The Total Economic Impact™ Of Mavenoid
Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Mavenoid
A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study Commissioned By Mavenoid, October 2024
Contact centers often face a dilemma: balancing cost efficiency in customer service while ensuring an excellent customer experience. However, a new generation of self-service applications is eliminating this tradeoff by combining conversational artificial intelligence (AI) with technical product documentation to deliver context-aware automated support. The Mavenoid platform exemplifies this, and organizations using it can see significant cost savings, enhance profitability for their customers, and even improve customer satisfaction.
Mavenoid provides an AI customer support and troubleshooting platform capable of guiding users through diagnosis and resolution of technical issues with products and devices. It employs grounded large language models to supplement organizations’ problems, provide more accurate diagnostics of the issues, and narrow down potential solutions. Mavenoid’s Virtual Assistant and Dynamic Help Center let people self-resolve issues, which can significantly reduce the need for escalation. And when escalation is necessary, it provides triage context to help live agents resolve issues faster. The included analytics dashboard provides organizations with valuable statistics and reporting that can enhance decision-making and improve customer service and product performance.
Mavenoid commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Mavenoid.1 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Mavenoid on their organizations.
Return on investment (ROI)
273%
Net present value (NPV)
$2.54M
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed four representatives with experience using Mavenoid. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the interviewees’ experiences and combined the results into a single composite organization that is a B2C enterprise in the electric equipment industry with revenue of $500 million per year.
Interviewees noted that before adopting Mavenoid, their organizations mainly managed customer service inquiries through phone calls and emails. However, the rising costs of labor and a shortage of qualified agents resulted in an increase in expenses related to customer service. Customers also frequently faced long wait times for simple issues, which created frustrating support experiences. In search of automation solutions to cut costs and improve customer satisfaction, the interviewees’ organizations turned to Mavenoid.
After implementing Mavenoid, the interviewees’ organizations revamped their troubleshooting workflows. Now, most repetitive issues are automatically handled by Mavenoid without the need to escalate to human agents. The investment led to increased self-resolution rates, reduced customer service costs, and even improvements to customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores.
Key Findings
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the composite organization include:
- Call reduction of 45% worth $2.3 million. Mavenoid initially handles all the composite’s customer troubleshooting inquiries, resolving 45% of these issues without the need to escalate to agents. This preemptive approach also shortens call handling times when agent involvement is necessary. Consequently, the composite organization saves $2.3 million over three years by reducing the number of calls managed by agents.
- Replacement of 75% of online ticket inquiries with Mavenoid sessions worth $571,000. The composite uses Mavenoid to troubleshoot most issues instead of using email. This allows agents to focus on responding to more pressing emails while customers can resolve their issues without waiting for replies. Over three years, this change saves the composite organization $571,000.
- Onboarding and training time savings of 20% worth $99,000. In addition to using Mavenoid to assist customers, the composite also uses it internally to train and enable customer service agents. It serves as a repository for product information and troubleshooting guidelines. By leveraging Mavenoid during training, the composite organization saves $99,000 over three years.
- Increase in revenue of 3% due to satisfied customers worth $532,000. After a customer of the composite completes a Mavenoid session, they’re prompted to participate in a satisfaction survey, and those with a positive experience are more likely to refer the product to family and friends. Over three years, these referrals contribute an additional profit of $532,000 to the composite organization.
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for the composite organization but are not quantified for this study include:
- Improvements to employee satisfaction. Interviewees said Mavenoid resolves an average of 40% of customer troubleshooting inquiries. This allows the composite’s customer service agents to focus on more complex issues, which reduces the need to repeatedly answer the same questions and increases their job satisfaction.
- Decrease in customer wait times. The implementation of Mavenoid decreases the number of incoming emails and calls for the composite organization. As a result, its customers experience significantly reduced waiting times for calls to be picked up or for replies to emails.
- Internal knowledge-sharing community built within the tool. Because Mavenoid acts as a repository of product knowledge and a platform for sharing internal expertise, the composite organization’s technicians and customer service agents document their experiences with customers in a way that others can review. This collaborative knowledge community ensures valuable insights are accessible to a broader internal audience.
- Strategic decisions supported by analytics capability. Mavenoid features a comprehensive dashboard that provides detailed information about the composite organization’s customer inquiries and issues. This data enables the composite to gain deeper insights into its customers, products, and workflows. By leveraging this information, the organization can make informed strategic decisions to improve its processes.
