What is an answering service worth to your business?
Use a real quote, or a flat-rate plan figure to compare.
Your return on an answering service
34.4× ROI
Every $1 you spend returns about $34 in recovered revenue — it pays for itself after just 1 recovered customer a month.
Recovered revenue / month
$10,328
Net gain / month
+$10,028
Estimate uses your inputs and the widely-cited figure that ~85% of callers who reach voicemail never call back. Recovered revenue assumes a 24/7 service answers the opportunities you currently miss.
Answering service ROI, explained
Is an answering service worth it?
For most businesses that rely on the phone, yes — the question is by how much. An answering service is worth it when the revenue it recovers from calls you currently miss is greater than what it costs. Because around 85% of callers who reach voicemail never call back, even a handful of recovered new customers a month usually covers the cost several times over. Enter your own numbers above to see your specific return.
How do I calculate the ROI of an answering service?
ROI = recovered revenue ÷ what the service costs. Estimate recovered revenue by taking your monthly calls, the share you miss, the share that are genuine new-customer opportunities, and your average new-customer value, then accounting for the callers who would never have called back. Divide that recovered revenue by the monthly service cost to get your return per dollar spent. The calculator above does this for you.
How much does an answering service cost?
It varies by model. Per-minute and per-call services bill on usage, so the cost moves with your call volume; flat-rate services charge one predictable monthly fee. Enter the figure you have been quoted (or a flat-rate plan) in the cost field above to see whether the return justifies it for your business.
What payback should I expect?
Payback is how many recovered customers it takes to cover the monthly cost. For a high-value business like a dental or law practice, that can be a single new client; for lower-ticket businesses it may be a handful. The calculator shows your break-even in recovered customers so you can judge it against your real numbers.
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