SaaS self service is the version of customer self-service where the customer is an account: a company on a plan, with seats, invoices, a billing contact and a product they use every day and ask the same questions about. A software company's ticket log is dominated by three kinds of request, the how-to question the product should have answered, the account change the customer should have been able to make, and the invoice they should have been able to find, and a self-service portal is the place all three go. This page is about what the portal holds for a software company and what it deflects; the free deflection savings worksheet on this site works the case from your own ticket count, with no account and no vendor named.
The how-to question: the help centre
Most of a software product's tickets are questions the documentation should answer, and the content plan is sized from the ticket categories: the worked example's eight categories at four articles each is 32 articles covering 80% of 1,200 tickets a month. A software company's categories map to its features, and the articles are the ones support already pastes into replies.
The account change and the invoice: the account view
Plan changes, seats added, billing contacts updated, invoices downloaded: none of these need an agent, and each is a ticket today. The account view shows the customer their own plan, seats, invoices and payments and lets them change what the pricing page says they may; the paid plan keeps each change as a request against the account.
What it saves, at a software company's volumes
1,200 tickets a month at a 30% share is 360 deflected, $2,841 a month at $8 a ticket less a $39 portal, and $34,092 a year on the worked example, before the account changes that stop being tickets at all. The help-desk suites price their portals per agent, $19 to $115 per agent per month on the pages cited below; this site prices the company.
Questions people ask about saas self service
What does SaaS self service include?
A help centre for the product's how-to questions, an account view where the customer changes their plan, seats and billing contact and downloads invoices, and a request form for what those cannot do. The worksheets on this site size the help centre and work the saving.
How do help-desk suites price a customer portal?
Per agent per month: Freshdesk Growth $19 billed annually, Zendesk Suite Team $55 paid yearly, Suite Professional $115, on the pages cited below and read on the date shown. Deflectvo Pro is $39 a month for the company.
Is there a free worksheet for the self-service business case?
Yes. The customer self service software worksheet on this site is free and needs no account: tickets, share, agent cost, portal cost, set-up hours and a rate in, deflection, savings and payback out, printed as it stands.