Call abandonment rate

Call abandonment rate is a phone metric that tracks callers who hang up before reaching anyone, calculated as abandoned calls divided by all calls that rang or entered a hold queue.

An abandoned call is different from a call nobody heard. The phone did ring, or the caller did reach a hold message, but they ended the call before a person or system picked up. At a vet clinic, that usually means they were left on hold, listened to a long recorded greeting, or let the phone ring until their patience ran out.

How to calculate it

Your phone system's reports usually mark each call as answered, abandoned or sent to voicemail. Count the abandoned calls for the period you want to study. Then count every call that rang or was placed in a queue. Divide the first number by the second.

Many teams leave out very short abandons, such as a caller who hangs up within the first few seconds, because those are often wrong numbers or pocket dials. If you do that, write down the cut-off you used and keep it the same each month so the trend means something.

What drives abandonment

The biggest driver is waiting. Long hold time and a slow average speed of answer both push the rate up. Long recorded greetings and phone menus add to the wait before a caller even joins the queue. The time of day matters too, because the same caller who waits patiently mid-afternoon may give up at eight in the morning while getting the kids to school.

Why it matters

Abandoned callers had a reason to call and took the trouble to dial. Some will try again later; others will call the next clinic on their list. How many come back is an assumption you should test against your own call logs rather than guess.

An example

At a two-vet clinic, the reports show that most abandoned calls happen while callers sit in the hold queue during the lunch hour, when one receptionist covers the desk alone. The clinic shortens its recorded greeting and sends calls that wait beyond a short limit to an overflow answerer.

How Tilly handles it

Tilly can answer the calls that would otherwise wait too long, as overflow, or answer every call. Callers speak to Tilly straight away, and anyone who asks for a person is offered a transfer or callback.

The cost of missed calls article shows how abandoned and missed calls add up. See also answer rate.