- Increased sales due to pre-sales support leads. Mavenoid offers pre-sales functionality to the composite organization in two ways. The first option allows the composite’s customers to purchase products online through a guided sales experience. The second option helps qualify prospective customers, which enables sales agents to better support these prospects during sales meetings. These pre-sales options reduce the composite’s call time, cart abandonment rate, and live chat instances while improving conversion rates.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the composite organization include:
- Mavenoid platform cost of $653,000. The platform cost of Mavenoid depends on the number of brands supported, and it includes tiers for the number of conversations that will be handled with pricing applied in a tiered structure. For the composite organization’s size and usage, the total cost of consumption is $653,000 over three years.
- Mavenoid implementation cost of $17,000. The composite organization spends eight weeks implementing Mavenoid with a team of three internal members. The total implementation cost is $17,000.
- Mavenoid ongoing management cost of $260,000. The composite organization requires one team member to manage Mavenoid for ongoing maintenance. Their main tasks include updating product information, troubleshooting workflows, and integrating systems. Over three years, this costs the composite organization $260,000.
The representative interviews and financial analysis found that a composite organization experiences benefits of $3.47 million over three years versus costs of $930,000, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $2.54 million and an ROI of 273%.
Key Statistics
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Return on investment (ROI)
273%
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Benefits PV
$3.47M
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Net present value (NPV)
$2.54M
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Payback
<6 months
Benefits (Three-Year)
Cost savings due to call reduction Cost savings due to online tickets reduction Onboarding and ongoing training savings Profit increase from referrals generated by customers satisfied with the Mavenoid experience
TEI Framework And Methodology
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in Mavenoid.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that Mavenoid can have on an organization.
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Due Diligence
Interviewed Mavenoid stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Mavenoid.
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Interviews
Interviewed four representatives at organizations using Mavenoid to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
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Composite Organization
Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewees’ organizations.
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Financial Model Framework
Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees.
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Case Study
Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology provides a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.
Disclosures
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Mavenoid and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in Mavenoid.
Mavenoid reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Mavenoid provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Consulting Team:
Rachna Agarwalla
Chengcheng Dong
Rachel Ballard
Drivers leading to the Mavenoid investment
Interviews
| Role | Industry | Region | Revenue | Customer service agents before Mavenoid | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief operating officer | Lawn and garden equipment | US | <$1 billion | 80 | ||||
| Chief operating officer, Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC | Home security equipment and software | US and Canada | $75 million | 50 | ||||
| Director of global customer service | Equipment manufacturing | Headquarters in Geneva, global operations | $100 million | 60 | ||||
| Associate director | Audio equipment | Headquarters in the UK, global operations | n/a | 13 | ||||
Key Challenges
Troubleshooting is a critical aspect of customer service, and it’s essential for delivering customer satisfaction. Customers seek timely solutions to their issues while organizations balance cost and service quality. Before deploying Mavenoid, interviewees’ organizations operated contact centers to handle pre-sale and post-sale customer troubleshooting inquiries via calls or emails, and they faced common challenges, including:
- High cost of customer services. Increasing human capital cost made agent-delivered services prohibitively expensive, with interviewees reporting an average cost per service call ranging from $8 to $18. Without a self-service solution, agents were forced to handle huge volumes of repetitive and straightforward questions. The director of global customer service at an equipment manufacturing organization shared: “Prior to Mavenoid, all the questions came directly to the help desk agents. Thirty to 40% of the calls could be categorized as easy questions. We had no real solutions that allowed us to more easily answer these simple questions for the customer.”
- Staff shortages. During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing contact centers with qualified agents became increasingly challenging, and rising agent compensation and heightened competition for hiring quality customer service staff further exacerbated costs. The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC noted: “With the pandemic, labor costs increased. And with more people working from home, staffing became difficult. Competition to hire dedicated and quality customer service agents was very high.”
- No or limited self-service. Most interviewees said their organization lacked self-service tools for troubleshooting, which forced customers to call or email for assistance. This led to less control over the troubleshooting process and caused these organizations to be perceived as “old school.”
- Compromised customer experience. Without proper tools, interviewees’ organizations incurred additional costs to deliver customer service. However, customers often received inefficient or unsatisfactory service due to limited capacity. The growing volume of troubleshooting inquiries highlighted the need for automation tools.
