Every figure sourced · Sources checked 28 October 2026
A missed call is an inbound call to your business that nobody answers live, whether it rings out, goes to voicemail or hits an engaged tone. Below are the figures most quoted about missed calls in the UK, each linked to where it comes from, with the year and who was asked, so you can judge how far to rely on it.
The figures
Quote each figure with its source and year. Where a source does not publish its sample or method, we say so.
| Figure | What it says | Source and date | Who was asked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 69% | “69% of callers refuse to leave a voicemail.” Small and micro-businesses are “3x more likely” to use voicemail than large ones. | Moneypenny small business call report; page published January 2020, updated October 2023 | UK; commissioned by Moneypenny. The page does not give the sample size or the year the data was collected. |
| 67% | 67% of businesses miss at least one call on an average day; BT predicts £3.7bn in UK revenue lost each year. | BT Business, as reported by ISPreview, 1 October 2026 | UK businesses. BT's own claim; sample and method not published in the report. |
| 82% | 82% say they'll call a competitor if you don't answer; 78% have abandoned a business after an unanswered call; 42% leave a voicemail; 21% immediately call another business. | CallRail consumer research, published 25 September 2025 | 1,000 consumers in the United States, not the UK. |
| 1 in 5 | Customers call a business “a maximum of twice” before going elsewhere, and a fifth call just once. One missed call cost “approximately £1,200” on average. | BT Business research by Populus, 5 November 2014 | 505 IT decision makers and 1,010 telecoms users at UK firms with 20 to 249 staff, spring 2014. Now old; treat as indicative. |
| 5.7 million | UK private sector businesses at the start of 2025; 4.3 million (75%) employ nobody besides the owners; SMEs are 99.85% of the total. | Department for Business and Trade, Business population estimates 2025, 2 October 2025 | Official statistics covering all UK private sector businesses. |
Sources read on 28 October 2026. If a source updates its figure, we update this page; tell us at ceo@nothingbutvalue.com if you spot one that has changed.
Reading the numbers
Fixes
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Fewer than half. A UK call report commissioned by Moneypenny found that 69% of callers refuse to leave a voicemail. A 2025 CallRail survey of 1,000 US consumers found 42% leave one.
BT Business says 67% of businesses miss at least one call on an average day, as reported by ISPreview on 1 October 2026. BT has not published the sample behind the figure.
Most go elsewhere. In CallRail's 2025 survey of 1,000 US consumers, 82% said they would call a competitor if a business didn't answer and 21% immediately call another business. BT's 2014 research found a fifth of callers try only once.
It depends on your job value. BT's 2014 research put the average cost of one missed call at about £1,200 for firms with 20 to 249 staff, and BT now predicts £3.7bn in UK revenue lost a year. Use our missed-call calculator with your own numbers.
About 5.7 million private sector businesses at the start of 2025, according to the Department for Business and Trade. 4.3 million of them (75%) employ nobody besides the owners, so there is often no one else to pick up the phone.
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