Self service portals: the content plan
- Share of tickets covered, %
- 80
- Articles to write
- 32
- Hours to write them
- 48
- Tickets a month the articles answer
- 960
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Deflectvo publishes no industry deflection rate, no agent cost and no vendor price beyond the ones it cites: the share the portal answers, the cost of a ticket and the articles an answer needs are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
The figures above start from a worked example (80). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Self service portals: the content plan worked example (CSV)
This is a self service portals worksheet that sizes the help centre before anyone writes it. Categories times articles per category is the articles to write; articles times minutes over sixty is the hours; articles times the tickets one article answers a month is the tickets covered; and covered over the month's tickets across the categories is the share of tickets the portal can deflect. Every figure is yours: the categories come from your ticket log, the tickets an article answers from counting last month's, and the worksheet publishes no benchmark. Free, on the page, no account; the paid plan keeps every article with what it answered this month.
Articles: categories times articles each
Eight ticket categories at four articles each is 32 articles, which is the portal's first content wave. The categories are the ticket log's, not a template's: a category that produces a ticket a month does not need four articles, and one that produces two hundred may need eight. The worksheet takes the average and returns the count.
Hours: the writing, sized honestly
32 articles at 90 minutes each is 48 hours, a working week and a bit for one person or two days for three. The minutes per article are yours; an article that needs screenshots and a review takes longer than one that answers a billing question in two paragraphs, and the average is what the worksheet asks for.
Coverage: the tickets the articles will answer
32 articles at 30 tickets a month each is 960 tickets covered of 1,200 across the eight categories, 80% on the worked example. That figure is the deflection share the savings worksheet needs, read from the content plan rather than assumed; the paid plan then measures it per article, per month.
Self service portals: the content plan: common questions
How many articles does a self-service portal need?
As many as the repeating ticket categories need: categories times articles per category, sized from your own ticket log. The worked example's 32 articles cover 80% of 1,200 tickets a month; your log decides yours, and the worksheet works the count and the hours.
How long does it take to write a help centre?
Articles times minutes per article: 32 articles at 90 minutes is 48 hours on the worked example. Enter your own minutes, because an article with screenshots and a review cycle takes longer than a two-paragraph billing answer.
Is this a free self-service portal template?
It is a free worksheet that sizes the portal's content, not a template: enter categories, tickets per category, articles per category, minutes per article and the tickets an article answers, and it works the articles, the hours, the tickets covered and the share covered on the page with no account and no card. Deflectvo Pro keeps every article with what it answered.