Investment Objectives
The interviewees’ organizations searched for a solution that could:
- Increase self-resolution rates with less agent intervention.
- Decrease the overall cost of customer service and deliver high-quality services.
- Rely less on customer service agents by freeing them up from simple and repeated questions.
- Provide 24/7 customer support.
Composite Organization
Based on the interviews, Forrester constructed a TEI framework, a composite company, and an ROI analysis that illustrates the areas financially affected. The composite organization is representative of the four interviewees, and it is used to present the aggregate financial analysis in the next section. The composite organization has the following characteristics:
Description of composite. The composite is a global B2C organization headquartered in the United States with annual revenue of $500 million, and it handles sales and customer support for its consumer products at a high volume. It boasts a strong brand, global operations, a large customer base, and a robust online and offline presence. Prior to deploying Mavenoid, the composite organization maintained a customer service department with 80 agents handling troubleshooting inquiries. Agents addressed 500,000 calls annually along with 150,000 online troubleshooting tickets via various channels, such as email and primitive online chat. With Mavenoid, all troubleshooting inquiries pass through Mavenoid before reaching the agents.
Deployment characteristics. The composite pays a platform fee to Mavenoid reflecting the total number of brands Mavenoid supports and the number of Mavenoid sessions. While Mavenoid handles a large part of the implementation, the composite is also involved providing product information and troubleshooting. On an ongoing basis, the composite spends time understanding the analytics, building content and attending check-in meetings with Mavenoid.
Quantified benefit data as applied to the composite
Total Benefits
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Cost savings due to call reduction | $836,719 | $920,391 | $989,939 | $2,747,049 | $2,265,063 |
| Btr | Cost savings due to online tickets reduction | $209,180 | $230,109 | $253,113 | $692,402 | $570,503 |
| Ctr | Onboarding and ongoing training savings | $45,696 | $37,604 | $34,986 | $118,286 | $98,905 |
| Dtr | Profit increase from referrals generated by customers satisfied with the Mavenoid experience | $195,120 | $214,632 | $236,095 | $645,847 | $532,145 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $1,286,715 | $1,402,736 | $1,514,133 | $4,203,584 | $3,466,616 | |
Cost Savings Due To Call Reduction
Evidence and data. Before implementing automation tools like Mavenoid, the interviewees’ organizations relied on customer service agents to handle all troubleshooting inquiries via phone calls. They aimed to increase self-resolution rates and reduce the volume of calls reaching agents. The deployment of Mavenoid helped achieve this goal.
Interviewees said that before implementing Mavenoid, their organizations’ customers had to call customer service to resolve product issues and that these customer service agents managed large volumes of incoming calls, many of which were simple questions. As agent costs increased, this approach became less effective. The director of global customer service at the equipment manufacturing organization explained: “Our help desk received around 160,000 calls annually. Many of them were level one or very simple questions. We needed an automated solution to easily answer questions while providing better customer service.”
After implementing Mavenoid, the organizations’ customers followed a step-by-step process to identify issues. Mavenoid provided a first line of resolution, and if the issue persisted or if Mavenoid was unable to fully resolve the problem, an agent would step in to assist. This workflow change allowed Mavenoid to handle many simple issues.
The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC shared: “With Mavenoid, customers could actually take a self-service route where we would send a text linking to a Mavenoid flow which would allow them to self-serve before connecting to an agent. We also integrated this self-service route into our product guide and app. Instead of a phone number or service first, it led to the Mavenoid self-service solution, thus reducing hiring needs.” As a result, the organization’s self-resolution rate increased dramatically. The same interviewee noted: “We initially expected a 40% self-service resolution rate, but we’re actually at 54% now for customers using the Mavenoid flow.” The director of global customer service for the equipment manufacturing organization added, “The easy [issues] are solved by Mavenoid, resulting in around a 10% to 15% reduction in escalated issues.”
Meanwhile, the deployment of Mavenoid also led to a decrease in call handling time. By integrating with the CRM system, customers are verified while interacting with Mavenoid. The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC said, “Mavenoid has also cut out a portion of verification time and some of the initial steps when customers call, helping bring the average handling time down by about 10%.”
The director of global customer service at the equipment manufacturing organization added: “If customers cannot find the answer through Mavenoid, they can escalate by chat or phone. The nice thing is that when they escalate, the agent has all the history of what the customer said, so they don’t have to ask the same questions again.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- Without Mavenoid, the composite’s customer service agents would handle 500,000 calls in Year 1.
