playing Minecraft, and trying to learn tap dancing. At Intercom I'm responsible for marketing our Support product, which companies use to support their customers personally, at scale.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/raechellambert\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/raechellambert\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Customer support is an investment, not a cost - The Intercom Blog","description":"SaaS businesses should consider customer support as important for growth as sales or marketing. Use these formulas to calculate how much you need to invest.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Customer support is an investment, not a cost","og_description":"SaaS businesses should consider customer support as important for growth as sales or marketing. Use these formulas to calculate how much you need to invest.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/","og_site_name":"The Intercom Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc","article_published_time":"2017-02-01T17:58:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-30T11:59:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1968,"height":932,"url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raechel Lambert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@raechellambert","twitter_site":"@intercom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raechel Lambert","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/"},"author":{"name":"Raechel Lambert","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/41b874759c3d3e22b9c8c0025c55dee2"},"headline":"Customer support is an investment, not a cost","datePublished":"2017-02-01T17:58:16+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-30T11:59:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/"},"wordCount":648,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg","keywords":["customer support","growth","startups","strategy"],"articleSection":["Customer Service"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/","name":"Customer support is an investment, not a cost - The Intercom Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-01T17:58:16+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-30T11:59:10+00:00","description":"SaaS businesses should consider customer support as important for growth as sales or marketing. Use these formulas to calculate how much you need to invest.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/roi-of-customer-support\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg","width":1968,"height":932},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/","name":"The Intercom Blog","description":"Articles and Podcasts on Customer Service, AI and Automation, Product, and more","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Intercom Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"The Intercom Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc","https:\/\/x.com\/intercom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/intercom\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/2491343","https:\/\/www.pinterest.ie\/intercom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCJG0MvLP03kyzzAkD-w98aQ","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intercom_(company)"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/41b874759c3d3e22b9c8c0025c55dee2","name":"Raechel Lambert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/040237d3d85699d015e8726a7105ba3710aa3491ca822d8ca79bb55756cb679b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg9889e64bad23852dc63c877914107e4d","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/040237d3d85699d015e8726a7105ba3710aa3491ca822d8ca79bb55756cb679b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/040237d3d85699d015e8726a7105ba3710aa3491ca822d8ca79bb55756cb679b?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Raechel Lambert"},"description":"I love coffee, playing Minecraft, and trying to learn tap dancing. At Intercom I'm responsible for marketing our Support product, which companies use to support their customers personally, at scale.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/raechellambert"],"url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/author\/raechellambert\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The_ROI_of_Customer_Support.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=11681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11681"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}