Missed call cost calculator: what do missed calls cost you?

A missed call doesn't look like much. It's one line in your recent calls, often from a number you don't know, and it's easy to think they'll try again. Some do. Many call the next business on the list, and the job you didn't hear about goes to someone else. The calculator below puts a dollar amount on those calls, so you can see what they cost before you decide what to do about them.

You type in three numbers: your missed calls a week, how many of those callers would have booked, and what an average job is worth. It shows the cost each month and each year. It runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Work out your number

How the math works

The calculator takes three simple steps, and you can check each one on paper:

1. Missed calls a week × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months = missed calls a month
2. Missed calls a month × the share that would book = jobs lost a month
3. Jobs lost a month × your average job value = money lost a month

It uses 52 ÷ 12, which is about 4.3 weeks, because most months are a bit longer than 4 weeks. Counting only 4 weeks would make every month look a little cheaper than it is.

An example

Say a small service business misses 5 calls a week. Out of every 10 callers it does answer, about 3 book a job, and an average job pays $250. Those numbers go in like this:

So five missed calls a week, which feels like nothing on a busy day, add up to about $1,625 a month in work that went somewhere else. These are not real numbers from a real business. Your numbers will be different, so put in your own.

Where to find your numbers

You don't need a spreadsheet for this. Each number takes a minute or two to find.

• Missed calls: open your phone's recent calls and count the missed ones from last week. Skip obvious spam.
• Share that would book: think about callers you did answer. Out of 10, how many booked? If you're not sure, pick a low number.
• Average job value: add up what your last 10 jobs paid and divide by 10.

What the number leaves out

The calculator only counts the first job. A happy customer often comes back for more work, and tells friends about you too. None of that is in the result, and neither is the time you spend playing phone tag with callers who left half a message. So the real cost is often higher than the number you see.

What to do with your number

Put your number next to what it costs to answer every call. Cally24 is $99 a month with 240 minutes included, and extra minutes are $0.29 each. In the made-up example above, that's $99 against $1,625 a month in lost jobs, so one booked job pays for the month.

When you can't answer, Cally answers in your business's name and books callers into your calendar. You get every lead by email, in your dashboard and as a phone alert. Urgent calls are flagged and put through to you, so you only stop work when it's worth it.

See pricing, read what an AI receptionist costs, or hear your own receptionist, built from your website in 30 seconds.

Common questions