Reply to a new lead as fast as you can, ideally within minutes during working hours and with an automatic acknowledgement outside them. People who enquire are usually comparing several options at the same moment, and the first business to respond properly often gets the conversation.
Why speed matters
A new enquiry is at its warmest right after it is sent. The visitor still has your page open, remembers what they wanted and may be asking others too. Each hour of silence gives a competitor time and gives the lead time to cool.
We will not quote a precise statistic here, since figures vary by industry and study. The principle is easy to test in your own numbers: compare conversion for leads answered quickly with those answered late.
Set a target
- During working hours: a human reply within a few minutes to an hour, depending on your team.
- Outside hours: an automatic acknowledgement immediately, and a human reply first thing next day.
- Write it down and measure it.
Make speed possible
- Instant acknowledgement. An automatic message or email: "Thanks, we have your enquiry and will call you by 11 AM tomorrow."
- Clear ownership. Every lead is assigned to a named person automatically.
- Alerts where people are. WhatsApp or app notifications, not a shared inbox no one watches.
- Reminders. If nobody replies in the target time, escalate.
- A call script. Your team should know what to ask first.
Quality counts too
A fast, generic reply is better than silence, but a fast reply that uses what the lead told you is better still. That is why saving the context matters, and why qualification helps your team choose who to call first.
Measure
Track the time from enquiry to first human contact, and conversion by response time band. Review weekly.
If you want automated acknowledgements, assignment and reminders, see how we build CRMs and workflow automation.