Chat agent vs voice agent: which converts better for SMB lead capture?

We get asked this weekly, so let's put real numbers in one thread. The honest answer from our side is: it depends on where the intent comes from, and the two are not really competing. Voice tends to win on urgency. A caller with a burst pipe or a toothache has already decided to buy — the only question is whether anyone answers. Missed-call recovery is where voice agents earn their keep, because the alternative is a competitor's answered phone. Conversion from an answered after-hours call to a booked job is routinely the highest-converting thing on the whole funnel. Chat wins on volume and low-pressure research. Website visitors who would never call will happily ask a chat widget three questions at 11pm, and a good chat agent turns a decent share of those into a name, an email, and a booked slot. The leads are earlier-stage, so the per-lead close rate is lower, but the cost per lead is close to zero. If you run either (or both): what are your actual numbers? Calls answered to appointments booked, chats started to emails captured — whatever you track. Anonymized is fine. Let's build a reference other SMBs can sanity-check against.