Cost of a missed call
The cost of a missed call is the expected revenue a business forgoes each time an inbound call goes unanswered. It is estimated from the value of a typical customer, the share of calls that are new inquiries, and the chance an unanswered caller does not call back.
Also called: missed call cost, value of a missed call, revenue lost to missed calls
The figure is an estimate built from a business’s own numbers rather than an industry constant. A common working formula is: average value of a new customer × the proportion of inbound calls that are new inquiries × the proportion of those inquiries that would normally convert × the proportion of unanswered callers who do not try again. Multiplied by the number of calls missed in a month, it gives a monthly cost.
Each input varies enormously by trade. A dental practice, an emergency plumber and a software company will put very different values on a customer and see very different call-back behavior, which is why any single headline statistic should be treated with caution.
The metric is useful because it turns an operational annoyance into a budget line. Once a business knows roughly what an unanswered call costs, the price of after-hours or overflow cover, of an extra receptionist, or of an automated answering system can be compared against it directly.