What Missed Calls Cost Your Store
Every unanswered call is a customer who wanted something. Enter your own numbers to see the sales at risk each week, month and year.
Your calls
The starting values are examples. Replace them with your own.
All incoming calls to your store number
Rang out, went to voicemail, or hung up waiting
From the calls you did answer
More orders a typical customer places in a year after the first
The formula
Missed calls = calls a week × share missed
Lost orders = missed calls × share who would have bought
Sales at risk a week = lost orders × average order value
A year = a week × 52. A month = a year ÷ 12.
With repeat orders = a year × (1 + repeat orders a year)
Sales at risk a year
$7,800
$150 a week · $650 a month
Missed calls a week
10
Lost orders a week
2.5
How it adds up
- 50 calls × 20% missed
- 10 missed calls
- × 25% who would have bought
- 2.5 orders
- × $60 average order
- $150 a week
- × 52 weeks
- $7,800 a year
How to measure your own missed calls
- Step 1
Pull two normal weeks of call logs
Export calls from your phone provider or app. Skip weeks with a sale or a shipping problem, which inflate the count.
- Step 2
Count the calls nobody answered
Include rang-out calls, voicemails and hang-ups while waiting. Count each caller once a day.
- Step 3
Find who buys after a call
Match answered callers’ numbers to orders in the next few days. That share is your buyer rate.
- Step 4
Note why people call
Order status, changes, product questions. The reasons show which calls you can prevent and which need an answer.
What to do about missed calls
Start with the calls you don’t need. If most callers ask where their order is, put tracking in your order emails and on your site, and fewer people will pick up the phone.
Then cover the busy hours. Your call logs show when calls pile up; a teammate on the phone at those times catches more of them. Call back everyone who left a voicemail the same day, before they buy elsewhere.
For nights, weekends and the rush you can’t staff, an AI receptionist can pick up every call. Concierge answers your business number day and night, knows the caller and their orders, and handles the request on the call within your rules. When a caller needs a person, a teammate joins with one tap. See how it works on the phone channel, or read what an AI answering service is.
Questions
Where do the starting numbers come from?
They are examples so the page shows a result, not industry averages. Replace every field with your own numbers from your phone system and your store data.
What counts as a missed call?
Any call nobody picked up: calls that rang out, went to voicemail, or hung up while waiting. Count each caller once a day, so one person who tries three times is one missed call.
How do I estimate the share of callers who would have bought?
Look at the calls you did answer. Match their phone numbers to orders placed in the next few days, and divide the callers who ordered by all callers you answered. Use that share for the calls you missed.
Why add repeat purchases?
A caller who gives up may buy somewhere else next time too. If your customers usually reorder, enter how many more orders a typical customer places in a year to see what one lost first order can cost.
Ready to act on what you found?
Chargezen tracks these numbers for you, live, so you never have to do the math by hand.