- The self-resolution rate reflects the percentage of calls replaced by Mavenoid sessions. With the deployment, the self-resolution rate is 45% in Year 1, 50% in Year 2, and 55% in Year 3.
- The call handling time decreases from 10 minutes in Year 1 to 8 minutes in Year 3.
- The fully burdened hourly rate for an agent is $35. Because the composite organization specializes in equipment, its customer service agents need to be trained with technical knowledge, so they earn a higher rate than general customer service agents.
- The recapture rate of agents is 75%. This is the amount of saved time that agents can use for other purposes.
Risks. The expected financial impact is subject to risks and variation based on several factors that may reduce or slow recognition of this benefit, including:
- The volume of incoming calls.
- The level of implementation of Mavenoid. If Mavenoid is a mandatory step before reaching agents, the self-resolution rate will be different than if it’s an optional step.
- The compensation of agents as well as the pay structure. Experienced agents have higher pay rates and recapture rates.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.3 million.
Cost Savings Due To Call Reduction
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Total calls agents would handle without Mavenoid | Composite | 500,000 | 550,000 | 605,000 | |
| A2 | Self-resolution rate with Mavenoid | Interviews | 45% | 50% | 55% | |
| A3 | Total calls avoided due to Mavenoid | A1*A2 | 225,000 | 275,000 | 332,750 | |
| A4 | Average call handling time (minutes) | Composite | 10 | 9 | 8 | |
| A5 | Total call handling time avoided (hours) | A3*A4/60 | 37,500 | 41,250 | 44,367 | |
| A6 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an agent | TEI standard | $35 | $35 | $35 | |
| A7 | Recapture rate | TEI standard | 75% | 75% | 75% | |
| At | Cost savings due to call reduction | A5*A6*A7 | $984,375 | $1,082,813 | $1,164,634 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓15% | |||||
| Atr | Cost savings due to call reduction (risk-adjusted) | $836,719 | $920,391 | $989,939 | ||
| Three-year total: $2,747,049 | Three-year present value: $2,265,063 | |||||
Cost Savings Due To Online Tickets Reduction
Evidence and data. In addition to phone calls, interviewees’ organizations offered other online channels for customers to create inquiry tickets, such as emails or online chat. Typically, agents handled these tickets.
The organizations provided omnichannel support to address customer inquiries, and when customers sent emails or initiated online chat sessions, tickets were created that required manual handling by customer service agents. The associate director of the audio equipment organization explained: “We need Mavenoid because they offer FAQ and chatbot services, including AI-generated code. This helps us resolve some of our customers’ issues instead of customers waiting for an email response from our agents.”
Handling a high volume of inquiries was time-consuming for agents, leading to long wait times and compromised customer experiences. However, Mavenoid freed up agents and significantly reduced turnaround times for email replies. The associate director of the audio equipment organization mentioned: “It used to be over two days to get an email response from agents, but wait times have gone down between 30% and 65%. Response time is now generally within 24 hours. This also has freed up agent time that can now be used in other, more productive ways.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- Before the deployment of Mavenoid, customer services agents handled 150,000 online inquiries per year. It took 5 minutes on average to resolve each ticket.
- With Mavenoid, the composite organization reduces its customer support ticket volume by 75%.
- The average fully burdened hourly rate for an agent is $35.
- Agents recapture 75% of the time saved.
Risks. The expected financial impact is subject to risks and variation based on several factors that may reduce or slow recognition of this benefit, including:
- The volume of incoming tickets.
- The previous solution in place. If the organization had certain automation or an online chatbot in place before Mavenoid, the reduction of incoming tickets may be different.
- The compensation of agents as well as the pay structure. Experienced agents have higher pay rates and recapture rates.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $571,000.
