What are Abandoned Calls?

Introduction

Did you know that nearly 1 in every 5 calls to businesses ends up being abandoned before a conversation even begins? That’s 20% of potential customers walking away and often without ever getting their questions answered or issues resolved. But what exactly does an “abandoned call” mean, and why should it matter to your business? 

Let us break down how and why they happen and what you can do to reduce them in this insightful blog post.

What are Abandoned Calls?

Abandoned calls are those that are disconnected by the caller before reaching or connecting with the agent. The call may have been abandoned by the caller due to excessive wait time in the queue or due to a connection error. An abandoned call may also be referred to as an abandoned contact. 

Both inbound calls and outbound calls can be abandoned.

Outbound calls can be abandoned due to no agent being available at the time, and the ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) dropping the call. Inbound calls are generally abandoned due to the caller being frustrated with the excessive wait time. 

What is the difference between a missed call and an abandoned call?

An abandoned call is disconnected or ‘abandoned’ by the caller while it is ringing. In other words, abandoned calls are those that do not achieve the stage of ‘talking’ or ‘voicemail’. A missed call, on the other hand, is when the call is not answered by the agent. The call may have been deliberately missed by the agent as he/she was busy with another call. Other scenarios of a missed call are : 

• Call initially answered by an agent, then transferred to another agent who did not attend the call. 
• Call disconnected by the caller while it was routed to voicemail

Missed call vs. Abandoned call

Missed Call	Abandoned Call
Call not attended by the agent	Call dropped by the caller usually owing to long waiting time in the queue.
Call disconnected by the caller after being routed to voicemail by the IVR after a wait time in the queue.	Call dropped by the caller usually owing to a long waiting time in the queue.
Call willingly dropped by either the agent or the caller	Call willingly dropped by the caller or dropped due to technical issues

Some Important Abandoned Calls Metrics

Call Abandon Rates

Call abandonment rate is the measure of the percentage of customers who terminate their calls before it is answered. This metric closely relates to Customer Satisfaction metrics and Service Level KPI

Looking into these abandoned rates can help you identify patterns in your call center that you can fix through staffing or technical solutions.

Call abandonment rate is also called a lost call. Lost calls include missed calls, abandoned calls, and dropped calls. Missed calls are those that are not even picked up by the Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) due to agents being completely occupied. Dropped calls are calls that are disconnected by the centre due to some technical/network issues.

The call abandonment rate is calculated by the following formula – 

Call Abandon Rate (%) = (No. of calls offered – No.of calls handled )/No. of calls offered X 100

Example:

You receive 100 calls in one hour. Of those calls, 20 people hang up before speaking to an agent, so your abandonment rate for the last hour has been 20%.; 

Abandon Time 

Abandon time is a metric that measures the amount of time it took the caller to disconnect the call before connecting with an agent. They are usually in the queue and are being greeted by an IVR recording. 

Calls that have been in the IVR for only a short period are usually filtered out from abandoned calls
These calls are very short and are probably dialled by the caller by accident. These calls are called Short Abandons or Abandoned Short Calls. 

What are the reasons for abandoned calls?

The reasons for abandoned calls can be divided into different stages. These are:- 

The different stages of call abandonment 

• IVR – Here, the calls are abandoned by the caller as they reach the IVR. This may be due to long IVR greeting messages or a dislike on the caller’s side of being greeted by the recording.
• Call Queue – Calls are abandoned when the caller receives the welcome message of a particular call queue. If by any chance the IVR message isn’t in sync with the IVR option selected by the caller or if the welcome message is too long, the call can be abandoned.
• Wait queue – Calls are abandoned in the wait queue if it takes the caller a long time to be connected to the agent.
• Ringing – Calls can be abandoned by the caller while ringing to the agent if the agent doesn’t pick up the call on time.
• Voicemail – Calls are often abandoned because the caller did not wish to hear a voicemail recording. This could be due to a lengthy message, an irrelevant prompt, or simply the caller’s preference for real-time interaction. In such cases, voicemail transcription software can help by converting voicemail into text, allowing your team to quickly scan and respond to messages without missing out on potential leads or important information.

