Definition
Support costs are the people, tools, and processes required to assist customers (tickets, onboarding, success, on-call).
Why it matters
Support costs can be a meaningful part of COGS, especially for enterprise or complex products. If you ignore them, gross margin and payback targets will look better than reality.
Pricing implications
If support scales with customer count, include a per-account allocation in fixed overhead. If support scales with usage, include a per-unit component or premium support tier.
Measurement tips
Track support hours per account and cost per ticket by plan to identify subsidized segments.
Checklist
- Define what counts as support (tickets, onboarding, success, on-call).
- Separate fixed support overhead from variable support per account.
- Allocate support costs by plan or segment.
- Include premium support as an add-on if it is costly.
- Track ticket volume and resolution time by cohort.
- Update support costs quarterly as staffing changes.
- Avoid mixing sales and support costs in COGS.
- Use support costs in CAC payback and LTV models.