Cost Savings Due To Online Tickets Reduction
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Online customer support tickets handled before Mavenoid | Composite | 150,000 | 165,000 | 181,500 | |
| B2 | Average time to process one ticket (minutes) | Composite | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| B3 | Percentage of online tickets reduction with Mavenoid | Interviews | 75% | 75% | 75% | |
| B4 | Total reduction in time to handle online tickets (hours) | B1*B2*B3/60 | 9,375 | 10,313 | 11,344 | |
| B5 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an agent | TEI standard | $35 | $35 | $35 | |
| B6 | Recapture rate | TEI standard | 75% | 75% | 75% | |
| Bt | Cost savings due to online tickets reduction | B4*B5*B6 | $246,094 | $270,716 | $297,780 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓15% | |||||
| Btr | Cost savings due to online tickets reduction (risk-adjusted) | $209,180 | $230,109 | $253,113 | ||
| Three-year total: $692,402 | Three-year present value: $570,503 | |||||
Onboarding And Ongoing Training Savings
Evidence and data. Prior to using Mavenoid, interviewees’ organizations invested significantly in training. However, interviewees said Mavenoid serves as both a product repository and a troubleshooting guide and that its well-organized information makes it a training tool.
Interviewees said that to enhance customer support, their organizations consistently updated Mavenoid with product information and troubleshooting history. They also said Mavenoid evolved into a valuable training and enablement resource for agents that significantly reduced onboarding times.
The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC shared: “We were able to eliminate one day from the onboarding process. This has helped us to get agents live faster and also get more live customer feedback.”
The director of global customer service with the equipment manufacturing organization said: “Previously, agents received training via training sessions, documents, paper brochures, and manuals on the web. Agents would have to search the information to find what they needed. We always put agents with three years’ or four years’ experience in the field on help desk duty. Now, it’s not necessary as the onboarding for being a help desk agent is much shorter and more effective than in the past.”
Interviewees said that not only did the training time decrease, but the quality of training also improved. The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC said: “Agent training has improved. We definitely have seen the aptitude of our new hires and those outsourced via a third-party improve as we are able to supplement their in-person or in-classroom training. This has resulted in improved scores on tests and quizzes that new hires have to take.”
Mavenoid contributed to a more stable workforce, especially within customer service departments. The same interviewee shared: “Mavenoid not only improves their ability to support the customer, but it also makes agents feel a greater sense of reward because they’re not having to ask the same things over and over again. We see higher retention rates, and our Net Promoter ScoreSM (NPS)has gone up from 15% to 40%.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite has 80 customer service agents.
- With savings from reduced call and online tickets, 16 and 20 of the agents can be reallocated to different positions in years 2 and 3, respectively.
- The composite’s turnover rate decreases from 20% in Year 1 to 15% years 2 and 3.
- With Mavenoid in place, the composite reduces its onboarding and ongoing training by 20%.
Risks. The expected financial impact is subject to risks and variation based on several factors that may reduce or slow recognition of this benefit, including:
- The size of the customer service team.
- The natural turnover rate of the team.
- The previous training structure.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $99,000.
Onboarding And Ongoing Training Savings
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Agents after Mavenoid implementation | Composite | 80 | 64 | 60 |
| C2 | Customer service agents turnover rate | Composite | 20% | 15% | 15% |
| C3 | New onboarded agents | C1*C2 | 16 | 10 | 9 |
| C4 | Onboarding time before Mavenoid (days) | Interviews | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| C5 | Percentage of onboarding time reduction due to Mavenoid | Interviews | 15% | 20% | 20% |
| C6 | Onboarding time avoided (days) | C4*C5 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| C7 | Ongoing training time for agents (days) | Composite | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| C8 | Percentage of ongoing training reduction due to Mavenoid | Composite | 20% | 20% | 20% |
| C9 | Ongoing training time avoided (days) | C7*C8 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Ct | Onboarding and ongoing training savings | (C3*C6+C1*C9)*8 *B5 | $53,760 | $44,240 | $41,160 |
| Risk adjustment | ↓15% | ||||
| Ctr | Onboarding and ongoing training savings (risk-adjusted) | $45,696 | $37,604 | $34,986 | |
| Three-year total: $118,286 | Three-year present value: $98,905 | ||||
Profit Increase From Referrals Generated By Customers Satisfied With The Mavenoid Experience
Evidence and data. It’s common knowledge that satisfied customers are more likely to refer others, and interviewees said that prior to using Mavenoid, referrals from satisfied customers were limited. However, after each Mavenoid session, the organizations sent brief surveys to customers to rate the overall experience with Mavenoid and the product. Customers were also given the opportunity to make referrals. By tracking these referrals, interviewees’ organizations increased revenue from satisfied customers who had positive experiences with Mavenoid.
