Why Timing Is Everything When Responding to Web Leads

Speed matters when it comes to effectively responding to web leads.

XANT conducted an original research study in 2007 and again in 2012 that found that if a company calls a lead within five minutes of the time the prospect submitted a web form, it is 100 times more likely to get that prospect on the phone than if contact was attempted just 30 minutes later.

Timing is everything! A mere 30 minutes makes a difference off 100 times — that’s a game-changer.

Lead Response Report

So, for the past six years, XANT has conducted multiple studies on how fast companies respond to web leads, including an annual review of companies that attend Dreamforce, the largest vendor technology conference hosted by Salesforce.

In the two months leading up to Dreamforce 2013, XANT reviewed 3,446 companies who attended Dreamforce in 2011 and 2012 as well as publicized sponsors in 2013.

The average first call response time of all companies that responded by phone was 40 hours and 56 minutes.

Of the companies reviewed, 60 percent eventually responded to the leads submitted, compared with just 27 percent last year.

“While more companies did respond to the leads this year, 40 percent of the companies reviewed did not respond at all,” XANT President and Founder Ken Krogue said. “Imagine what a CEO or CMO would think if they knew that their team was not contacting their leads. With better techniques and technologies, they could be speaking to 92 percent of leads. Plus, they aren’t responding nearly fast enough.”

The Lead Response Report also found that 65 percent of companies make their initial response through email. The remaining 35 percent use phone calls to respond — 23 percent called and left a voicemail, and 12 percent called and did not leave a voicemail.

The top 20 companies in this year’s study are:

1. Adapx Inc.

2. MIR3 Inc.

3. Responsys Inc.

4. i2i Systems

5. Sun Microsystems

6. UnityWorks Media

7. DealerFire

8. InMage

9. Didit

10. CPI Security Systems

11. Vindicia

12. CL&D Digital

13. TreeHouse Interactive

14. Advanced Solutions International Inc.

15. Paramount Equity Mortgage

16. Demand Metric

17. Novation Capital

18. Redseal Networks

19. Fairway America

20. SilkRoad Technology Inc.

XANT research is available on the company’s research page: https://www.www.insidesales.com/research_papers.php.

See how XANT accelerates sales through science in this video: