Nearly 9 out of 10 business professionals in Canada have lost out on deals or lost customers because they could not reach their customers or prospects by phone. That results in increased operational costs and lost revenue. In fact, businesses report that opportunities lost due to unanswered calls result in an average annual loss of more than CA $120,000.
Those statistics come from Hiya's State of the Call 2026 report, based on a survey of 12,000+ consumers and 3,600 business professionals across 6 countries, including Canada.
The cost of the unanswered call
When Canadian business professionals can't reach customers and prospects by phone, it hurts their business. Respondents say impacts include missed revenue goals, higher operational costs, lower agent productivity and declining customer retention as the fallout.
Here are results of some of the questions posed to Canadian business decision makers and Canadian workers who use the phone as part of their role.
Why Canadian consumers won't answer the phone
On the other end of those missed calls are consumers, most of whom say they won’t answer phone calls unless they know who is calling them. Only 12% of consumers will immediately answer an unidentified call to see who it is — meaning 88% of Canadians will ignore calls from numbers they don’t recognize. Instead, consumers are more likely to let it go to voicemail, or reject the call immediately.
So, how can businesses get through to the people they call? Eighty percent of consumers say that businesses should identify themselves in caller ID when they call. And the one piece of information that would make them more likely to answer is to see the verified business name when the phone rings.
What can Canadian businesses do?
Our survey shows that businesses want consumers to answer their calls, and consumers want businesses to identify who is calling them.
Here's the problem: most businesses have no idea how their calls actually look on a customer's screen. The same number can show the business name on one network and nothing at all on another, or get flagged as spam outright. Because most businesses have no visibility, their calling teams keep dialing, keep tweaking the pitch, and keep missing the actual issue: their calls were never set up to be recognized in the first place.
Fortunately, Hiya can show you exactly how your calls are appearing across Canadian networks, so you can fix it before it costs you another deal.
See how your calls appear across Canadian networks and devices
If the display of your calls is inconsistent across devices and networks, you should consider adding branded caller ID. Branded caller ID enables businesses to display their name, logo, and reason for the call directly on the recipient’s phone screen.
In Canada, the Rogers and Bell mobile networks partner with Hiya to bring Hiya Branded Call to subscribers. Businesses that use Branded Call must go through a vetting process, so Canadians can be assured they are being called by a legitimate business that has been verified.
Hiya’s Branded Call enables Canadian businesses to display their name and reason for the call directly on the recipient’s mobile phone screen.
Don’t let revenue slip away because your important calls are going unanswered. Learn more about Hiya Branded Call or contact one of our representatives in Canada.
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