How many hours a month does customer service eat up?
The calculator adds up the time you spend answering messages and taking calls in a month. The math is (messages per day × minutes per reply + calls per day × minutes per call) × days worked ÷ 60. With the starting values, it comes to 65 hours a month, and 39 of them are repeated questions.
What does the calculator show?
It turns your day of customer service into hours per month and shows:
- Hours serving customers: the total, split into messages and phone.
- Hours of repeated questions: price, hours, address, whether there's availability, whether you deliver.
- What those hours are worth: the repeated hours times the value of your hour.
- How big that is in your schedule: in 8-hour days and in 44-hour weeks.
It's for the owner who doesn't feel the problem in their wallet, but feels it on Sunday answering WhatsApp.
How is the math done?
- Message hours = messages per day × minutes per reply × days worked ÷ 60.
- Phone hours = calls per day × minutes per call × days worked ÷ 60.
- Total = message hours + phone hours.
- Repeated hours = total × share of repeated questions.
- Value = repeated hours × what one of your hours is worth.
- Days = total ÷ 8. Weeks = total ÷ 44.
44 hours is the legal cap on the weekly workload in Brazil. It's just a yardstick so you can see the size of the number.
None of the seven numbers is a CertuAI measurement. Nobody measures how long you take to reply, or how much of what you reply is repeated. The starting values are a starting point for you to adjust, not a market average.
Why does each reply take longer than it seems?
Replying isn't just typing. It's dropping what you were doing, picking up the phone, reading, remembering the price, writing and getting back to work. It's almost never one minute.
An honest way to measure it: time ten replies in a row on an ordinary day, from the moment you pick up the phone until you're back to what you were doing. Divide by ten. Use that number in the minutes-per-reply field.
A worked example
These are the values the calculator opens with: 40 messages a day, 3 minutes per reply, 6 calls a day, 5 minutes per call, 26 days worked, 60% repeated questions and one of your hours worth US$ 60.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Message hours | 40 × 3 × 26 ÷ 60 | 52 h |
| Phone hours | 6 × 5 × 26 ÷ 60 | 13 h |
| Hours serving customers | 52 + 13 | 65 h a month |
| Repeated questions alone | 65 × 60% | 39 h |
| What those hours are worth | 39 × US$ 60 | US$ 2,340 |
| In 8-hour days | 65 ÷ 8 | 8.1 days |
| In 44-hour weeks | 65 ÷ 44 | 1.5 weeks |
In this example, customer service eats up 8.1 working days a month. 39 of those hours are the same answer given again.
The repeated question is exactly the one the agent answers on its own. Build your agent for free, no sign-up and no card.
How should I use the result?
- Separate the repeated from the rest. Make a list of the ten questions you answer most. Price, hours, address and availability are almost always on it.
- Write the answer to each one. That text becomes your everyday ready reply and it's also what teaches an AI agent to answer like your business.
- Compare the value with the price of solving it. CertuAI's entry plan costs US$ 75 a month. If the repeated hours are worth more than that, the math already works.
- Keep what needs you. Negotiations, complaints and unusual cases keep coming to you. What leaves your hands is the answer you've already given a hundred times.
Frequently asked questions
- Are the starting values a market average?
- No. They're just a starting point for you to adjust. CertuAI doesn't measure how long an owner takes to reply, and the page doesn't pretend to.
- What counts as a repeated question?
- A question you always answer the same way: price, hours, address, whether there's availability, whether you deliver. The share is your estimate.
- How do I know what one of my hours is worth?
- If you don't know, use what you'd charge a customer for an hour of your work.
- Why does the calculator start with 26 days a month?
- It's just the starting value. Change it to the days you actually answer customers, counting Saturday and Sunday if that's your case.
- Does an AI agent answer all those hours for me?
- No. It answers the repeated part with your business's information. What needs you keeps coming to you.
