Why do I set how many callers ring someone else?

Because we have not found a reliable, published UK figure for it, and your callers are not everyone's callers. An emergency plumber's callers behave differently from a solicitor's. The default of 50% is a midpoint, not a statistic.

What does a missed call actually cost a UK business?

It depends on what one customer is worth to you. A missed call that would have become a £300 lockout call-out costs a locksmith more than a missed general enquiry costs a shop, and a new dental patient is worth years of appointments.

Does an AI receptionist sound like a robot?

The fairest way to judge is to hear it yourself. Ring the Voco demo line on 0333 043 6661 and you will hear exactly what your callers would hear, from the greeting to the way it takes down a job.

Can I keep my existing phone number?

Yes. You keep your number and divert calls to Voco from your current provider, so customers carry on dialling the number they know. You choose whether to divert every call, only calls you do not answer, or only calls that arrive while you are already on the phone.

Missed call cost calculator

What are your missed calls actually worth?

Q: How is the missed call cost calculated?

We multiply the calls you miss in a typical week by 4.33 to get a monthly figure, then count only half of those as real new enquiries. We apply your estimate of how many ring someone else, then your close rate, and multiply the sales you would have won by your typical sale value, rounded down to the nearest £10.

A missed call costs a UK business the sale that caller would have become, because many callers who cannot get through ring the next business instead of trying again. This calculator turns the calls you miss each week into a monthly figure, using your own sale value and your own estimates, and shows what answering them would cost.

Every assumption is on screen and yours to change
Rounded down, never up
No email needed to see the answer

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Business type

Typical sale value

Calls you miss in a typical week5 a weekMissing more than 30 a week? Ring us and we will look at it with you.

When calls are missedWhile workingEvenings and weekendsBoth

Of the real enquiries, how many ring someone else?50%Your estimate. We have not found a reliable UK figure, so set what you think happens to your callers.

How many of those would you have won?25%Your usual close rate for new enquiries.

Revenue you could be losing £1,250a month You miss about 21 calls a month, both while you work and after hours. On your figures, about 5 of them are real enquiries that go elsewhere, worth about 1.3 sales. Answering all 21 calls with Voco would cost about £8 a month on pay as you go, at 29p a minute.

The working

How is the missed call cost calculated?

The calculator takes the calls you miss each week, turns them into a month, keeps only the real enquiries, applies your own estimates and multiplies by your sale value. These are your current figures.

0121
Calls you miss a month
Your weekly figure times 4.33 weeks.
0210
Real enquiries
Half, leaving out sales calls, wrong numbers and time-wasters.
035
Ring someone else
Your estimate of the real enquiries that go elsewhere.
041.3
Sales you would have won
Your close rate applied to those.
05£1,250
Revenue a month
Sales times your sale value, rounded down to the nearest £10.

By industry

What does a missed call cost in your industry?

The cost of a missed call depends mostly on what one customer is worth to you, so each industry calculator starts from the jobs that industry actually gets.

The other side of the sum

What would it cost to answer every one of them?

On pay as you go, Voco costs 29p a minute, billed by the second, with no monthly fee. A typical call lasts about 75 seconds, so answering 20 calls a month costs about £7, and calls under 10 seconds cost nothing.

With your figuresRevenue you could be losing£1,250Voco answering those calls£8

Start with £19.98 of credit How it works

Full guide

The real cost of missed calls for UK small businesses

What a missed call is really worth depends on your trade. These are the patterns behind the numbers in the calculator.

On this page

Not every missed call is money lost

Some missed calls are sales calls, some are wrong numbers, and some callers will ring back. The ones that cost you are genuine new enquiries from people in a hurry: they work down a list and book whoever answers first. That is why the calculator counts only half of your missed calls as real enquiries, and lets you set how many of those ring someone else.

Why missed calls matter for tradespeople

For plumbers, electricians and locksmiths, the maths is unforgiving. A missed call could be a £2,500 boiler replacement that rang while you were finishing an £80 repair, and a customer with a burst pipe does not leave a voicemail: they ring the next number on the list.

The impact on clinics and practices

For dental and healthcare practices, a missed call is often a new patient who never becomes one. Someone in discomfort books the next practice that answers, and a new patient is rarely a single appointment: it is years of check-ups and treatment.

Property and lettings: speed wins

In lettings, the first agent to answer usually wins. A viewing request while you are out showing another property, a landlord enquiry at 6pm or a tenant emergency on a Saturday: none of these callers wait for Monday.

What answering every call is worth

Voco answers every call, takes the details, and books the work in or texts you straight away. At about 29p a minute with no monthly fee, it needs to recover one modest job to pay for itself. The fairest test is to ring the demo line on 0333 043 6661 and hear it for yourself.

Questions about the calculator

Something else? Ring 0333 043 6661 and ask Voco directly.

Answers at 2am. Doesn't ask for overtime.

Hear Voco answer a call

Ring 0333 043 6661 and talk to Voco now, or set up your own AI front office today.

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