The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC spoke highly about the referral program. They shared: “We have customers who are going through and scoring us positively. We send out the ability to rate us on different review platforms like Google, but we also have the referral program where they can provide information for somebody that they feel is interested. We average about three to five referrals a day that are successful sales conversions.”
Regarding the role Mavenoid played in the process, the same interviewee stated: “Without Mavenoid, we’d still have referrals, but I think the number would be significantly lower because people would be less likely to refer us if they had a massive wait time or a negative experience. Typically, 5% to 10% of our daily sales are from referrals because of the experience that we generate.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- Five percent of the composite’s revenue is generated by the referral program.
- Of the composite’s total annual revenue, 3% is generated by customers satisfied with the Mavenoid experience.
- The profit margin of the composite organization is 33%.2
Risks. The expected financial impact is subject to risks and variation based on several factors that may reduce or slow recognition of this benefit, including:
- The total revenue of the organization as well as the referral program.
- The troubleshooting process and the deployment of Mavenoid.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 20%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $532,000.
Profit Increase From Referrals Generated By Customers Satisfied With The Mavenoid Experience
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Revenue | Composite | $500,000,000 | $550,000,000 | $605,000,000 | |
| D2 | Percentage of revenue generated by referral program | Interviews | 5% | 5% | 5% | |
| D3 | Total revenue generated by referrals | D1*D2 | 25,000,000 | 27,500,000 | 30,250,000 | |
| D4 | Percentage of referrals from customers satisfied with the Mavenoid experience | Interviews | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| D5 | Total revenue generated by customers satisfied with the Mavenoid experience | D3*D4 | 750,000 | 825,000 | 907,500 | |
| D6 | Profit margin | Composite | 32.52% | 32.52% | 32.53% | |
| Dt | Profit increase from referrals generated by customers satisfied with the Mavenoid experience | D5*D6 | $243,900 | $268,290 | $295,119 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓20% | |||||
| Dtr | Profit increase from referrals generated by customers satisfied with the Mavenoid experience (risk-adjusted) | $195,120 | $214,632 | $236,095 | ||
| Three-year total: $645,847 | Three-year present value: $532,145 | |||||
Unquantified Benefits
Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:
- Improvements to employee satisfaction. By handling repetitive and simpler questions, Mavenoid allows agents to focus on more challenging issues, which makes their work more rewarding. The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC said: “The Net Promoter Score for the customer service team went up because of two reasons. First, the wait times are down because there’s less pressure on agents to take back-to-back phone calls. Second, Mavenoid makes the job more satisfying. So, we went from an NPS rating of positive 15% up to positive 40% due to Mavenoid.”
- Decrease in customer wait times. In general, the longer customers wait, the less satisfied they are, regardless of the services they receive later. The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC commented: “At the beginning of 2022, we had an average wait time that was in the 30- to 45-minute range. Through a combination of Mavenoid and staffing increases, we’re now under 30 seconds for an average wait time.” The interviewee also noted that the decrease in wait time increased customer satisfaction.
- Internal knowledge-sharing community built within the tool. Interviewees said Mavenoid enables agents and technicians to document and share their troubleshooting experiences with colleagues and that this unexpectedly became a valuable benefit. The director of global customer service from the equipment manufacturing organization said: “The knowledge of troubleshooting is often in the heads of our technicians. Now, we have created a tool that allows them to input what they did to solve any given issue into Mavenoid. We have the senior technicians typing in their experiences and junior technicians going through the Mavenoid sessions, [and they’re] seeing everything and getting answers. So, we more or less created a community.”
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Strategic decisions supported by analytics
capability. Interviewees said customer service data
offers insights to enhance satisfaction and that Mavenoid analytics help
close gaps in product development. The associate director with the audio
equipment organization shared: “Mavenoid is incredible and helps us to
understand shortcomings in the service we provide to our customers. The
analytics gives us a gap analysis on where to improve, which ultimately
impacts things like our self-service rate. It’s just incredible.”