Here’s a quick video on 3 essential things to know about voicemail transcription:

Ways to Predict Call Abandon Rates

• Erlang A Formula – This formula was coined by Swedish Mathematician Conny Palm in 1946. According to high call volume, caller patience, and no. of staff available, the no. of calls abandoned can be predicted. This can be calculated using the Erlang Calculator. 
• Based on Service Level – Assessment of the relationships of abandon rates with queue times and service level will help predict call abandon rates. 

What is the maximum abandonment rate allowed by TCPA?

The maximum abandoned rate allowed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act is 3%. Of all the incoming calls in 30 days, only 3% calls can be ‘abandoned’. This is the call abandonment rule.

How to avoid abandoned calls?

To start off, to identify the call abandonment rates, you need to identify your call center’s best and worst service level operations. Make sure you take a note of abandoned rates at each level. 

Then, make a note of the service level and abandonment rate during each thirty-minute reporting period over the past couple of weeks.

Next, you want to find the correlation between the service level and the abandonment rate. Based on these 2 measures and the correlation found, now you can plot a graph. 

Based on this graph, you will be able to predict call abandonments when operating at a certain service level.

For example, if the graph above represented the old data from a contact center, and it was operating at a 70% service level (10% below the industry standard), we could predict that the contact center was losing over 3% of callers who were phoning in.

While the solution you opt for will be highly subjective based on the data you collect, here are a few common ways to reduce abandoned calls for your business–

Ways to reduce call abandon rates

Here are a few practical strategies that can help lower your call abandonment rates and keep your customers engaged-

Use an AI Receptionist – Instead of relying solely on human agents, an AI-powered receptionist for small businesses can handle multiple calls simultaneously, answer common queries, route calls efficiently, and reduce wait times drastically. This not only keeps callers engaged but also filters out calls that don’t need human intervention, allowing your team to focus on high-priority conversations.

Optimize Your Welcome Message – First impressions matter. A concise, relevant, and reassuring welcome message can prevent early hang-ups. Avoid repetitive phrases like “your call is important to us” and instead provide clear expectations about wait time or options available. Even better—personalize the message based on the time of day or caller type if possible.

Use Smart Call Routing – Directing callers to the right department or agent based on their inputs or previous interactions can save time and reduce frustration. Intelligent call routing ensures that customers aren’t stuck navigating a maze of options or waiting to be transferred repeatedly—two common reasons for call abandonment

Send Real-Time Queue Updates via SMS – If wait times are longer than usual, offer callers the option to receive an SMS update on their estimated wait time or position in the queue. This proactive approach keeps them informed, gives them the freedom to hang up without losing their place, and reduces the likelihood of drop-offs.
Watch how Emitrr AI agent Sarah makes texting effortless –

Integrate AI Chatbots for Instant Support – Many callers abandon calls when they’re simply looking for quick answers, such as tracking an order, checking store hours, or resolving a basic issue. By integrating an AI chatbot for business on your website or mobile app, you offer customers instant, round-the-clock assistance without the need to call. This reduces pressure on your phone lines while improving the user experience with fast, automated support.

How Emitrr Makes Sure You Never Miss a Call Again

Missed or abandoned calls don’t have to mean lost business.

With Emitrr, you can smartly and efficiently handle every call, even the ones you can’t answer.
Here’s how: 

Whenever you receive a call that you are not able to attend, Emitrr’s Backup receptionist quickly sends that customer a text message. (Why text message? Well, text messaging has a whopping 98% open rate, and studies have shown that customers prefer texting. You can read more about text message marketing and its benefits  here.)

It then engages in intelligent conversation with the caller. This technology is AI-powered and can handle all customer queries and needs. You can be assured that all your callers are attended to and that their needs have been heard. 

Read our case study of ‘Dr. Mary Tilak and associates, who faced a similar problem with missed and abandoned calls and were able to save $390,000 in revenue just by converting these missed calls into text conversations.

FAQs

Conclusion

Abandoned Calls negatively impact any business, from customer perception to actual potential leads. Abandoned Calls are a problem that needs to be addressed to maintain brand reputation and customer loyalty

Capturing relevant data is always the first step to make an informed choice on the solution you wish to implement. Some new-age solutions like the one discussed above can help you address the problem at its root and automate your business operations. Book a demo with Emitrr and see how it can work for your business.