What are Answer Rates on Sales Calls & Why Do They Matter?

Summary:

• High answer rates mean more live conversations, which significantly increase lead value and sales opportunities.
• Several factors can impact answer rates, including spam/scam flags, the quality of the dialing software, the originating carrier, lead quality, and timing of your calls.
• It's essential to monitor answer rates over time and across teams, networks, and lead sources to understand variations and optimize your outreach strategy.
• Strategies to improve answer rates include using reputable dialing software, ensuring proper caller ID, maintaining lead quality, and understanding the timing of your calls.

Answer Rates are a Critical KPI

When you engage a contact in a live conversation, their lead value skyrockets. This means answer rates should be a top priority for your sales team. 

But getting contacts on the phone is increasingly challenging. Too many of the leads businesses invest time and money into end up unreachable, and sales leaders hear, “I’m not having enough conversations” more often than ever before.

We’re here to help by explaining why answer rates matter and how you can boost them for your sales team. Our dialing software has numerous features to improve your live answer rates—including a Tier 1 carrier, ARMOR® number monitoring, spam remediation, answer rate optimization, and more.

Want to reach more contacts and generate more positive outcomes?

This is your guide. Let’s dive in.

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What Are Answer Rates?

Answer rates (also called contact rates or live answer rates) are the number of phone calls resulting in a live conversation divided by the number of phone calls made. If you make 100 calls and speak to 12 people, your answer rate is 12%.

But answer rates should not be confused with “connection rates”—a similar metric that includes voicemails, email, and other methods in which a connection with a contact was made.

While connections via voicemail or email have value, they pale in comparison to quality live conversations. Accordingly, while they may be an important metric for call centers and teams to monitor, at PhoneBurner we are laser-focused on live answer rates.

And you should be too.

How Much Do Answer Rates Matter?

Imagine you have a list of 1000 phone leads for your software business. You evenly divide the leads between your top 2 sales reps with the goal of generating as many appointments as possible.

After a day, you check in.

Rep 1: “I got 10 people on the phone and booked 2 appointments.”

Rep 2: “I had 4 conversations, and booked 1.”

Context Is Everything

If you don’t consider answer rates, it looks like rep 1 is outperforming rep 2. But if rep 1 burned through 300 people to get those 2 appointments while rep 2 only called 30 to book their 1, rep 2 is on pace to generate many more opportunities from their 500 leads. That’s why answer rates are a valuable metric.

Take it one step further: what if Rep 1’s use of a parallel dialer resulted in more hangups and number blocks? Would the extra appointment booked on day 1 offset the cost of the leads they had burned in the process? Probably not.

Learn More: Auto Dialer vs Power Dialer: The Difference and Obvious Choice

We see this exact scenario playing out across the industry. Many organizations “zoom in” and prioritize day-to-day metrics like call volume and daily connections. In doing so, they fail to see the wasted lead spend, and loss of revenue potential that answer rates keep in focus.

Would you rather get through calls faster? Or have more conversations overall?

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‍Part 1: Factors Influencing Answer Rates

Even if you’re an experienced sales leader or outreach professional, you may not realize how many factors play a role in whether or not your call gets answered. Here’s a quick overview of the main ones:

Spam/Scam Flags

Spam and scam flags have a major influence on answer rates, because people don’t typically want to answer spam calls. But why are your calls being flagged as spam?

Related: Why You’re Marked Scam Likely, and How to Fight Back [CHECKLIST]

The answer is complex. Each carrier and app employs a different algorithm to apply and remove flags, so a number can be flagged on one carrier or app, and not another.

Unfortunately, legitimate sales calls inadvertently get caught in the crossfire, mislabeled as potential spam or scam by wary recipients or automated filtering systems. This drives your answer rates down.

But if you’re thinking “Just toss the number and get a new one,” think again. This tactic, often abused by scammers, is a common reason why brand new numbers are often flagged at the outset. Remember: carriers favor numbers with an established call history and positive reputation signals.

That means you need to reduce your risk of being flagged. It directly impacts your ability to establish genuine connections and foster meaningful conversations with potential customers.

