Evidence Base & Data Sources
Every statistic on whoza.ai is either verified against its publisher, described as our own arithmetic, or explicitly marked as unverified. We do not invent sources, modernise dates, or replace withdrawn figures with ones that sound better.
Sources We Cite
Primary Sources
| Source | What we use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Moneypenny Small Business Call Report (2016) | 33% of small businesses fail to answer incoming calls; 69% of voicemail callers don't leave a message | Verified |
| Ofcom Online Nation (2025) | 90% of UK adults use WhatsApp; 82% use Google Search; about 30% of searches show AI Overviews and more than half of adults (53%) see them often; ChatGPT took 1.8 billion UK visits in the first eight months of 2025, up from 368 million | Verified |
| National Careers Service (2024) | Receptionist salaries: £18,000 starter, £22,000 experienced | Verified |
| Department for Business and Trade, Business Population Estimates 2025 (2025) | 5.7 million UK private sector businesses; 4.3 million (75%) have no employees; 885,000 construction SMEs (16%, the largest sector) | Verified |
| Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) (2025) | 78% of UK micro-businesses spend less than £200/month on business software | Unverified |
| ONS, Artificial intelligence in UK businesses: 2023 to 2026 (2026) | 28% of businesses with 0–9 employees use at least one AI technology; construction lowest of any industry at 13%. BICS Wave 159, fieldwork 15–28 June 2026, 38,637 responses | Verified |
| DSIT, Public Engagement Survey 2025/2026 (2026) | 97% of adults aware of AI; 59% used generative AI in the last three months; 74% concerned AI-produced information may be inaccurate. 30,698 respondents, fieldwork Nov 2025 – Mar 2026 | Verified |
| FMB, State of Trade Survey H2 2025 (2026) | Enquiries +18% (England +19%, Scotland +16%); workloads +22%; 72% affected by lack of skilled tradespeople; 49% had job delays. 493 responses, published 31 March 2026 | Verified |
Secondary Sources
| Source | What we use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Replicant AI (2024) | Missed call rates by business size | Unverified |
| IDC (2025) | AI ROI study: payback periods and returns | Unverified |
| Voco HQ (2026) | True cost of missed calls for UK businesses | Unverified |
| Salesforce (2026) | 82% of consumers expect an immediate response to sales enquiries | Unverified |
| HubSpot (2026) | 60% define 'immediate' as 10 minutes or less | Unverified |
| Paperclip Research (2025) | 47% of initial calls to UK SMEs go unanswered | Unverified |
Tertiary / Descriptive Sources
| Source | What we use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Unattributed — £250–£450 call value (2026) | The value of a single inbound call to a UK trade business, cited on /research/the-true-cost-of-missed-calls-2026 as 'research consistently places'. No specific source named. Not verified. | Unverified |
| EchoCall (2026) | AI voice agent statistics compilation | Unverified |
| Checkatrade (2024) | Average UK tradesperson job values and call-out fees | Descriptive |
What We Removed and Why
78% of customers hire whoever responds first
Withheld, not discredited. The underlying research — 500 UK trades businesses surveyed by email and WhatsApp, fieldwork July 2024 – July 2025, conducted by Dru McPherson — is real. The exact wording of the question that produced 78% is not retained. A specific claim needs the specific question behind it. The figure will return if and when that wording surfaces.
Forbes / Ruby Research (2025) — 80% of callers don't leave a message
Source could not be verified. No matching Forbes or Ruby study found. Replaced with Moneypenny Small Business Call Report (2016) figure of 69%.
411 Locals (2024) — 62% of business calls go unanswered
Source unverified. No peer-reviewed study or methodology disclosed. Replaced with Moneypenny Small Business Call Report (2016) figure of 33% of small UK trade businesses failing to answer incoming calls.
Dialzara (2025) — 62% of unanswered callers immediately contact a competitor
Source unverified. No peer-reviewed study or methodology disclosed. Removed entirely pending verified replacement.
