Short answer: a missed call service is a phone number that rejects every call on purpose. The caller hears a busy tone, the call ends at once, the caller pays nothing, and the service records who called and when. You get a list of interested people without anyone having to answer a phone, fill a form or install an app.
Get a Missed Call Number and start capturing callers once your KYC is approved.
How a Missed Call Service Works
The flow is the same for every provider. On Edesy it looks like this:
- You get a number. You buy an Indian virtual number in the portal and switch on missed-call routing. Numbers bought from the missed-call portal are switched on automatically.
- You publish it. "Give a missed call on 9XXXXXXXXX" goes on the ad, hoarding, pack, poster or TV slot.
- Someone dials. The call is rejected before it is answered. The caller hears a busy tone and is not charged.
- The caller is captured. The platform logs the caller's number (normalised to +91 format), the time, and which of your numbers they called.
- The lead reaches you. It appears in the dashboard log, can be downloaded as CSV, and can be pushed in real time to your CRM, website or sheet through a webhook.
That is the whole product. Everything clever happens after step 5: who calls the person back, what message they get, and how fast.
A deeper technical walkthrough is on how a missed call service works.
Why Businesses Use Missed Calls Instead of Forms
A missed call is the lowest-effort response you can ask of a customer:
| Response method | What the customer must do | Who can do it |
|---|---|---|
| Missed call | Dial and hang up | Anyone with any phone |
| SMS keyword | Type a keyword, send, often pay for the SMS | Literate, comfortable with typing |
| Web form | Open a link, type name and number | Smartphone and data connection |
| WhatsApp message | Have WhatsApp, open chat, type | Smartphone users |
| Answered call | Talk to someone, wait in queue | Anyone, but it takes time |
Because nothing has to be typed or read, a missed call works in every language and on every handset. That makes it a natural fit for campaigns aimed at rural India, first-time phone users and audiences who do not trust links.
The trade-off is that you get only a phone number and a time. No name (unless the network sends one), no address, no message. A missed call tells you someone is interested; your follow-up has to do the rest.
What You Get on the Business Side
A modern missed call service is mostly a data pipe. On Edesy, these are live today:
| Capability | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Auto-reject with busy tone | Callers never pay for the call |
| Real-time caller capture | Number and time logged the moment they dial |
| Multiple numbers | One number per campaign, ad, store or region, so you can compare them |
| Dashboard | Total calls, unique callers, today, a per-day chart, per-number stats |
| Search and filter | By number, caller, date range and delivery status |
| CSV export | Every lead as a spreadsheet, up to 1M rows, no webhook needed |
| Signed webhook | A call.missed JSON event to your system, HMAC-SHA256 signed, retried 6 times over about 15 minutes |
| REST API | List, summary, export and number endpoints at https://voice-api.edesy.in/v1 |
| Team access | Invite teammates with roles |
| CRM destination | Send every missed call to Edesy CRM (free plan available) as a lead |
If a webhook delivery fails after every retry, you are not charged for that event.
What a missed call service does not do by itself is talk back to the caller. SMS or WhatsApp auto-replies and automatic callbacks are add-ons. On Edesy they are available on request: we set them up for your account quickly, but they are not part of the self-serve product or the listed price.
How Much a Missed Call Service Costs
Pricing in India usually has two parts: a number rental and a per-event charge. Typical retail pricing sits around ₹0.20 to ₹0.50 per captured event, plus rental.
Edesy pricing (all plus 18% GST):
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | ₹499/month per number + ₹0.30 per event delivered to your webhook | Most campaigns |
| Pay as you go, no webhook | ₹499/month per number, log and CSV free | Small campaigns worked from a spreadsheet |
| Unlimited | ₹1,498/month per number (fair use 1,00,000 events, then ₹0.10) | High volume, above about 3,330 events a month |
Prepaying the rental for 3, 6 or 12 months costs ₹1,349, ₹2,549 or ₹4,499. A one-time setup fee may apply per number and is shown before you buy. There is no free trial; new accounts get a small ₹20 welcome wallet credit.
Full worked examples are in missed call service pricing in India, and the live plan table is on the pricing page.
What You Need to Start
- KYC. Indian telecom rules require identity verification before a number is issued. An individual needs PAN and Aadhaar; companies add registration documents and a GST certificate. Review usually takes under 24 hours.
- A wallet balance. The service is prepaid and recharges start small.
- A plan for follow-up. Decide before launch who calls leads back and how fast.
Who Uses Missed Call Services
| Use | How the number is used |
|---|---|
| Lead generation from ads | A different number on each newspaper ad, hoarding or radio spot |
| Political and civic campaigns | Supporter sign-up and pledge drives, often on several numbers |
| Polls and voting | One number per option; unique callers per number is the vote count |
| Contests and lucky draws | Every unique caller is an entry |
| Callback requests | "Give a missed call and we will call you back" |
| Event registration | RSVP by missed call |
| Employee attendance | Staff call from their registered mobile to mark presence |
| Mobile number checks | Confirm a person controls a number by having them call from it |
| D2C sampling and on-pack offers | Number printed on the pack |
| NGO and awareness drives | Low-friction pledges and interest capture |
A real example: a state-level political campaign uses Edesy missed call numbers to sign up supporters, with each call piped by webhook straight into the candidate's website. See missed call campaigns for elections.
For more patterns, read 15 missed call marketing ideas that work in India or browse the use cases.
Missed Call Service vs Other Options
| Missed call | Toll-free | SMS short code | Answered virtual number | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caller pays | Nothing | Nothing | Usually SMS cost | Their own call |
| Business pays per minute | No | Yes | No | No |
| Data you get | Number + time | Conversation | Number + text | Conversation |
| Needs literacy | No | No | Yes | No |
| Needs staff to answer | No | Yes | No | Yes |
If you need people to actually speak to you, use a virtual phone number or a toll-free number instead. The full decision guide is missed call vs toll-free vs SMS short code.
Practical Limits Worth Knowing
- Each number has a cap on simultaneous calls. For TV spots or rallies where thousands dial in the same minute, run several numbers rather than one.
- Every call is an event. If one person calls five times, that is five events. The dashboard shows unique callers separately, but de-duplicate in your own system before follow-up.
- No caller consent capture is built in. If you will message people later, state your terms wherever you publish the number.
- Only Indian virtual numbers. Toll-free and short-code style numbers are not offered self-serve.
Where the Leads Should Go
A list nobody works is wasted spend. The simplest setup:
- Point the webhook at Edesy CRM using its custom webhook lead source. Every missed call becomes a lead your team can assign and track. The CRM has a free plan.
- Or download the CSV each morning and work it in a spreadsheet.
- Or connect your existing CRM. We connect Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot, LeadSquared or an in-house system for you, usually within a few days, using the webhook and API. See missed call CRM integration.
Getting Started
- Sign in at missedcall.edesy.in and complete KYC.
- Buy a number and name it after the campaign.
- Dial it from your own phone and check the log.
- Optionally add a webhook and send a test event.
- Publish the number.
The step-by-step version is how to set up a missed call campaign.
Get a Missed Call Number or read more on the missed call service page.