Dialer Software

A common myth around sales outreach is that dialer software doesn’t impact answer rates. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Dialer differences can also impact answer rates because carriers weigh analytics related to call frequency, duration, and consistency to identify patterns indicative of nuisance calls. They then adjust their call blocking and filtering mechanisms accordingly.

Risk Factors for Dialer Software

• Dropping or abandoning calls (when an agent is unavailable)
• Creating an awkward pause that results in hangups or “short duration” calls
• Causing inconsistent or unnatural call frequency patterns

Using a Reputable Dialing Platform

The right dialer software can help you maintain favorable call behavior analytics, reducing your risk of being blocked by recipients or filtered out by carrier algorithms before you can engage your prospect. In turn, this increases your call deliverability and improves your overall answer rates.

Learn More: How PhoneBurner ARMOR® Boosts Connect Rates

Originating Carrier

The originating carrier of your phone calls also influences answer rates, with notable disparities between Tier 1 carriers and interconnect carriers.

Learn More: What is a Tier 1 Carrier (& Why Does it Matter for Sales Calls)?

Tier 1 Carriers At a Glance

Tier 1 carriers have several advantages that improve call deliverability and lead to higher answer rates. These include:

• Better infrastructure and network reliability
• Direct connections to other major carriers for priority call routing
• Reduced risk of spam flags due to enhanced reputation
• Improved call quality

Interconnect Carriers At a Glance

These carriers serve as intermediaries between smaller carriers and the larger telecommunications network. Because they are less regulated and trusted, interconnect traffic is lower priority and may encounter challenges related to routing efficiency and network congestion.

Some of the downsides for sales reps are:

• Reduced call deliverability
• Increased risk of spam or scam flags

All of this can leave you with lower answer rates at the end of the day.

Place Your Calls from a Tier 1 Carrier

PhoneBurner is the only dialer software with a Tier 1 carrier—an accomplishment we are very proud of and worked hard to earn. This means that using our dialing platform gives you an edge when it comes to improving your answer rates over other dialing platforms that use interconnect carriers.

Lead Quality

It should be no surprise that the quality of your leads influences how likely they are to pick up the phone.

But quality depends on a lot of factors. While some are obvious, others will surprise you—and what you perceive as high quality may actually be far from it.

Here’s what to consider from a lead quality standpoint to drive higher call engagement.

Consent

You need to have proper consent from those you contact—as a matter of both phone sales ethics and compliance. But there’s a sales argument as well: contacts who express interest are far more likely to answer calls and engage with sales reps.

Cold or bulk lead lists, on the other hand, aren’t just less likely to answer—they’re more likely to block and report your numbers, or simply hang up, which signals to carriers that your calls are a nuisance. Beware of the impact this has on your number reputation and risk of being flagged.

Recency

Fresher leads answer the phone with greater frequency—often by a significant margin. By implementing smart lead distribution processes you can reduce speed-to-lead, and increase live connections.

LeadStream is PhoneBurner’s built-in lead distribution software, which intelligently and automatically routes leads so reps can work them efficiently. It also redistributes unworked leads to ensure they don’t go cold.

‍Familiarity

The more familiar a contact is with your brand, the more inclined they are to pick up the phone when you call.

A multi-channel approach that leverages voicemails, email, SMS, website retargeting and/or social connections can complement your multi-touch call cadence, increasing familiarity and improving your live answer rates. PhoneBurner’s workflow automations let you send follow-up texts or emails in a single click so you can maintain more points of contact.

‍Identity Validation

Ever wonder how many numbers on your list are outdated, inaccurate, or disconnected?

Did you know that many inactive numbers become “honeypots”—used by carriers to track and ensnare spam callers? Some businesses we speak to are shocked to learn how many bad/wrong numbers they call, the time this wastes, and how it impacts answer rates and number reputation.

Validate your contact data. Keep contact lists clean and updated. Track answer rates by lead source. You need to be able to trust your data. PhoneBurner’s 200+ CRM integrations can help.

Calling Days & Times

It’s no surprise that call answer rates vary by time of day and day of the week (Tuesday FTW)! Our data even shows that more calls are answered at the beginning of the month than at the end.

Of course, every business is different. You can gain an edge by tracking your own results and building processes around when answer rates are highest for you.

