// FREE TOOL
Missed call calculator: what are unanswered calls costing you?
This missed call calculator turns three numbers you already know into the one you do not: what a year of unanswered calls is worth. Enter the calls you miss in a week, how many you would have won, and what an average job is worth. Nothing is saved and nothing is sent anywhere.
// THE CALCULATOR
Run your own numbers
Rough figures are fine to start with. The result updates as you type, and the next section covers how to make each input honest.
Estimated lost revenue per year
That is about 104 jobs a year walking to someone else.
This is an estimate based only on the numbers you entered above, not a quote or a guarantee. Adjust the inputs to match your own week.
// THE MATHS
How the calculator works out the number
One line of arithmetic, no assumptions of ours baked in anywhere.
Lost revenue per year
missed calls per week × close rate × average job value × 52
Five missed calls a week, four in ten of which you would have won, at an average job value of $350. That is 2 jobs a week, 104 jobs a year, and $36,400 of work that went to whoever picked up second.
The multiplier doing the damage is the 52. Five missed calls in a week is a shrug. It is the sort of thing that happens on a busy Tuesday and you never think about again. Two hundred and sixty missed calls is a different conversation, and it is the same fact. One a week is 52 a year. Three a week is 156. The weekly number is the one that feels true; the annual number is the one that is true.
Because it is a straight multiplication, the answer is only as good as your weakest input. Double your close rate estimate and you exactly double the result. That sounds like a flaw and it is actually the instruction: run it at numbers you would be willing to defend out loud, and read what comes out as a floor.
// GETTING THE INPUTS RIGHT
The three numbers people get wrong
Every one of these pushes the answer in the same direction, which is why most people's first run through the calculator is too low.
- 01 Missed calls: you are only counting the ones you saw
Most people answer this with the calls that rang out while they were looking at the phone. The ones that actually add up are the calls you never saw: while you were under a house, on a roof, driving between jobs, at 6:40pm, or on a Saturday. Check your call log for a full week before you guess. The number is almost always higher than the one in your head.
- 02 Close rate: this is not your quote-to-job rate
People plug in the rate at which their quotes turn into jobs, which is the wrong stage. A missed call sits earlier than a quote, so it should be lower. But it should not be as low as a cold lead either, because whoever rang had already picked up the phone and dialled you specifically. Somewhere between the two is honest. If you have no idea, use 20 per cent and read the answer as a floor.
- 03 Job value: use your average invoice, not the job you remember
The temptation is to enter the big one from last month. Use the median of what you actually invoice, including the small callouts and the jobs that turned into nothing much. A calculator fed your best week produces a number you will not believe yourself, which makes the whole exercise useless.
// A WARNING ABOUT AVERAGES
Ignore every "average cost of a missed call" figure you find
Including any we could have put on this page.
Search this topic and you will be told a missed call costs a couple of hundred dollars, or a few thousand, or tens of thousands. The published figures disagree with each other by two orders of magnitude, and almost none of them say where the number came from. That is not because someone is lying. It is because the question has no general answer.
A plumber taking $300 callouts and a builder quoting $80,000 extensions are not doing the same arithmetic, and neither is doing yours. The cost of a missed call is your close rate multiplied by your average job value, and nobody else can supply either number. That is the whole reason this page is a calculator rather than a statistic.
So there is no headline figure here, and the one the tool gives you is labelled an estimate on purpose. What it is good for is deciding whether the problem is worth an afternoon of your attention. For almost every trade business that runs it honestly, it is.
// REFERENCE
Jobs lost per year, before you multiply by job value
Deliberately in jobs rather than dollars, because jobs is the unit you can sanity check against your own diary. Multiply any figure below by your average job value to get the money.
| Calls you miss | At a 20% close rate | At a 40% close rate | At a 60% close rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 a week | 21 | 42 | 62 |
| 5 a week | 52 | 104 | 156 |
| 10 a week | 104 | 208 | 312 |
| 20 a week | 208 | 416 | 624 |
Find your row, take the most pessimistic column you can live with, and ask whether you would notice that many extra jobs in a year. Two missed calls a week at a modest 20 per cent is still 21 jobs. That is the smallest square on the whole table.
// THE HONEST TEST
Run it pessimistically, then decide
The useful way to use this calculator is not to find the biggest number it will produce. It is to find the smallest one you still believe. Set the missed calls to the low end of what your call log shows, set the close rate to 20 per cent, and use your smaller average job value rather than your better one.
Three missed calls a week, a 20 per cent close rate, $250 a job. That deliberately gloomy run comes out at 31 jobs and $7,800 a year. It is the version of the number nobody could accuse you of talking up, and it is still $7,800 that walked to a competitor because a phone rang out.
If the pessimistic number is worth fixing, the realistic one settles the question. If it is not, you have spent two minutes and can stop reading with a clear conscience, which is more than most calculators of this kind will offer you.
// CLOSING THE GAP
That is the gap missed-call text-back closes
When a call rings out, an automatic text goes straight back to the caller from your own number, so the conversation carries on by message instead of ending at the beep. It does not need you to answer a phone from a roof, and it is the cheapest way to stop paying the number above.
We build it for trade businesses on whatever you already run. See how the whole thing works on our missed call text back for tradies page, or the ServiceM8-specific build on ServiceM8 missed call text back. It is quoted as one fixed setup number agreed before any work starts, with no lock-in, so you can put it straight against the figure the calculator gave you.
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// COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions about the missed-call maths
Anything the calculator did not answer? Ask us directly and we'll give you a straight answer, no jargon, no pressure.
Get in touchHow do you calculate the cost of a missed call?
Multiply the calls you miss in a week by the share of those you would realistically have won as a job, then by your average job value, then by 52 for the year. Written out: missed calls per week x close rate x average job value x 52. That is the entire calculation, and it is the one the calculator on this page runs.
How much does a missed call actually cost?
There is no honest general answer, only your answer. Published figures for the average cost of a missed call range from a couple of hundred dollars to tens of thousands, because the number depends entirely on what you charge and how often a caller becomes a customer. A plumber taking $300 callouts and a builder quoting $80,000 extensions are not in the same arithmetic. Use your own three numbers instead of anyone else’s average.
What close rate should I use if I do not know mine?
Use 20 per cent and treat the result as a floor rather than an estimate. The calculation is a straight multiplication, so an error in the close rate moves the answer by exactly the same proportion. Running it pessimistically gives you a number you can defend, and in most trade businesses the pessimistic number is already big enough to act on.
Should I count after-hours calls as missed calls?
Yes, if you would have taken the job. Someone ringing a tradie at 7pm on a Tuesday is usually further along than someone ringing at 10am, because they have finished work and started dealing with the problem. If your answer is that you would never work that job anyway, leave it out. If your answer is that you would have called back but forgot, it counts.
Why does a small weekly number turn into such a large annual one?
Because of the 52. Three missed calls a week does not sound like a problem, and it is not, on any given week. Across a year it is 156 conversations that ended at the beep. The weekly figure is the one that feels true and the annual figure is the one that is true, which is why this calculation surprises people.
What actually stops the calls being missed?
An automatic text back. When a call rings out, an SMS goes to the caller from your own number within seconds, so the conversation continues by text instead of ending. It does not require you to answer the phone on a roof. We cover how it is built for trade businesses on our missed call text back for tradies page.
Is this missed call calculator free to use?
Yes. There is no signup, nothing is saved, and nothing you type leaves your browser. You can also embed the calculator on your own website using the snippet at the bottom of this page.