What does a call answering service really cost?
Per-minute and per-call answering services look cheap until volume scales. This calculator shows your true monthly bill, recovered revenue and the saving against Boafo Agent's flat plan.
Your numbers
All eight inputs. Conservative UK defaults shown.
Your results
Estimates assume Boafo Agent recovers 70% of previously missed calls (cohort range 60-85%). After-hours call volume is informational and feeds the worked examples below.
Assumptions used in this calculator
- Monthly inbound calls are total live + missed inbound voice calls per month, across all numbers.
- Missed call percentage is the share of those calls that ring out, go to voicemail, or are abandoned in queue.
- Average lead value is the gross profit (not revenue) of a typical converted customer, including any follow-on work.
- Conversion rate is the percentage of answered enquiries that go on to become paying customers within 30 days.
- Staff hourly cost is fully loaded: salary, NI, pension, holiday cover and seat cost.
- Working hours is the number of hours per week your existing reception is actively covered by humans.
- Existing receptionist salary is the annual fully-loaded cost (or £0 if you currently have no receptionist).
- After-hours call volume is the share of monthly inbound that arrives outside your staffed hours.
- We assume Boafo Agent recovers 70% of previously missed calls based on customer cohort data.
- AI plan cost defaults to £99/month flat; adjust if you are on a higher tier.
Most service businesses lose more revenue to missed calls and slow first responses than to any single marketing decision. The maths is harsh: every unanswered ring is a customer who has already decided to buy, and most of them will not call back. The next listing on Google gets the job, and you never see the loss show up on a report.
This calculator is built to make that loss visible. You enter the eight numbers that actually matter for a phone-based business: how many calls come in, what share get missed, what each lead is worth, how often answered enquiries convert, what your staff actually cost, how many hours you cover, what you already pay reception, and how many of your calls land out of hours. From there it works out the revenue you are losing today, the share Boafo Agent can recover, the annual saving against a human receptionist, your ROI percentage and your payback period.
The defaults are deliberately conservative. We assume Boafo Agent captures 70% of previously missed calls (real cohort data ranges from 60-85%), uses a flat £99/month entry plan and books straight into your existing calendar. If your average job value is higher than the default, payback usually lands inside the first week. If your missed-call rate is in the 30%+ range, the annual saving is normally larger than a full reception headcount.
Once you have your numbers, the rest of the page covers the assumptions in detail, a worked example for a typical service business, current UK benchmarks, a like-for-like cost comparison against a human receptionist, and the 10 questions we get asked most often by founders running this calculation for the first time. There is a Book a demo CTA at the top, middle and bottom of the page. You can also jump straight to pricing.
Boafo Agent is a branded AI receptionist that answers every inbound call, web chat and form 24 hours a day. It books appointments into your calendar, captures structured leads into your CRM and escalates the calls that need a human with full context. You can install it on your existing inbound number, on an overflow line, or on a brand new dedicated number. Setup, training and Google Calendar wiring are included in every plan.
Worked examples
320 inbound calls per month, 28% missed, average job value £220, 32% close rate on answered enquiries, 1 receptionist at £31k fully loaded covering 40 hours per week, 38% of calls arriving out of hours. The calculator shows roughly £6,300 of lost revenue per month, £4,400 recoverable, an annual saving of £52,800 vs the human-only setup and a payback period of under one week against a £99/month Boafo Agent plan.
540 inbound calls per month, 22% missed, average new-patient value £680, 45% close rate, two receptionists at £29k each covering 45 hours per week, 31% after-hours volume. The calculator shows £18,100 in monthly lost revenue, £12,600 recoverable per month, and a 12-month ROI north of 12,500% against the entry plan.
210 inbound calls per month, 35% missed (heavy weekend / evening volume), £540 average enquiry value, 28% close rate, no dedicated receptionist, 52% of calls arriving outside Mon-Fri 9-5. The calculator shows £11,100 of lost revenue per month and a recovered revenue of £7,800, with payback inside the first booked package of care.
UK industry benchmarks
Use these to sanity-check the defaults above against your sector.
Human receptionist vs Boafo Agent
| Item | Human receptionist | Boafo Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | £2,300-£3,200 | from £99 flat |
| Hours covered | 40 hrs/week, one seat | 24/7/365, unlimited concurrency |
| Answer speed | 8-25 seconds | < 1 second |
| After-hours coverage | Voicemail or none | Full answering + booking |
| Multi-channel | Phone only | Phone, web chat, forms, WhatsApp |
| Holiday / sickness cover | Agency cover £18-£28/hr | None required |
| Lead capture into CRM | Manual, error-prone | Structured, automatic |
| Onboarding time | 2-6 weeks | Same week |
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is this calculator?
It uses conservative industry ranges drawn from UK service-business data and our own customer cohort. Your actual numbers depend on traffic quality, opening hours and conversation design, all of which we tune for you during onboarding.
What does Boafo Agent actually cost?
Plans start at £99 per month flat with unlimited conversations on standard tiers. Setup, training, Google Calendar wiring and the branded widget are included.
Does the price change as call volume grows?
No. Boafo Agent is flat-fee. Per-minute and per-message vendors get expensive fast once volume scales; the calculator deliberately compares against a flat plan.
What if my average deal value is much larger?
Adjust the average lead value field. Higher-ticket businesses typically see payback inside the first week from a single captured lead.
Will it really capture 70% of previously missed calls?
On the Boafo Agent customer cohort the range is 60-85%. We use 70% as a deliberately conservative midpoint so the calculator does not overpromise.
Can I replace a human receptionist entirely?
Some customers do; most run a hybrid where humans handle complex live calls during the day and the AI handles overflow, out-of-hours and web enquiries. Either path saves money against the calculator inputs.
Does it work on our existing phone number?
Yes. We can answer your existing inbound line, an overflow line or a dedicated number. We support SIP forwarding and the major UK telecom providers.
How quickly will we see results?
From day one. The AI answers every inbound call and chat the moment it goes live. Most customers see missed-call rate fall from double digits a day to zero in the first week.
Can I see this on my real site before I commit?
Yes. Book a 20-minute demo and we will train it on your live website before the call, then show it answering your real customer questions.
What integrations are included?
Google Calendar, common CRMs, WhatsApp Business, web chat and inbound voice are included in the entry plan. We also wire bespoke webhooks for any in-house system.
Related pages
- Pricing
- AI Receptionist
- AI Call Answering Service
- Book a demo
- After-hours Answering Service
- Small Business AI Phone Answering