AI cold calling: how to work out your cost per lead
The price per minute is one of five numbers. Here is the formula, an example with made-up numbers, and how to get your real ones cheaply.
By the FoxEra Calls team. Published 4 October 2026.
The formula
For outbound AI calling, the cost of an interested conversation comes from five numbers, and only one of them is the price per minute:
cost per interested contact = (contacts called × share answered × average minutes per answered call × price per minute) ÷ interested contacts
At FoxEra the price per minute is 21p per connected minute, including the AI agent, dialling, transcription, CRM logging and recording. The other four numbers are yours: they depend on your list, your offer and your sector.
A worked example (made-up numbers, not results)
| Input | Example value |
|---|---|
| Contacts called | 200 |
| Share answered | 30% (60 answered calls) |
| Average minutes per answered call | 1.5 |
| Price per connected minute | 21p |
| Calling cost | 60 × 1.5 × £0.21 = £18.90 |
| Interested contacts | 4 |
| Cost per interested contact | £18.90 ÷ 4 = £4.73 |
Change any input and the answer moves a lot. That is the point: run a small first campaign, read the real numbers in the campaign report, and only then decide on a budget. Try your own inputs in the AI calling cost calculator.
Add the costs around the call
- Finding the list: FoxEra’s own business database is free; Google Maps searches, web searches and owner-mobile lookups use credit at list price.
- Screening UK numbers against the TPS and CTPS (1.4p per UK number with FoxEra’s check, or a TPS licence of your own).
- Your time following up the interested contacts. That is where the money is made or lost.
What a first campaign should aim for
Not a sale. A first campaign tells you the answer rate, how long people stay on the phone and which opening keeps them there. We wrote about what a first campaign should aim for separately.
Where to find your real numbers
After a first campaign, the campaign report in FoxEra shows who was called and who was not (and why), the answer rate, outcomes, talk time, cost and every call with its recording. Those are the inputs to the formula above, from your own list. Call quality adds where calls lost people, which tells you what to change before the next campaign.
Three ways to lower the cost per lead that are not the price
- A better list. Calling the right type of business in the right towns raises the share of answered calls that are worth having.
- A better first line. If most calls end in the first sentence, the minutes are cheap and the leads are few. Change the opening, not the budget.
- Faster follow-up. Ring interested people back the same day, while they still remember the call. Warm calls exist for this.
Frequently asked questions
How much does AI cold calling cost per minute with FoxEra?
21p per connected minute, with the agent, dialling, transcription, CRM logging and recording included.
What is a good cost per lead?
It depends on what a customer is worth to you. Work out your own from a small first campaign rather than trusting an average.