Related: PhoneBurner’s Call Statistics Report

Caller ID Considerations

Both the number and name that display when you place calls can affect your answer rates. There are several strategies you can employ to enhance credibility and influence pickups.

• CNAM registration and more modern Branded Caller ID solutions give you control over the name that displays when you make calls. This can pay big dividends, especially when calling contacts who are familiar with your brand or expecting your calls.
• Local Presence can also have an impact by displaying familiar area codes that may instill a sense of familiarity and trust among recipients.

That said, you want to avoid neighborhood spoofing—a tactic employed by spammers in which a Caller ID closely resembles the number of the call recipient. This can destroy the benefit derived from using local numbers. Using Local Presence with the intent to deceive by suggesting a business presence where one does not actually exist can also run you afoul of the Truth in Caller ID act.

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Part 2: Measuring & Interpreting Answer Rates

Measuring answer rates is easy enough—just divide the number of calls answered live by the number of calls placed.

But monitoring and interpreting answer rates isn’t as simple as that might suggest. Here’s why, along with how you can see the full picture.

Answer Rates are Dynamic

Answer rates are not a static metric. They vary significantly over time, even day-to-day. A critical component of your outreach strategy should be to monitor your rates over time, so you can quickly address and adjust to changes—both positive and negative.

Variations Across Your Team

Measuring overall answer rates is helpful. But knowing how answer rates vary across your team of SDRs/BDRs is critical too.

Low answer rates can be a signal that a rep is engaging in practices that damage number reputation (e.g. double/triple dialing), calling low-quality leads, or intentionally avoiding conversations.

By tracking across your team, you can fix what’s broken, double-down on what’s working and build a long term strategy for success. PhoneBurner’s reporting tools can help by giving you details on the performance of each agent and your team as a whole.

Variations By Network

Answer rates can vary dramatically between carrier networks. Since each network (e.g. Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T) uses different algorithms, your number(s) may be flagged on one network but not another.

Carefully consider the different answer rates between carriers when choosing dialing software. This can help you avoid issues and make it easier to remediate in a way that reduces the risk of future flags.

Variations by Lead Source

By analyzing answer rates based on the origin of leads, you can identify which sources yield the highest engagement and conversion rates—and which are riddled with bad or outdated data.

Tracking answer rates by lead source is invaluable for discerning the most effective channels and optimizing resource allocation in sales efforts.

Live Voicemail Considerations

Apple’s game-changing Live Voicemail feature—essentially a modern-day call screening tool—transcribes voicemail messages in real-time and lets iPhone users answer your call mid-message.

PhoneBurner has been educating sales teams on the opportunities and implications of Live Voicemail even before it was released.

Related: Turn Live Voicemail Into Conversations

Our experts have recently uncovered an unexpected twist: as Live Voicemail is a live, on-device feature, some 3rd party tracking softwares inaccurately register these instances as answered calls.

This discrepancy can distort the true effectiveness of your sales outreach efforts, tricking you into thinking your answer rates are higher than they actually are. Look out for this in your reporting!

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Part 3: Strategies to Improve Answer Rates

Now that you understand the importance of answer rates, the factors that influence them, and how to monitor them, you’re probably wondering how to improve them.

We’ve provided some tips above for boosting live answer rates with our dialing software and its built-in tools. But there’s much more you can learn about avoiding spam/scam flags, improving number reputation, and ultimately getting those answer rates up.

Here are a few articles you should read next if you want to level up your answer rates:

Related:

• Why are My Calls Marked as Spam?
• How to Improve Your Live Answer Rates
• Done-for-you Spam Protection & Answer Rate Optimization

Better Answer Rates Mean More Sales Success

It’s hard to overstate the importance of answer rates on sales success. More live answers mean more:

• Conversations
• Talk time
• Meetings set
• Deals won
• Revenue generated

On the flipside, unanswered calls result in:

• Lost opportunities
• Wasted lead spend
• Time on remediation, not calling
• Agent inefficiency and layoffs

Clearly, answer rates are too important not to have a plan.

With PhoneBurner as your partner, you have a platform built for high answer rates and call engagement, along with the industry’s most experienced team of answer rate experts.

Trial or demo our software to learn how we can help you get more contacts on the phone, and have more meaningful conversations.