How fast should you reply to a new lead? Within the hour.
The best-known study on this found that companies replying within an hour were far more likely to qualify a lead than those that waited, and that most companies didn't come close. Here is what the research says, where its limits are, and how to get your own reply time down when you're on a job all day.
Most businesses answer too slowly, or not at all.
In "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads" (Harvard Business Review, March 2011), James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington sent web leads to 2,241 US companies and timed the replies.
Replied within an hour
Just over a third got back to the lead inside the first hour.
Took more than a day
About a quarter waited longer than 24 hours to respond.
Never replied
Nearly one in four never responded at all. Among those that did reply within 30 days, the average wait was 42 hours.
In a separate analysis of lead data in the same article, firms that contacted a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited even one hour longer, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited 24 hours or more.
What this study does and doesn't prove.
It's a strong signal, not a law of nature. Keep three things in mind before quoting it.
It's from 2011
Buyers have only gotten more used to instant replies since then, but the exact numbers are over a decade old.
It's about web leads
The test used online form leads, not phone calls or texts.
It isn't trade-specific
The companies were a broad mix, not lawn, pool or junk removal businesses. The direction holds; the multipliers may not.
Reply in minutes without leaving the job.
You can't answer the phone with a hose or a dolly in your hands. You can make sure every lead hears back right away and lands somewhere you'll see it.
Text back missed calls
An automatic text in seconds keeps the caller from dialing the next number. See missed-call text-back.
Answer form leads instantly
A short confirmation text with a question that moves the quote forward.
One inbox
Calls, texts, forms and Facebook messages in one place, so nothing sits in an app you forgot to check.
Quote while it's warm
Price on your phone the same day, then let quote follow-up chase the ones that go quiet.
Secret-shop your own business.
Ask a friend to do three things from their own phone on a normal workday: call during a job, fill out your website form, and send a message to your Facebook or Instagram page. Note the time each one gets a real reply. If any of the three takes longer than an hour, or never gets answered, that's a lost-job problem you can fix this week.
Source: James B. Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads," Harvard Business Review, March 2011. Checked October 2026.
Book a free Growth Call.
20 minutes. We'll learn how you're getting jobs now and where you want to go, then tell you which plan fits, or if none do yet. No obligation.