“The early bird gets the worm,” so the adage goes, and in regards to new lead inquiries, the quickest responder typically gets the sale.
Even with a plethora of data supporting the need for timely follow up to new web-based lead inquiries, “the average company takes over 18 hours to send a first response to a newly-generated Web lead.” [InsideSales/Insider Insights]
According to The Lead Response Management Study, the best time to respond to new inquiries is in 15 minutes or less.
The disconnect between best practices and actual practices is possibly attributed to companies believing that since a new lead didn’t “call” to inquire, they aren’t in a hurry so therefore a response can wait. This seems somewhat logical, but is definitely hurting the ability for your company to contact and qualify new leads.
Get ’em while they’re hot. A potential customer is online searching for what your business offers now. You can reasonably also assume that your company isn’t the only company that received a web inquiry from them! Don’t let your competition get the edge by responding to them before you do. Follow up immediately, (or as soon as reasonably possible), to catch them while your company name is fresh on their mind. If you respond quickly enough, they might even still be online browsing your website for additional information about your firm.
In short – new lead response times for web-based inquiries need to be just as timely as if that potential customer has actually dialed your office number. Don’t put them on hold too long!
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