What your phones are worth: revenue, cost and ROI for vet clinics

By the Tilly editorial team · Updated October 7, 2026

Your clinic's phones are worth the visits they book. For most independent clinics, the phone is still the front door: new clients call before they visit, existing clients call to book, move and ask. So vet clinic phone revenue is roughly the calls you answer that turn into visits, times what a visit is worth. A missed call costs the share of that value that never comes back. This guide shows how to estimate it with your own numbers, what the estimate leaves out, how phone services bill, and how to measure the return over 90 days.

That figure is MissedCalls.help data reported by Today's Veterinary Business. Your clinic may miss more or fewer. The point of this guide is to help you find your own number, and then decide what it's worth doing about it.

What is a vet clinic's phone line actually worth?

A vet clinic's phone line is worth the appointments, refills, recalls and new clients that arrive through it each month. Its value is not the phone bill. It is the revenue from every call your team answers and turns into a visit, plus the goodwill of callers who feel looked after.

Think about where your schedule comes from. Some clients book online. Some book at the desk on the way out. But many appointments still begin with someone picking up the phone: a vaccine reminder that prompts a call, a new puppy, a refill that needs a recheck, a worried owner who wants to be seen today.

Every one of those calls is a small decision point. If the caller reaches someone, or something, that can book them, the visit happens. If the call rings out, goes to voicemail or sits in a queue, some callers try again later. Others call the next clinic on the map.

That's why the useful question isn't "what does our phone system cost?" but "what is the value of the calls that come through it, and how many of them do we lose?" The rest of this guide answers that second question with a simple, honest formula.

A few terms we'll use:

• A missed call is any inbound call that doesn't reach a person or a system that can help: it rings out, the caller hangs up in a queue, or it goes to voicemail.
• Answer rate is the share of inbound calls that are answered.
• First-contact resolution is the share of calls where the caller's need is handled on that first call, without a callback.

How do you estimate what a missed call costs?

Missed-call cost is estimated by multiplying five inputs: calls per day, days open, the share of calls missed, the share of missed calls that were bookings, and the share of those callers who don't call back. Multiply the lost bookings by your average visit value for a monthly figure.

This is the same formula our missed-call calculator uses, and the same one we walk through in more detail in what a missed call costs a vet clinic. Here it is, one step at a time.

Step 1: count your calls

Start with inbound calls on a typical weekday. Your phone provider's call log or portal usually shows this. If you only have a monthly total, divide it by the days you're open. Our calculator assumes 22 days open a month unless you change it.

Step 2: estimate the share you miss

Count calls that rang out, hung up in a queue or went to voicemail. Many clinics don't know this number, and that's normal. Most phone systems report total calls, not unanswered ones. The calculator starts at 25%, at the low end of the range reported above. If you can measure your own figure, use it instead. That is exactly what a free missed-call audit measures.

Step 3: estimate how many missed calls were bookings

Not every call is a booking. Some are refill requests, results questions, directions or opening hours. The calculator assumes 40% of missed calls were people wanting an appointment. A quick tally of a week's answered calls by reason will tell you whether your clinic is above or below that.

Step 4: decide how many missed callers don't call back

This is the input most people get wrong, because there is no reliable published figure for it. Some callers try again in ten minutes. Some leave a voicemail and wait. Some book elsewhere. The calculator starts at 60%, and that is our assumption, not a statistic. Treat it as something to test. An audit that matches missed numbers against later inbound calls and bookings will show your real pattern.

Step 5: put a value on a visit

Use your own average transaction value from your practice software (PIMS). Most systems can report it by month. If you don't have it to hand, the calculator starts at $185, which is Tilly's starting assumption, not a published benchmark. Your own number is always better.

Putting it together

Multiply the first three steps to get missed calls a month. Multiply by the booking share and the no-call-back share to get lost bookings. Multiply by visit value to get lost revenue a month, and by twelve for a year.

Here is what that looks like for three illustrative clinics, using the calculator defaults. The call volumes are example inputs, not data about real clinics. The group's calls are the total across its sites.

If those numbers feel high, look at which input you doubt most and change it. That is the honest way to use any estimate like this.

What the estimate leaves out

The formula counts one visit per lost booking. Real life is messier, in both directions. It's worth naming what the number doesn't capture, so you can weigh it sensibly.

The lifetime value of a client

A new client who books a first exam may stay with your clinic for the life of their pet, and bring their next pet too. The formula values that first call at one visit. For new-client calls, the real loss is usually larger. We don't put a number on it, because client lifetime varies widely between clinics and regions, and any figure we typed here would be a guess.

Staff time

Missed calls don't just disappear. They come back as voicemails to return, callbacks that go unanswered, and a phone that rings again while your receptionist is checking someone out. Returning a voicemail often takes longer than answering the original call, because you have to reach the caller, catch up on the context and then book. That time has a cost, even though it doesn't show up as lost revenue.

