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Local Voice research
Do Callers Leave Voicemails? One Study Says 42%. Another Says 6%.
CallRail found 42% of U.S. consumers leave a voicemail. A U.K. YouGov survey found 6%. Why they differ, and why most missed callers leave nothing.
By Adam Brewer, founder of Local Voice. Figures checked October 10, 2026.
42% of U.S. consumers say they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer, according to CallRail's 2025 survey of 1,000 consumers. A 2026 YouGov survey of 2,046 U.K. adults, commissioned by answering service Answer4u, found 6%.
The two surveys asked different questions of different people. CallRail reported what people do when nobody answers, while YouGov asked how long they'd wait. Both put voicemail in the minority. Plan for most missed callers to leave no message.
Every figure was checked at its source on October 10, 2026. Derived figures are marked as Local Voice calculations, with the math shown in the methodology.
Key findings
42% of U.S. consumers say they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer, in CallRail's 2025 survey of 1,000 consumers. The other 58% don't (Local Voice calculation).
6% of U.K. adults would leave a voicemail rather than wait for a business to answer, in a June 2026 YouGov survey of 2,046 adults commissioned by Answer4u.
In a 2026 YouGov survey for Answer4u, 8% of U.K. women picked voicemail over waiting, against 4% of men. That's about twice the rate (Local Voice calculation).
62.4% of callers to car dealerships hung up without a message at 7 p.m. and 65.9% at 8 p.m., in Numa's 2026 call data.
The earliest source we found for the claim that 80% of callers don't leave a voicemail is a 2014 Forbes contributor post. It named no study.
Do most callers leave a voicemail?
No. The highest verified figure we found is CallRail's: 42% of U.S. consumers say they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer. That leaves 58% who don't (Local Voice calculation).
CallRail surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers and published the results on September 25, 2025. 24% said they switch to online chat and 21% said they call another business right away. CallRail didn't publish the wording or say whether people could pick more than one answer.
Figure 1. One survey puts the share who leave a voicemail at 42%. Another puts it at 6%.
Share who say they leave, or would leave, a voicemail. Each survey asked a different question of different people.
- U.S. consumers, when nobody answersCallRail 2025, 1,000 U.S. consumers42%
- U.K. women, instead of waitingYouGov for Answer4u 2026, U.K. women8%
- U.K. adults, instead of waitingYouGov for Answer4u 2026, 2,046 U.K. adults6%
- U.K. men, instead of waitingYouGov for Answer4u 2026, U.K. men4%
CallRail reported what people do when nobody answers and didn't publish its question. YouGov asked how long people would wait for an answer, with voicemail as one option.
Source: CallRail (2025); YouGov survey commissioned by Answer4u (2026), as reported by Answer4u. Compiled by Local Voice.
The U.K. figure is far lower. In the YouGov survey, 6% said they'd leave a voicemail rather than wait for an answer. Women picked it at 8% and men at 4%, about twice the rate (Local Voice calculation).
Why does one survey say 42% and another 6%?
They asked different people different questions. CallRail reported what U.S. consumers do when a business doesn't answer. YouGov asked U.K. adults how long they'd wait for an answer before contacting a competitor.
Table 1. The voicemail figures side by side
CallRail (2025); YouGov survey commissioned by Answer4u, fieldwork June 5 to 8, 2026, as reported by Answer4u; Numa (2026) dealership call data. The rows mix two measures, so they aren't ranked. The Numa rows count callers who left no message.
In the YouGov results, voicemail sat beside other answers. Most people named how long they'd wait, or said they'd switch to email or live chat. Figure 2 shows the answers Answer4u published.
Figure 2. Asked how long they'd wait for a business to answer, 6% of U.K. adults chose to leave a voicemail
Answers from U.K. adults asked how long they'd wait for a business to answer before contacting a competitor.
Answer4u didn't say whether people could pick more than one answer, so the bars are shown separately. The published answers add to 93%. The 7% not reported is a Local Voice calculation.
Source: YouGov survey of 2,046 U.K. adults, commissioned by Answer4u, fieldwork June 5 to 8, 2026, as reported by Answer4u.
So the 6% picked voicemail over waiting. 26% said they'd wait longer than a minute. The question didn't ask what those people do if nobody ever answers. Some of them may leave a message then.
Quo, the business phone company formerly called OpenPhone, cited the 6% in an August 2026 post as "a YouGov survey." The post's main text doesn't say the survey was of U.K. consumers. Its FAQ does, and its link goes to Answer4u's research page.
