Most shoppers have left a business that didn't pick up the phone

Most people who call a business and get no answer do not wait. In a new survey from AI answering service Upfirst, 78% of US consumers said they hired or bought from a competitor because a business did not answer or return their call. The same report finds that callers have clear expectations for AI receptionists.

How many calls are being missed

Upfirst surveyed 270 US consumers and 262 small and midsize business owners and managers. It also analyzed 677,562 calls handled for 2,967 US businesses between January 2025 and August 2026. Across all businesses surveyed, 58% missed at least one potential-customer call in a typical week.

The problem is sharper for midsize firms. Among businesses with 10 to 49 employees, 91% missed at least one such call in a typical week. Of that group, 76% missed four or more, and 79% said they had already lost a customer because of an unanswered call.

What an AI receptionist does

An AI receptionist is a phone assistant that answers when staff cannot. It can take messages, answer routine questions, collect customer details and help schedule appointments. Upfirst estimates the cost of running one fell roughly threefold to fivefold over the past year, as OpenAI, Google and xAI added voice features or cut prices.

Interest tracks need. It rose from 32% among businesses that did not miss calls to 77% among those missing four or more a week. Many businesses use it as extra capacity, not a replacement: 16.4% of calls in the dataset included an attempt to transfer the caller to a human.

What callers want

• 80% want an AI receptionist to say it is AI at the start of the call.
• 70% are comfortable with AI answering routine questions.
• Only 15% trust AI to handle complaints.
• Only 19% of those neutral or uneasy about AI named a natural-sounding voice as a trust factor.

An earlier Upfirst analysis linked disclosing that the caller is speaking to AI with roughly 20% fewer hang-ups. The report notes this does not prove cause and effect.

What to keep in mind

The findings come from Upfirst, a company that sells this service, and reflect US users. They may not apply in every market. For a business that misses calls, the lesson is to tell callers up front that it is AI and make it easy to reach a person.