Stress and interruptions

Front-desk teams describe the same thing in clinic after clinic: the phone rings while they're with the client in front of them. Every unanswered ring is a small moment of guilt. Over months, that pressure contributes to tiredness and turnover. No calculator captures it well, but you should count it when you weigh your options.

What the estimate may overstate

Some missed callers were never going to book. Some would have booked a short, low-value appointment. Some call back on a different number and you never connect the two. If your clinic is fully booked weeks out, an extra booking request may only move someone else's appointment. Be honest about your own situation. If your schedule is full, the value of answering more calls shows up more in client experience and staff time than in extra visits.

How do AI phone assistants and answering services bill?

AI phone assistants and answering services usually bill in one of three ways: per minute of call time, per call handled, or a monthly plan with a set allowance plus overage when you go over. Many also charge setup or onboarding fees. Always ask what counts toward the bill.

Pricing pages in this market are hard to compare, because providers measure different things. Here's what the common models mean in practice, without naming anyone.

Per minute

You pay for the time calls spend connected to the service. Questions to ask: is time rounded up to the next minute or counted to the second? Does time on hold or ringing count? Do transfers to your team keep the meter running? Long calls, such as a new client with several pets, cost more under this model.

Per call

You pay a fixed amount for each call handled. This is easy to predict if your call volume is steady. Ask what counts as a call: does a hang-up after two seconds count? Spam? A wrong number? A call transferred straight to your team?

Allowance plus overage

You pay a monthly fee that includes a set number of minutes, calls or messages. Above that, an overage rate applies. Ask what the overage rate is, whether unused allowance rolls over, and whether you're warned before you go over. A busy holiday week or a flu season can push you past an allowance.

Setup, onboarding and other fees

Some providers charge a one-off setup fee, a fee per integration with your practice software, or extra for features like texting, Spanish, or after-hours coverage. Others charge for changes to your scripts. Ask for a full list of what's included and what costs extra.

How to compare plans fairly

The cleanest way to compare is to price the same month under each model. Take a real month of your call logs: total calls, how long they lasted, and how many came after hours. Then work out what each provider would have charged for exactly that month, including overage and any extras you'd need. Repeat it for your busiest month of the year, because that's when allowances run out.

Then look past the price. A cheaper service that only takes messages still leaves your team returning every call. A service that books directly into your practice software, answers in Spanish, and hands possible emergencies to a person may cost more per call but save far more staff time. Compare what you get for the money, not just the headline rate.

Questions to ask any provider

• What exactly is a billable minute or a billable call?
• Which calls are not billed: spam, short hang-ups, test calls?
• What happens when we go over our plan, and will you tell us first?
• Are there setup, integration or change fees?
• How do we cancel, and what notice do you need?
• Can our reports and our invoice be checked against the same records?

Tilly's own terms, including what is and isn't billed, are on our pricing page. The section on how Tilly avoids billing surprises answers the questions above directly.

How many calls can your reception team handle?

Reception capacity depends on how many people cover the phones each hour, how long calls take, and what else the team is doing at the same time. Compare your hourly call volume against the people actually free to answer. The gaps show where calls are missed and where extra coverage helps.

Capacity planning sounds like a call-center exercise, but the idea is simple. A receptionist checking out a client, taking payment or calming a nervous dog can't answer the phone at the same moment. So the real question isn't "how many receptionists do we have?" but "how many people are free to answer at each hour of the day?"

Map calls against reception hours

Pull a week of call logs and count inbound calls by hour. Then, next to each hour, write down how many people are scheduled at the desk and what else usually happens then: morning drop-offs, lunch cover, end-of-day discharges. The hours where calls are high and free hands are few are your peak hours. That is where most missed calls come from.

Know your peaks

Peaks are often predictable. In the UK, Moneypenny's 2018 analysis of thousands of calls to vet practices, published by VetShow, found that Monday from 9 to 10 a.m. had the highest volume of emergency calls. Your own pattern may differ, but Monday mornings, lunchtimes and the hour after opening are worth checking first.

Plan coverage, not headcount

Once you can see the gaps, you have options. You can shift breaks away from the busiest hour. You can give one person phone-only time during the peak. You can build a phone rota so someone always owns the line. And you can add overflow answering, where calls your team can't reach in time go to a backup.

An AI front desk like Tilly fits here as backup, not as a substitute for people. Tilly answers the calls your team can't reach, takes the repeat calls such as booking changes and refill requests, and passes anything that needs a person straight to your team. A caller can always ask for a person, and a possible emergency goes straight to a person on your team, or to your emergency partner after hours. Your receptionists keep the conversations that need them.

Remember after hours

Capacity planning usually stops at closing time. Calls don't. Count the calls that arrive in the evening, at weekends and on public holidays. After-hours answering can book routine appointments overnight so they're in your schedule when the team arrives.

How do you measure ROI over 90 days?