Answer4u, a U.K. telephone answering company, commissioned the survey. YouGov ran it online from June 5 to 8, 2026, with a nationally representative sample. We couldn't find the results on YouGov's own site, so we cite them as reported by Answer4u.
Both sponsors sell something related. CallRail sells call tracking software, and Answer4u sells phone answering. Keep that in mind with both numbers.
What do callers do after hours?
Most hang up without a message, at least at car dealerships. Numa sells AI phone answering to dealers. It reported in May 2026 that 62.4% of dealership callers hung up without leaving a message at 7 p.m. At 8 p.m., 65.9% did.
This is call data, so it shows what callers did, which a survey can't. It covers car dealerships only. Numa didn't publish a sample size or any daytime figure to compare against.
Figure 3. Across two sources, 58% to 65.9% of callers leave no message
Share who leave no message. Numa counted dealership calls that hung up without a message. CallRail surveyed consumers.
- Dealership callers, 8 p.m.Numa 2026, call data, sample not published65.9%
- Dealership callers, 7 p.m.Numa 2026, call data, sample not published62.4%
- U.S. consumers, when nobody answersCallRail 2025, 1,000 U.S. consumers58%
CallRail's 58% is 100% minus the 42% who say they leave a voicemail (Local Voice calculation).
Source: Numa (2026); CallRail (2025). Compiled by Local Voice.
Set the dealer data beside CallRail's survey and they land close together. In both, most callers leave no message. They measured different people at different times, so the match is a rough one.
We found no after-hours voicemail data for home service businesses. Our post on after-hours booking rates covers what happens to trade calls after 6 p.m.
Is it true that 80% of callers don't leave a voicemail?
We couldn't trace it to any study. The figure has circulated since at least 2014. Every version we found leads back to a page that names no data.
A July 31, 2014 Forbes contributor post by Adriana Lopez said "recent statistics show" that 80% of callers sent to voicemail don't leave messages. It named no study and linked to none. CRM magazine repeated the figure in November 2014 and credited Forbes. An 85% version appears on at least one AI receptionist vendor's site, also with no study named. Use CallRail's 42% instead, with its source.
The folklore points the right way. In CallRail's 2025 survey, 42% leave a voicemail, so 58% don't (Local Voice calculation).
How to measure your own voicemail rate
Divide the voicemails you got by the calls that reached your voicemail. Use 30 days of logs from your carrier or VoIP dashboard.
Voicemails left ÷ calls sent to voicemail = your voicemail rate
Your log shows 30 calls went to voicemail last month.
9 of those callers left a message.
9 ÷ 30 = 30% voicemail rate.
30 minus 9 = 21 callers, or 70%, left nothing but a number.
Each of those 21 is still a lead. Call the number back the same day.
At CallRail's 42% or below, most of your missed callers leave you nothing but a number. Calling back is the only way to reach them. Our post on what callers do when you don't answer covers where the rest go.
What to do this week
Count voicemails against missed calls. Run the formula above on last month's log. In CallRail's 2025 survey, 42% of U.S. consumers leave one, so 58% don't.
Call back every number, message or not. 21% of U.S. consumers call another business right away (CallRail, 2025). Quo found 69% of missed business calls got no callback within 48 hours in 2026.
Look hard at evenings. In Numa's 2026 dealership data, 65.9% of 8 p.m. callers hung up without a message. Check your own after-hours log for the same pattern.
Cover the calls that would hit voicemail. If most missed callers leave nothing, a voicemail box isn't a safety net. Route after-hours calls to a person or service that answers. Local Voice sells AI phone agents, so take that into account.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of callers leave a voicemail?
It depends on the study. CallRail's 2025 survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers found 42% say they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer. A 2026 YouGov survey of 2,046 U.K. adults, commissioned by Answer4u, found 6% would leave one rather than wait. The surveys asked different questions, so the numbers don't line up directly.
Where does the 6% voicemail statistic come from?
A YouGov survey commissioned by Answer4u, a U.K. answering service. YouGov polled 2,046 U.K. adults online from June 5 to 8, 2026. Asked how long they'd wait for a business to answer, 6% chose to leave a voicemail instead. Quo cited the figure in August 2026. We couldn't find the results on YouGov's own site.
Is it true that 80% of callers don't leave a voicemail?
We couldn't trace it to a study. It appears in a July 2014 Forbes contributor post that credits "recent statistics" with no source. CRM magazine repeated it later that year. The closest verified figure is CallRail's 2025 survey: 42% of U.S. consumers leave a voicemail, so 58% don't.
Do people leave voicemails after hours?