The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC provided an example of a product their organization developed using insights provided by Mavenoid: “We have proprietary products where customers were getting stuck at certain points. Mavenoid discovered this, and we ended up eliminating certain flows where the customers were getting stuck as we realized our customers didn’t actually need them. This led to a big efficiency improvement since customers could easily navigate through the product without getting stuck.” - Increased sales due to pre-sales support leads. Interviewees said Mavenoid enhances pre-sales processes by offering an interactive online sales experience that guides customers through their purchases. Additionally, they said it helps identify and qualify potential customers, which enables sales agents to provide more personalized support during meetings. The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC noted: “Mavenoid’s pre-sales features have allowed us to reduce calls times on those calls that originate on the Mavenoid platform since the prospects are pre-qualified. Additionally, we see a reduction in live chat conversations. This is because our prospects now have a guided option to shop, [which reduces] the need for live chat. [This] is also reducing our cart abandonment rates. Last, we are seeing an increase in conversion rates with prospects that spend the time to qualify themselves. These leads are more likely to attend meetings with our sales agents since they invested the time to answer questions versus just providing an email address and phone number.”
Flexibility
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Mavenoid and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
- Significantly enhancing technical support during new product launches. Interviewees said technicians and agents often face a learning curve with new product troubleshooting but that by documenting various issues in Mavenoid, all agents can review and learn from them. This accessible knowledge eliminates the need to wait for recurring issues, allowing organizations to be more agile in product launches. The director of global customer service from the equipment manufacturing organization shared: “You launch a new product, but sales grow gradually. So, you train your team, but they forget what you taught them. It’s very painful. With Mavenoid, the team can better remember since the solution allows you to retain the training and file it appropriately. When a team member refers to it at a later point, it jogs their memory. This is so valuable.”
- Using AI-powered solutions for future product development. In the customer service space, AI can help organizations better understand product issues and enhance customer service. Interviewees said Mavenoid effectively leverages AI for this purpose. The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC said: “I think the best use of AI in the future would be as follows: 1) improving the flows that improve customer experience, 2) defining products based on the data, and (3 identifying internal problems by analyzing atypical events or drastic changes month over month.”
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).
Quantified cost data as applied to the composite
Total Costs
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etr | Mavenoid platform fee | $0 | $262,500 | $262,500 | $262,500 | $787,500 | $652,799 |
| Ftr | Mavenoid internal implementation cost | $16,881 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $16,881 | $16,881 |
| Gtr | Mavenoid ongoing management costs | $0 | $104,500 | $104,500 | $104,500 | $313,500 | $259,876 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $16,881 | $367,000 | $367,000 | $367,000 | $1,117,881 | $929,556 | |
Mavenoid Platform Fee
Evidence and data. Mavenoid has a tiered cost structure that is based on the number of brands supported and the number of Mavenoid sessions.
Interviewees said prior to using Mavenoid, the cost of running customer services was high. The COO of the lawn and garden equipment organization shared that the average cost per call at their company was $7 and that the annual cost of the call center was nearly $3.3 million. But the organization replaced 50% of the calls with Mavenoid, and the interviewee said the annual Mavenoid platform cost was less than $200,000.
The COO of Frontpoint Security Solutions, LLC said: “We have the Mavenoid help desk portion. It’s roughly $0.75 to $1 per completed flow. So, comparing that to what our average cost per contact was before — nearly $15 to $18 per completed flow — the difference is pretty drastic.”
Pricing may vary. Contact Mavenoid for additional details.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite organization has 300,000 to 400,000 completed Mavenoid sessions per year based on its revenue and size.
- With the tiered cost structure, the Mavenoid platform costs the composite $250,000 per year.
Risks. The expected financial impact is subject to risks and variation based on several factors that may reduce or slow recognition of this cost, including:
- The number of Mavenoid sessions.
- The price structure of Mavenoid.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $653,000.
Mavenoid Platform Fee
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Mavenoid platform fee | Composite | $0 | $250,000 | $250,000 | $250,000 | |
| Et | Mavenoid platform fee | E1 | $0 | $250,000 | $250,000 | $250,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↑5% | ||||||
| Etr | Mavenoid platform fee (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $262,500 | $262,500 | $262,500 | ||
| Three-year total: $787,500 | Three-year present value: $652,799 | ||||||
Mavenoid Internal Implementation Cost
Evidence and data. Interviewees said the Mavenoid team took care of the majority of their organizations’ implementations. Those that deployed Mavenoid assembled internal teams to provide the product information and the workflow of troubleshooting.
- The COO of Frontpoint said their organization implemented Mavenoid within 3 weeks: “It was mainly because we needed to refine some of our materials. We had a very quick turnaround on the build, then we went through our quality check process after which we started the deployment cycle.”
