AI Receptionist ROI Calculator

How the ROI math works

The model has four inputs and one output. Monthly inbound calls, the share that go unanswered, the share of callers who are new patients, and the first-year value of a new patient. Multiply them together and you have recovered production; subtract the flat plan cost and you have net monthly gain.

A worked example

A practice taking 600 calls a month and missing 30% loses 180 conversations. If 10% of callers are new patients, that is roughly 18 new-patient calls going to voicemail. Convert even a third of them at $1,200 first-year value and the recovered production is about $7,200 a month against a $999 plan — a payback period of under a week and a year-one return north of 600%.

Halve every assumption and the picture still holds: 9 new-patient calls, a third converted, $800 value each is $2,400 a month against $599. The model is not sensitive to optimism, which is the point of running it with your own numbers rather than ours.

Where the model can mislead you

• If your after-hours line is already staffed by a service that books into your PMS, your recoverable pool is much smaller than the raw missed-call count suggests.
• New-patient share varies widely. A practice with a mature recall base may sit closer to 5% than 10%.
• Using per-visit value instead of first-year production understates the result by roughly half — but it is the safer number to bring to a partner conversation.
• Vendors that bill per minute make the cost side variable; this model assumes a flat plan.

Related reading: the 90-day dental ROI study, what an AI receptionist actually costs, the front desk staffing cost calculator, and the full dental AI receptionist guide.