Phone Support and Real-Time Chat: Essential Customer Success Drivers for SaaS Growth
Jason Lemkin argues that despite conventional wisdom, picking up the phone and answering chat in real-time is a high-impact, low-cost customer success strategy that drives loyalty, NPS, and reduces churn. While seemingly inefficient compared to ticket-based support, direct human contact creates attitudinal loyalty and competitive differentiation that compounds revenue growth over years 3-5.
Metrics in this report
20000$
typical
B2B companies claiming they cannot afford phone support
60seconds
max
High-performing B2C companies at $150 price point
5%
estimated
Percentage of inbound callers that convert per sales team estimates
18months
after first 10 customers
Time until customer success transitions from cost center to largest profit center
20minutes
typical
Time consumed per inbound call per sales team claims
50x multiplier
more efficient
Ticket-based support efficiency relative to phone per support team
10x multiplier
longer
Time to resolve voice call vs trouble ticket per support team claims