What Is the Support Availability Score?
When choosing a company, customers want to know how easy it will be to reach support if something goes wrong. That’s where the Support Availability Score comes in. It measures what support options a company offers and how accessible they are on the company’s website.
The Support Availability Score is an automated, AI-powered indicator that identifies and evaluates the support channels available to a logged-out visitor. It takes into account their visibility, variety, and ease of access.
The Score is the result of calibrated algorithms and should be viewed as an algorithmic opinion, not a statement of fact.
For consumers, the Score offers another signal to consider when comparing companies.
For businesses, it shows how clearly their support channels are presented to customers.
Importantly, the Score measures support availability, not the quality of the support itself.
How Is the Score Calculated?
The AI agent looks for publicly available customer support channels, such as phone, email, chat, contact forms, help centers, FAQs, and other support options found on the company’s website. It also considers how clearly these channels are presented and whether the information found provides a clear path to customer support.
Since support expectations differ by industry, the scoring criteria are adjusted accordingly. For example, airline passengers often want self-service options for things like delays or baggage. But in banking, people usually prefer phone support to fix urgent problems quickly.
The classification of companies by industry is determined algorithmically and may not match the company’s own classification. If the industry can’t be reliably identified or no industry-specific methodology is available, the agent uses the general Support Availability Score methodology.
The methodology also considers whether a company serves consumers (B2C) or businesses (B2B), since their support needs can be different.
How the Score Is Rated
The final score is calculated on a 100-point scale and grouped into four levels. Each level reflects how easy the available support options appear to be discovered, based on the AI’s review.
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80–100 The AI rated the website as highly accessible, with clear and easy-to-find support options. |
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55–79 The website appears to provide relatively easy access to support, with clear ways to find help. |
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30–54 Support options can be difficult to find, so customers may need to do some extra searching to get help. |
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0–29 Public support channels seem difficult to find, with little clear direction on how to get help. |
What Does the Score Tell You — and What Does It Not?
The Support Availability Score reflects how easy it appears to be to locate support channels and self-service options on a company's public website.
It can help you understand:
- how quickly customers can find support;
- which support channels and self-service options are available;
- how many ways customers have to contact the company.
However, the score does NOT take into account response time, customer satisfaction, or the quality of the company’s issue resolution. It doesn't evaluate the quality of help or the support team's skills.
How Consumers and Businesses Can Use the Score
A company’s overall rating reflects general satisfaction with the brand.. In contrast, our Support Availability Score focuses specifically on how many support channels are available to customers and how easy it is to find them.
The Score helps customers to compare companies, whether they're about to buy something or will need to fix a problem later on.
Businesses can see how their support availability compares with other companies in their industry. Comparing their score with industry leaders can highlight opportunities to improve and make it easier for customers to reach support.
Scores are updated periodically and reflect the information available on the company’s website on the date shown as Last Updated.
We encourage businesses to keep their support information up to date and easy for customers to find. If a company believes the score doesn’t reflect its current support information, it can use Report an Error to request a review.
*Experimental Availability
The Support Availability Score is currently in an experimental phase. It’s not yet available for all companies or categories.
Post updated on September 24th, 2026
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- While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide any legal, medical, accounting, investment or any other professional advice as individual cases may vary and should be discussed with a corresponding expert and/or an attorney.
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