- On the other hand, the associate director at the audio equipment organization said their company took several months to implement Mavenoid: “We spent three to four months to implement nine products across multiple countries in Europe and America. Then it took an additional month to release it globally. So, it’s not a long journey.” It’s also worth noting that the organization deployed Mavenoid several years ago and that Mavenoid has since implemented generative AI functionality to speed up implementation times.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite organization requires eight weeks for its Mavenoid implementation.
- To fully implement Mavenoid, the composite needs a member of the product team, a member of the IT team, and a member of the customer services team to get the necessary input into Mavenoid and integrate it with the existing workflow. Thirty-five percent of their effort is required during the eight weeks.
- The average fully burdened annual compensation for an FTE involved in implementation is $95,000.
Risks. The expected financial impact is subject to risks and variation based on several factors that may reduce or slow recognition of this cost, including:
- The complexity of the product offerings.
- The existing materials and documentation of troubleshooting.
- The internal structure of the team.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $17,000.
Mavenoid Internal Implementation Cost
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Implementation time (weeks) | Interviews | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| F2 | FTEs involved | Interviews | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| F3 | Percentage of effort required | Interviews | 35% | |||
| F4 | Average burdened annual rate for an FTE involved with implementation | TEI standard | $95,000 | |||
| Ft | Mavenoid internal implementation cost | F1/52*F2*F3*F4 | $15,346 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | |||||
| Ftr | Mavenoid internal implementation cost (risk-adjusted) | $16,881 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Three-year total: $16,881 | Three-year present value: $16,881 | |||||
Mavenoid Ongoing Management Costs
Evidence and data. To have the most updated data in Mavenoid, interviewees’ organizations designated teams for ongoing management.
- The COO of the lawn and garden equipment organization said their company had one FTE manage Mavenoid. They dedicated 50% of the effort to system management and 50% to data analysis.
- The COO of Frontpoint said their organization had biweekly conversations with Mavenoid as a part of its ongoing management.
- The director of global customer service at the equipment manufacturing organization said their company had one technician on system development and another on content building. They dedicated 50% of their time to these tasks.
- The associate director of the audio equipment organization said a team member spent 4 hours weekly on system management and that they also attended biweekly meetings with the Mavenoid team.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite organization has one team member manage Mavenoid.
- The fully burdened annual compensation for this team member is $95,000.
Risks. The expected financial impact is subject to risks and variation based on several factors that may reduce or slow recognition of this cost, including:
- The size of the team and the customer service department.
- New product launches requiring updates to the platform and agents.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $260,000.
Mavenoid Ongoing Management Costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | FTEs involved in ongoing management | Interviews | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| G2 | Average burdened annual rate for an FTE involved in ongoing management | TEI standard | $95,000 | $95,000 | $95,000 | ||
| Gt | Mavenoid ongoing management costs | G1*G2 | $95,000 | $95,000 | $95,000 | ||
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | ||||||
| Gtr | Mavenoid ongoing management costs (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $104,500 | $104,500 | $104,500 | ||
| Three-year total: $313,500 | Three-year present value: $259,876 | ||||||
Consolidated Three-Year Risk-Adjusted Metrics
Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)
Total costs Total benefits Cumulative net benefits Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3-
The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization’s investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.
These risk-adjusted ROI, NPV, and payback period values are determined by applying risk-adjustment factors to the unadjusted results in each Benefit and Cost section.
Cash Flow Analysis (Risk-Adjusted Estimates)
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($16,881) | ($367,000) | ($367,000) | ($367,000) | ($1,117,881) | ($929,556) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $1,286,715 | $1,402,736 | $1,514,133 | $4,203,584 | $3,466,616 |
| Net benefits | ($16,881) | $919,715 | $1,035,736 | $1,147,133 | $3,085,703 | $2,537,060 |
| ROI | 273% | |||||
| Payback | <6 months | |||||
Appendix A: Total Economic Impact
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
Total Economic Impact Approach
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Benefits represent the value delivered to the business by the product. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the measure of benefits and the measure of costs, allowing for a full examination of the effect of the technology on the entire organization.
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Costs consider all expenses necessary to deliver the proposed value, or benefits, of the product. The cost category within TEI captures incremental costs over the existing environment for ongoing costs associated with the solution.
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Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made. Having the ability to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.
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Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular distribution.”
The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.
Appendix B: Endnotes
1 Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
2 Source: Margins by Sector (US), NYU Stern School of Business.
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