44% of calls to businesses never reach a person, and the famous voicemail statistic has no source

“62% of calls to small businesses go unanswered.” “80% of callers sent to voicemail don’t leave a message.” These figures appear in countless articles. We tried to trace them.

Where the popular figures come from

• The 62% comes from a 2016 study by 411 Locals, a marketing agency, covering 85 businesses over 30 days. It counts calls that went to voicemail as unanswered: 37.8% answered, 37.8% voicemail, 24.3% no response.
• The 80% could not be traced to any study. The earliest mention found, from 2014, attributes it to “statistics from Forbes” without a reference.

A more solid figure

Invoca’s 2026 benchmark report, based on more than 70 million calls, finds that 56% of calls to businesses are answered by a person, so 44% are not. It is a vendor study, mostly American, but it rests on a large and documented sample.

What it means for a small business

If nearly half of calls do not reach a person across businesses of all sizes, a one-person business busy with a client is unlikely to do better. And a caller who reaches voicemail can simply try the next business on the list.

• Show when you pick up, next to your phone number.
• Offer a channel that answers straight away when you cannot: a chat that replies and takes details for a call back.
• Check your own numbers: your phone provider can often show how many calls you miss.