Research & Sources

1. Missed calls in salons & day spas

• A 2025 call‑volume study of the U.S. salon and spa industry (Booking Bee) analyzed roughly 7.9 billion inbound calls and found that about 1.9 billion went unanswered, implying around 24% of calls are missed on average.^[1]
• An Australian small‑business telephony report focusing on industries including hairdressers and beauty salons found that these businesses miss approximately 22% of incoming calls.^[2]
• A salon‑operations consultancy notes that small and mid‑sized salons “may miss up to 22% of incoming calls,” often equating to hundreds of missed calls per month per location.^[3]
• Some vendor datasets report higher figures:
  • One 2026 AI/salon‑software provider claims that “62% of salon calls go unanswered” and that around 85% of those callers never call back.^[4]
  • A 2026 salon answering‑service article cites internal data suggesting 74.1% of salon calls go unanswered, linking this to more than $60,000 per year in lost bookings for a typical salon.^[5]

Summary: Independent telecom and industry studies suggest that salons and day spas miss roughly 22–25% of inbound calls, while some vendor‑reported datasets for struggling locations show much higher rates.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

2. Missed calls in med spas / aesthetic clinics

• A 2025 med‑spa operations discussion summarising current data and owner feedback reports that “30–50% of patient calls in med spas go unanswered.”^[6]
• A 2026 med‑spa calling experiment (127 med spas sampled) found that most calls either went to voicemail, stayed on hold for long periods, or were mishandled, and that only about 9% of calls resulted in a same‑call booked appointment, implying that the vast majority of calls are not successfully handled on the first attempt.^[7]

Summary: Med‑spa focused research indicates that around 30–50% of patient calls go unanswered, and only a small fraction convert to a booked appointment on the first try.^[6][7]

3. After‑hours calls & voicemail behaviour

• A 2026 salon article on missed calls reports that 46–60% of booking activity for salons happens when the business is closed (evenings, early mornings, weekends).^[4]
• A 2026 salon answering‑service provider similarly notes that around 60% of salon appointment bookings and changes occur outside normal business hours.^[5]
• The same salon research finds that only about 20% of callers leave a voicemail when they hit an after‑hours greeting, meaning roughly 80% of after‑hours callers hang up without leaving a message.^[4]
• A 2026 med‑spa revenue article states that “statistics show that 80% of callers hang up when they are sent to voicemail,” highlighting how dependent many clinics are on live or AI answering to capture after‑hours demand.^[8]

Summary: Phones in most salons and med spas are unattended after closing, so nearly 100% of after‑hours calls are initially “missed” or sent to voicemail, and around 80% of those callers abandon the call instead of leaving a message.^[4][8][5]

4. Overall picture

• Salons and day spas typically miss around one in four inbound calls, with some locations performing much worse.
• Med spas often miss between one in three and one in two patient calls, and only a small share turn into booked appointments on the first attempt.
• Across both sectors, roughly half or more of booking attempts happen when the business is closed, and around 80% of callers who reach voicemail after hours hang up rather than leaving a message.

References

1. Booking Bee – US Salon & Spa Industry Call Volume Research Report (2025). https://bookingbee.ai/call-volume-dynamics-usa-salon-spa-industry/
2. Autopilot Genie – Missed Calls Are Costing Australian Businesses Billions (2025). Hairdresser/beauty‑salon segment. https://www.autopilotgenie.com/blog/missed-calls-are-costing-australian-businesses-billions
3. Salons Connect – No missed calls! (2025). https://salons-connect.com/no-missed-calls/
4. Adminif.ai – 62% of Salon Calls Go Unanswered — Here’s What It’s Costing You (2026). https://adminif.ai/blog/salon-missed-calls-cost
5. NextPhone – Salon Answering Service: Fill Your Appointment Book 24/7 (2026). https://www.getnextphone.com/blog/salon-answering-service
6. Reddit / MedSpaClientCapture – 30–50% of patient calls in med spas go unanswered. How do you handle this? (2025). https://www.reddit.com/r/MedSpaClientCapture/comments/1nx5oab/3050_of_patient_calls_in_med_spas_go_unanswered/
7. LinkedIn – Sidra Khan, I called 127 med spas last week — here’s what happened (2026). https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sidrakhan93_i-called-127-med-spas-last-week-heres-activity-7431694802989232128-V6YS
8. Asisto – After‑Hours Bookings Is Costing Med Spas Thousands — Here’s What To Do About It (2026). https://www.asisto.one/blog/after-hours-bookings-is-costing-med-spas-thousands-heres-what-to-do-about-it