Official-Source Audit
Every government or official body citation classified. Verified means we loaded the publisher's page and confirmed the figure. Descriptive means the source exists but the specific number is our own arithmetic. Unverified means we have not yet loaded the publisher's page.
| Source | Figure as cited | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ofcom, Online Nation 2025 | 90% of UK adults use WhatsApp | Verified | Loaded Ofcom page. Figure confirmed in headline findings. |
| National Careers Service | Receptionist: £18,000 starter, £22,000 experienced | Verified | Loaded NCS job profile. Salary band confirmed. |
| ONS 2024 average wages data | Human receptionist £20,000–£25,000/year | Descriptive | Source cited by third-party blogs. Not loaded directly. The £20,000–£25,000 range is our arithmetic from NCS salaries plus estimated employer NI and pension. |
| DBT, Business Population Estimates 2025 | 885,000 construction SMEs; 4.3m (75%) of UK businesses have no employees | Verified | Statistical release loaded 22 Aug 2026. Published 2 October 2025. Figures confirmed verbatim. |
| ONS, AI in UK businesses 2023–2026 | 28% of 0–9 employee businesses use AI; construction 13%, lowest of any industry | Verified | Publisher page loaded 22 Aug 2026. BICS Wave 159, fieldwork 15–28 June 2026, 38,637 responses, 26.7% response rate. |
| DSIT, Public Engagement Survey 2025/2026 | 74% concerned AI-produced information may be inaccurate | Verified | Publisher page loaded 22 Aug 2026. 30,698 respondents, fieldwork Nov 2025 – Mar 2026. Published because it counts against us, not for us. |
| FMB, State of Trade Survey H2 2025 | Enquiries +18%; 72% affected by skills shortage; 49% had job delays | Verified | Publisher page loaded 22 Aug 2026. 493 responses, published 31 March 2026. |
Whoza.ai — Our Own Claims
We apply the same scrutiny to our own marketing that we apply to third-party sources. Every claim about our own business is listed here with its evidence status.
Early access limited to 50 UK trade businesses
Found on: /signup, /about, /best-ai-call-handler-uk-trades
Hard cap. We close sign-ups at 50 so every customer gets a working setup. No upgrade pressure, no arbitrary expansion.
Customer count not publicly stated
Found on: All pages
We do not publish a total customer number. The 50 cap is the only numerical claim we make about our user base.
Business Claims — Verified vs Unverified
Every commercial claim on whoza.ai — revenue figures, savings, ROI — is listed here with its evidence status. We distinguish between numbers we can demonstrate, numbers that are illustrative estimates, and numbers we have removed.
| Claim | Where it appears | Evidence | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| £59/month Starter plan | /pricing, homepage, city pages | Published on Stripe checkout | Verified |
| £20,000–£25,000/year human receptionist cost | /pricing, /data, /ai-receptionist-vs-human-cost-guide-2026 | National Careers Service (£18k–£22k) + employer NI + pension arithmetic | Descriptive |
| £400–£600 average emergency callout value | Blog persona posts, case studies | Self-reported by customers; illustrative estimate | Descriptive |
| £8,400 recovered in 4 weeks (Charlie example) | /blog/i-lost-12000-in-one-winter... | Customer-reported; not independently audited | Descriptive |
| 98% answer rate achieved | /case-studies | Illustrative estimate based on typical customer-reported outcomes | Descriptive |
| £5,200–£15,600 annual missed-call cost | FAQ, blog posts | 1,200 UK trade business self-reported survey, 2025 | Descriptive |
| 30-day money-back guarantee | /pricing, homepage | Published in Terms of Service | Verified |
| 7-day free trial | /pricing, homepage | Published on signup flow | Verified |
| 50-customer early access cap | /signup, /about | Stated publicly; no independent verification | Descriptive |
UK Government Open Data We Use
Ofcom Online Nation 2025
UK adult internet and app usage, including WhatsApp adoption rates.
DBT Business Population Estimates 2025
Official count of UK businesses by size, sector, and geography.
National Careers Service
Government-backed job profiles with salary bands and career paths.
ONS, Artificial intelligence in UK businesses
AI adoption by UK business size and industry, from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey.
DSIT Public Engagement Survey 2025/2026
UK public awareness of, use of, and concerns about artificial intelligence.
Methodology
Our rule: if we cannot show the exact question that produced a percentage, we do not show the percentage. We will state the qualitative point — "the business that answers first usually gets the job" — rather than attach a number we cannot defend.
Our process for new statistics: (1) identify the original publisher, (2) load the primary source page, (3) confirm the figure and its context, (4) cite with URL and publication date, (5) add to this evidence base. If any step fails, the statistic does not go on the site.
What we do not do: copy statistics from vendor blogs without tracing them to a primary source; modernise publication dates to make research look newer; replace a withdrawn figure with a similar-sounding one; or present our own arithmetic as if it came from a government dataset.
Missed-call cost survey. 1,200 UK trade businesses, self-reported data, 2025. Underpins the £5,200–£15,600 annual range quoted in our FAQ.
Updates: This page is updated whenever a source is verified, withdrawn, or corrected. Last updated: August 2026.
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