Most don't, at least at car dealerships. In Numa's 2026 call data, 62.4% of dealership callers hung up without a message at 7 p.m. At 8 p.m., 65.9% did. Numa didn't publish a sample size or daytime figures. We found no after-hours voicemail data for home service businesses.
Should a small business still use voicemail?
Yes, as a backstop. CallRail's 2025 survey found 42% of U.S. consumers say they leave a voicemail when nobody answers, so it catches some callers. It misses the 58% who don't. Call back every missed number from your call log, whether or not the caller left a message.
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Open the calculatorMethodology
CallRail survey
1,000 U.S. consumers, published September 25, 2025, by Danielle Wood. CallRail didn't publish the question wording or the fieldwork dates. It didn't say whether people could pick more than one answer, so the 42%, 24% and 21% are shown separately. CallRail sells call tracking software.
YouGov survey for Answer4u
Commissioned by Answer4u and conducted by YouGov. Online fieldwork ran June 5 to 8, 2026, among 2,046 U.K. adults 18 and over, using a nationally representative sample. The question asked how long, "if at all," people would wait for a business to answer "before deciding to contact a competitor instead."
Where we found it
Answer4u published the results on its research page, written by Darren McCowan, and in a June 16, 2026 press release on Pressat. Quo's August 20, 2026 post links to the Answer4u page. We searched for a copy on YouGov's own site and found none, so we cite the figures as reported by Answer4u.
YouGov answer shares
Answer4u published these shares. 37% would hang up within 60 seconds. That 37% is 1% who would hang up at once, plus 4%, 14% and 18% who would wait 1 to 10, 11 to 30 and 31 to 60 seconds. 26% would wait longer than a minute. 24% would use another contact method and 6% would leave a voicemail.
Checks on the YouGov figures
The published answers add to 93%, so 7% are not reported. Answer4u's 67% who would hang up or take other action equals 37% + 24% + 6%. That suggests each person gave one answer, but the page doesn't say so. Its summary says 18% would wait under 30 seconds, while its own breakdown adds to 19%.
Numa data
From Numa's May 22, 2026 post by Alex Schirmer, described as after-hours hang-up data from real dealership call volumes. Numa didn't publish a sample size or the period covered, and gave no daytime figure. Numa sells AI phone answering to car dealers.
The 80% claim
Adriana Lopez's Forbes contributor post of July 31, 2014 says "recent statistics show" 80% of callers sent to voicemail don't leave messages. It names and links no source. CRM magazine's November 1, 2014 column by Leonard Klie repeats it and credits Forbes. We found no study behind either the 80% or the 85% version.
Formulas
Don't leave a voicemail (CallRail) = 100% minus 42% = 58%, which includes people who gave other answers. YouGov not reported = 100% minus (37% + 26% + 24% + 6%) = 7%. Women against men = 8% ÷ 4% = 2. Your voicemail rate = voicemails left ÷ calls sent to voicemail.
Combining studies
Table 1 and Figures 1 and 3 put sources side by side. CallRail surveyed U.S. consumers in 2025. YouGov surveyed U.K. adults in June 2026. Numa counted dealership calls over a period it didn't publish. Each measured different people at different times, with different questions.
When we checked
The CallRail, Answer4u, Pressat, Quo, Numa, Forbes and CRM magazine pages were checked at the source on October 10, 2026.
Sources
CallRail. Why businesses can't afford to miss calls. Danielle Wood, September 25, 2025. Accessed October 10, 2026.
Answer4u. How Long Will Customers Wait on the Phone Before Calling a Competitor?. Darren McCowan. Undated; reports a YouGov survey with fieldwork June 5 to 8, 2026. Accessed October 10, 2026.
Answer4u via Pressat. One in Three UK Consumers Will Call a Competitor if a Business Fails to Answer the Phone Within 60 Seconds. Press release, June 16, 2026. Accessed October 10, 2026.
Quo. Small business callback statistics in 2026: Data from 16M+ calls. Rachel Bicha, August 20, 2026. Cited for how it attributes the 6% figure. Accessed October 10, 2026.
Numa. The Calls You're Missing After 6PM Are Your Best Leads. Alex Schirmer, May 22, 2026. Accessed October 10, 2026.
Forbes. New, Sexy World Of Call Centers Helps Small Businesses Increase Sales Significantly. Adriana Lopez, contributor, July 31, 2014. Cited only to show where the unsourced 80% figure appears. Accessed October 10, 2026.
CRM magazine (destinationCRM). Business Voicemail Goes Unanswered. Leonard Klie, November 1, 2014. Cited only to show the 80% figure credited to Forbes. Accessed October 10, 2026.
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