Research Note CA-2026-02
What does one successful outcome cost on an AI voice agent?
881 validated qualified leads against $16,638 of platform spend across three anonymised outbound tenants — $18.89 blended, with individual tenants ranging from $17.11 to $44.43.
Published · Measured 11 – 17 August 2026
$18.89
Measured — published methodThe blended platform cost of one qualified lead produced by a CallableAI AI Voice Agent — 881 validated outcomes against $16,638 of platform spend across three outbound tenants in one week. Individual tenants ranged from $17.11 to $44.43.
Measured 11 – 17 August 2026
Method
- Three anonymised outbound tenants, all fully live and calling for the whole seven-day window (Australia/Brisbane). A seven-day window was chosen so no tenant is charged for days it was not operating, and every figure reflects steady-state production rather than ramp-up.
- A success is each tenant's single configured primary outcome — for all three in this window, a qualified lead handed to the client. It counts once, only when the post-call extractor classifies it as that outcome and the record survives the platform's required-field validation gate.
- Not counted: connected conversations, positive sentiment, callbacks, dropped transfers, or any secondary outcome. This is the strictest available definition, which makes it a conservative denominator.
- Cost basis is the contracted monthly platform fee apportioned at 7/30 of a month, with no discount, credit or ramp allowance applied.
- Across the window: 334,593 dials, 50,273 connected conversations of 25 seconds or longer, 1,368 hours of agent talk time, and 881 validated successes.
Cost per qualified lead, by tenant
| Tenant | Sector | Successes | Platform cost (7d) | Cost per lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Superannuation | 818 | $14,000 | $17.11 |
| B | Residential solar | 21 | $772 | $36.78 |
| C | Financial services | 42 | $1,866 | $44.43 |
| Combined | — | 881 | $16,638 | $18.89 |
The spread is the finding — contact rate varies more than price
| Tenant | Dials | Connected (25s+) | Contact rate | Leads per 100 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 317,429 | 43,451 | 14% | 1.88 |
| B | 8,068 | 1,488 | 18% | 1.41 |
| C | 9,096 | 5,334 | 59% | 0.79 |
What this number does not say
- Platform cost only. The denominator excludes list acquisition, human follow-up, CRM licences and any commission on closed business. A full cost-per-acquisition figure would be higher for every tenant.
- An outcome is a qualified lead, not a closed sale. Downstream close rates differ by sector and are outside this dataset, so these figures cannot be read as cost per customer.
- One week, three tenants. The window removes ramp-up distortion but is more exposed to weekly variance than a monthly one, especially for the two smaller tenants whose outcome counts are in the tens. Over the preceding 30 days the same three tenants blended to $22.38 per outcome — the weekly figure is not an outlier in aggregate, but individual tenants move.
- These are managed contracts at $3,310 to $60,000 a month, not entry-level subscriptions. Cost per outcome is not a function of contract size — read the contact-rate table, not the contract size.
- Outcomes are assigned by an automated extractor with a validation gate that fails closed: calls lacking captured qualifying data are downgraded out of the success count. Residual error therefore biases the success count down and the cost per outcome up.
Cite this
Research Note CA-2026-02 (PDF, 4 pages)Callable AI (2026). What does one successful outcome cost on an AI voice agent? Seven days of continuous production calling across three anonymised outbound tenants. Research Note CA-2026-02, 17 August 2026.
14% – 59%
Measured — published methodThe share of dials that became a connected conversation of 25 seconds or longer, across three outbound tenants in one week. The spread is driven by list quality and offer, not by the platform.
Measured 11 – 17 August 2026
Method
- Counted from the same window and the same three tenants as the cost-per-outcome study: 50,273 connected conversations from 334,593 dials, or 15% blended.
- A connected conversation is a call of 25 seconds or longer — the threshold at which a two-way exchange has occurred, rather than a ring-out or an immediate hang-up.
What this number does not say
- This is not an industry benchmark. Three tenants in one week in three sectors is enough to show that the spread exists and is large; it is not enough to tell you what your own list will do.
- A higher contact rate does not mean a lower cost per lead. The tenant with the best contact rate in this set (59%) had the worst cost per outcome ($44.43), because it converted the smallest share of the conversations it won.
Cite this note
Callable AI (2026). What does one successful outcome cost on an AI voice agent? Seven days of continuous production calling across three anonymised outbound tenants. Research Note CA-2026-02, 17 August 2026.
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