When nobody picks up, most callers don't wait for you. In a CallRail survey of 1,000 US consumers, 78% said they have abandoned a business after an unanswered call, 82% said they will call a competitor if a business doesn't answer, and 21% said they immediately call another business (CallRail, 2025).
What matters is how you get every call answered, including the ones that come in after you close. The options are voicemail on a business phone system, a live answering service, an answering service run by software, and a text sent automatically to callers you missed. Here is what each one does and what it costs, using the vendors' own published prices.
What happens when a customer's call goes unanswered
The figures below come from different publishers using different methods, so each one carries its source.
- How many calls go unanswered. When 411 Locals called 85 businesses in 58 industries over 30 days, a person answered 37.8% of the calls. Another 37.8% went to voicemail and 24.3% got no response at all. That is where the often-quoted "62% unanswered" comes from (411 Locals, 2016).
- A newer and larger sample. Across more than 70 million calls on Invoca's platform in 10 industries, a person answered 56% of calls to businesses. These are averages across Invoca's customers, not a national sample (Invoca, July 2026).
- What an answered call is worth. In the same Invoca report, 42% of phone leads converted during the call itself, as an average across all industries (Invoca, July 2026).
- What callers do instead. In CallRail's survey, 42% said they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer, and 24% said they turn to online chat (CallRail, 2025).
- How long they hold. 41% said they hang up after 1 to 2 minutes on hold, 30% wait 3 to 5 minutes, and 18% wait beyond five minutes (CallRail, 2025).
When after-hours calls come in
ServiceTitan looked at calls to residential heating and AC contractors on its platform in 2025. A bigger share of incoming calls arrived after hours in June than in October: 14.1% came outside 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays in June, against 9.8% in October. The weekend share was 4.9% in August and 2.95% in October. ServiceTitan says the data is "not nationally representative" (ServiceTitan, 2026).
Your options for answering every call
| Option | What it does | Example list price |
|---|---|---|
| Business phone system with voicemail | Google Voice for business: Starter turns voicemails into text; a phone menu that greets callers (auto attendant) and ringing several phones at once (ring groups) come with Standard. | Priced per person each month: Starter $10, Standard $20, Premier $30 (Google Workspace) |
| Live answering service | Ruby: virtual receptionists answer 24/7, including after hours, weekends and holidays; Spanish and bilingual handling listed. | $250/month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200, $1,725 for 500 (Ruby) |
| Live answering service | Smith.ai live receptionists, staffed 24/7. | Starter $300/month for 30 calls ($11.50 per extra call), Basic $810 for 90 ($10.50), Pro $2,100 for 300 ($8.50) (Smith.ai) |
| Answering service run by software | Smith.ai AI receptionist: answers 24/7, asks what the caller needs and sends them to the right person, books appointments, records, transcribes and summarizes calls, and transfers complex calls to a live receptionist. | Free plan with 25 calls ($3.00 per extra call); Pro from $150/month for 75 calls; Enterprise from $500/month for 300 calls (Smith.ai) |
These are prices shown on each vendor's page on October 19, 2026. They are examples of what each kind of option costs. Ruby's page shows no effective date.
How much does an answering service typically cost?
From the two live services above: Ruby starts at $250 a month for 50 minutes (Ruby) and Smith.ai's live plans start at $300 a month for 30 calls (Smith.ai). Look at what the plan counts. Ruby sells minutes and Smith.ai sells calls, so the same month of calls can land in different tiers on each.
Is there a free AI answering service for small businesses?
Smith.ai lists a free plan for its AI receptionist with 25 calls, and $3.00 for each call after that (Smith.ai).
How callers feel about it: in CallRail's survey, 52% said companies using AI assistants after hours provide superior service, 50% said they would use AI to book an appointment, and 13% said they would not use AI for any task (CallRail, 2025).
Is voicemail enough?
In CallRail's survey, 42% of consumers said they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer (CallRail, 2025). That means most of the people in that survey do not leave one.
Can I automatically text back a missed call?
In the US, any application that sends texts from a regular 10-digit phone number has to be registered first, under a program called A2P 10DLC. You register your business and what the texts are for, including how people opt in, opt out and get help. Texts that aren't registered get filtered more, go out slower and pay extra carrier fees (Twilio).
There are monthly campaign fees and per-message carrier fees on top of the software. Ask whoever sets up your text back to show you both, and to show you that your number is registered.
What waiting costs you
Each unanswered call is a customer deciding what to do next, and in CallRail's survey 82% said that decision is to call a competitor (CallRail, 2025). A call that gets answered has a shot at the 42% of phone leads that convert on the call in Invoca's data (Invoca, July 2026).