The short version
Missed call cost is your unanswered calls multiplied by the share that would have converted, multiplied by your average job value. The published statistics for missed-call rates and conversion are almost entirely vendor-produced, so this calculator asks for your own figures instead of supplying defaults.
Why there are no default figures here
You will find no shortage of statistics claiming a specific share of business calls go unanswered, and a specific share of those callers never ring back. We went looking for the primary research behind the widely-quoted ones and could not find it.
What we found instead was that essentially every source is a company selling call answering, AI receptionists, or phone systems. Those figures may well be roughly right. They are also produced by parties with an obvious interest in them being alarming, and they cite each other rather than any independent study.
So this calculator does not supply them. Your phone system knows your actual answer rate, and that number is worth more than any published average.
Where to get your four inputs
All four are obtainable, and three of them within about ten minutes.
- Calls per week: your phone system, VoIP dashboard or mobile call log
- Missed rate: the same source, usually reported directly as answered versus missed
- Conversion rate: your own booking rate on answered calls, as a starting point
- Average job value: your invoicing, taking a median rather than a mean
The input that needs the most honesty
Conversion rate, and it is where these calculators are usually inflated.
Not every missed caller was a customer you lost. Some were price-shopping and were never going to book with you. Some had the wrong business. Some were already booked elsewhere and calling to compare. Some were suppliers, recruiters, or wrong numbers.
A defensible starting point is your booking rate on calls you did answer, then adjusted downward, because missed callers skew toward people who had not yet chosen you. If you enter more than 50% the calculator will say so, because assuming most missed callers would have bought is aggressive.
Using your median job value rather than your average matters too. A single large job pulls a mean upward and makes every figure downstream of it too big.
Reading the result properly
Treat it as an upper bound on one specific problem rather than a revenue forecast.
It is an upper bound because it assumes every one of those converted callers is genuinely lost, when some will call back, some will fill in your form, and some will find you again later.
It is also narrow. It counts only new enquiries lost to unanswered calls. It says nothing about existing customers who could not reach you, reputational cost, or the staff time spent returning voicemails.
Used that way it is still a useful number, because it is the size of one leak you can actually measure and act on. Just do not treat it as money currently sitting on a table.
Questions about this tool
Why does this not give me default industry figures?+
Because we could not verify the widely-quoted missed-call statistics against independent research. Nearly all of them come from companies selling call-answering products and cite each other. Your own phone system has better data.
Where do I find my missed call rate?+
Your phone system or VoIP dashboard, which normally reports answered versus missed directly. A mobile call log works for a very small business.
What conversion rate should I use?+
Start with your booking rate on answered calls, then adjust downward, since missed callers skew toward people who had not chosen you yet. Above 50% is aggressive, and the calculator will flag it.
Is the result the money I am losing?+
Treat it as an upper bound on one specific leak. It assumes every converted caller is permanently lost, when some call back or find you another way, and it excludes existing customers and staff time on voicemail.