and (sort of related) what would be the cost of one full time customer support rep? It doesn't have to be the most technical person with a CS degree from MIT, mind you...
It costs significantly more than $36,000/yr for most companies to maintain a full-time CSR headcount, and that's without factoring in the cost of recruiting and turnover.
At the stated quality level, Sarah has priced this pretty aggressively.
To answer your question, it might be too much for some startups to afford–but if that's the case, you simply don't have enough paying customers yet or (dare I say) you're doing it wrong.
Thomas is right, the cost is fair. We support several thousand paying customers with 3 full-time CSRs. They all take home more than $3k/month ... let alone taxes, health insurance, and other costs.
What I think a lot of startups don't understand is that good or great support isn't just a cost center–it's marketing. We get a lot of business just based on referrals and our reputation.
and (sort of related) what would be the cost of one full time customer support rep? It doesn't have to be the most technical person with a CS degree from MIT, mind you...