What does a missed booking really cost you?
Put in four of your own numbers: what one booking is worth, how many enquiries you think slip away each month, how many of those would have booked, and how often customers come back. The calculator shows the value at risk each month and each year, and compares it with what looking after your website costs.
Value at risk each month
$180About 1.2 customers a month, first booking only.
Your monthly estimate, compared with each plan's price
This is an estimate based only on your own numbers, not a forecast of bookings or revenue.
In one sentence: a missed booking costs you what that customer would have spent, multiplied by how often they'd have come back, and most owners never see the number because missed enquiries leave no trace.
How do I estimate how many bookings I miss?
The hard part is that a missed enquiry is invisible. Nobody writes to say "I tried to book and gave up". So instead of guessing, spend one ordinary week counting the places enquiries slip through. Then multiply by about four for a month.
| Where to look | What to count | Time it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Your phone's missed calls | Calls you didn't answer and didn't return the same day | 2 minutes a day |
| Your voicemail | Messages left after hours, or never played back | 2 minutes a day |
| Your email spam folder | Form enquiries or booking requests that landed there | 5 minutes, once |
| Your own contact form | Send a test from your phone. Did it arrive, and how fast? | 5 minutes, once |
| Your booking page, on a phone | Try to book. Count the steps. Did anything break or confuse you? | 5 minutes, once |
| Your Google listing | Are your hours, phone number and website link right today? | 2 minutes, once |
| New customers | Ask: "Did you have any trouble getting hold of us?" | One question each |
What percentage would really have booked?
Be honest and a little cautious. Think about your last 10 enquiries and count how many became paying customers. That's your own rate, and it's better than any average. If you don't know, start with 30%, then try a lower and a higher number to see how much it changes the answer.
Leave out spam, sales calls and people who were never going to buy. The calculator is only useful if the numbers going in are real.
Why do return visits matter so much?
A one-off job, like a wedding shoot, is worth one booking. But many businesses live on regulars: a dog groomer's clients, a physio patient on a course of sessions, a family that comes back to the same farm stay every summer. When one of those people gives up on your website, you don't just lose a booking. You lose every visit after it. That's why the calculator shows a yearly figure that counts return visits.
How the numbers add up for a small trade business.
Take Harbour Lane Plumbing, a small local plumbing firm. The owner checks for one week and finds three things: two after-hours calls that were never returned, a quote form that had been landing in spam, and a Google listing still showing winter hours.
Counted over a month, that's about 6 missed enquiries. If 30% would have booked an average $300 job, that's 1.8 jobs, or $540 a month at risk. Over a year, $6,480. Fixing the form and the hours is quick, and a plan keeps watching so problems like these are caught early.
- The numbers are the owner's, not ours
- Plumbing jobs are often one-off, so return visits stay at 1
- Even at half these numbers, Keep passes the fit test
Names and numbers changed for illustration.
The fit test: would losing one booking a month cost more than our fee?
If yes, looking after your website is likely worth it. If one booking is worth less than $100 and you rarely miss any, a plan may not pay for itself in bookings alone, and we'd rather you knew that before you start.
Keep
$100 / month
For owners who want someone keeping watch on their site.
- Regular checks and backups
- Forms tested regularly
- Your enquiries, by name, in your weekly note
Grow Recommended
$250 / month
For owners who want more of the people who find them to call or book.
- Everything in Keep
- Fixes where visitors give up
- Where enquiries get lost, found and shown to you
Full Care
$500 / month
For owners who want small improvements that add up.
- Everything in Grow
- Review requests to your customers
- Past-customer invites
No setup fee. Month to month.
What this calculator can't tell you.
It turns your guesses into a number. That's useful, but it's still your guesses. Here's how to read the result.
It's an estimate, not a forecast
The result is only as good as the numbers you put in. It shows what may be at risk, not what you'll win back.
Missed isn't always lost
Some people try again or call back. Others book with the next name on the list. The booking rate you choose is how you allow for that.
The real number needs a look
The quickest way to know what's leaking is to check your forms, buttons, listing and booking page properly. That's exactly what your first fix does.
Questions about missed bookings.
Something else? Ask in the chat, email hello@penguina.website or WhatsApp us.
Do you save the numbers I type in?
No. The calculator works entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or stored anywhere.
I have no idea how many bookings I miss. What should I enter?
Start with a cautious guess, such as 1 or 2. Then spend a week counting missed calls, voicemails and spam-folder enquiries, as described above, and come back with a real number.
Should I use my price or my profit?
Either works, as long as you're clear which. Your price shows what you'd have taken in. Your profit is more cautious and shows what you'd actually have kept. If profit still passes the fit test, the answer is clear.
If I sign up, will you get me these bookings back?
That depends on your season, prices and area too. What we do is the work: we test your forms regularly, keep watch on your site, and on Grow, find and fix the places visitors give up. Then we count the enquiries we can see and show you the trend.
Why is the default 30%?
It's a cautious starting point we chose so the result isn't inflated. It isn't an industry average. Your own rate, from your last 10 enquiries, is always better.
What usually causes missed bookings on a website?
The ones we see most: a contact form that stopped sending or lands in spam, a call button that doesn't work on phones, a booking page that's confusing on a small screen, and wrong hours or an old phone number on Google. Read fixes where visitors give up for more.
What about calls I miss while I'm working?
They count too, and for many trades they're the biggest leak. Count them in the calculator. If they're a big number for you, our missed-call text-back add-on texts each caller you couldn't answer. It's priced on request, after your first fix.
Not sure where to start? Send us your website.
We look at it the way a customer would, find up to 3 real problems, and fix one of them free. No call needed.