ROI over 90 days is measured by recording a baseline before any change, then tracking the same numbers for three months after: answer rate, bookings that came from calls, after-hours bookings and staff time. Compare like with like, note seasonal effects, and set the result against the full monthly cost.

Return on investment for a phone change is easy to claim and hard to prove. A 90-day plan keeps you honest. It's long enough to smooth out a quiet week and short enough to act on.

Before: set a baseline

You can't measure improvement without a starting point. Before you change anything, collect at least two to four weeks of:

• Total inbound calls, by hour and by day.
• Missed calls: rang out, abandoned in queue, voicemail. Your call abandonment rate is part of this.
• Answer rate.
• Appointments booked by phone, if your practice software records the booking source.
• After-hours calls and voicemails.
• Your no-show rate, since reminders and confirmations can change it.

If this sounds like work, a missed-call audit does much of it for you.

During: track the same numbers

Use the same definitions every week. If you change how you count a missed call halfway through, your comparison breaks. Add a few numbers that only exist once you have new coverage:

• Calls answered by the backup service, in hours and after hours.
• Bookings made on those calls that weren't cancelled soon after.
• Tasks created for your team, such as refill and results requests.
• Transfers to your team and callbacks requested.
• First-contact resolution: how many callers got what they needed on the first call.

After: work out the return

At the end of the 90 days, compare each number with your baseline. For revenue, count the bookings that came from calls you would otherwise have missed, mostly overflow and after-hours calls, and multiply by your own average visit value. Set that against the full cost of the service over the same months, including any overage or setup fees.

Be fair about what else changed. A new vet starting, a seasonal surge or a marketing campaign can all move the numbers. Note them, and if you can, compare the same weeks with last year.

Tilly's reports show calls answered, after-hours calls, bookings made and tasks, with an estimate of recovered revenue and the method behind it, and every call is in your dashboard with a summary. Whatever tool you use, check its definitions against your own.

Measuring phone performance across multiple locations

Groups have the same questions as single clinics, multiplied. Each site has its own call pattern, its own peaks and its own team. A group-wide average can hide one site that misses far more calls than the rest.

Group KPIs worth tracking

Keep the list short and the definitions shared:

• Answer rate per location, by hour of day.
• Missed calls per location per week.
• Bookings from calls per location, including after-hours bookings.
• Time to callback for voicemails and callback requests.
• First-contact resolution: how many calls end without needing a follow-up.
• New-client calls and how many became a booked first visit.
• No-show rate, if your reminders change.

Compare sites fairly

A busy urban site and a quiet rural one will never look the same. Compare each location with its own baseline first, then with the group. Use the same definition of a missed call everywhere, and make sure every site's phone system reports it the same way.

One view, drill-down by site

Operations leads usually want a roll-up for the whole group and the ability to open each location's detail. Whatever reporting you use, check that the totals and the per-site figures come from the same records, so the numbers agree when you're asked about them. Tilly's call reports work this way for groups.

Staff planning across sites

Group data shows patterns no single site can see. If one location's peak is two hours after another's, a shared phone team or a common overflow route can cover both. The same capacity mapping described above works across sites, just with more rows.

Why do new clients' first calls matter most?

New clients' first calls matter most because a new client usually calls before they ever visit, often while comparing nearby clinics. A first call that rings out may be the only chance you get. Answering it, and booking the visit on that call, is worth more than the single visit it creates.

Existing clients know you. If they can't get through, many will try again, leave a message or text. A new client has no such loyalty yet. They found you on a map or a search page, and the clinic down the road is one tap away.

That's why a missed new-client call is the most expensive kind. You lose the first visit, and you lose everything that might have followed it: vaccines, dental work, a second pet. The formula above counts only the first visit, so for new-client calls it understates the cost.

What a good first call looks like

• It's answered quickly, including at lunchtime and in the evening.
• The caller is booked on that call, not asked to wait for a callback.
• The caller hears clear information about what to bring and where to park.
• Anything clinical goes to your team, and the caller is told when they'll hear back.
• Spanish-speaking callers can be helped in Spanish.

How to measure it

Ask your team to tag new-client calls for a few weeks, or check how many new-client records your practice software creates each week and how they were booked. Tilly books appointments directly in your practice software, and every call sits in your dashboard with a summary, so you can see which first visits came from the phone.

Where to start

You don't need a new system to begin. Start with what you can measure this week:

1. Put your call volume into the missed-call calculator and change any assumption you doubt.
2. Pull a week of call logs and map calls against reception hours.
3. Decide the three numbers you'll track for the next 90 days.
4. If you'd rather not do the counting yourself, ask for an audit. We'll measure your missed calls, when they happen and what they're likely worth, and you'll have a baseline either way.

If you're weighing up coverage options, read our guide to what a missed call costs a vet clinic for the formula in more depth, and how to run a missed-call audit for the measurement steps.