How fast should a business reply to a new lead?

Ascent Vision · Published October 15, 2026

Within the hour, and sooner if you can. In research reported in Harvard Business Review in 2011, companies that tried to contact a web lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as those that tried even an hour later, and more than 60 times as likely as companies that waited 24 hours or more.

What the research found

In one study, James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington looked at 1.25 million sales leads received by 29 business-to-consumer and 13 business-to-business U.S. companies. Speed of first contact made a large difference to whether a lead became a qualified sales conversation.

In a separate study, they audited 2,241 U.S. companies by sending each a web inquiry. 37% responded within an hour, 16% within one to 24 hours, 24% took longer than a day, and 23% never responded. Among those that replied within 30 days, the average response took 42 hours.

What it does not show

The research is from 2011 and covered U.S. companies, not small service businesses specifically. It shows a strong link between speed and results, not an exact figure your business will see. The direction is consistent with common sense: a customer who just asked is still deciding, and the business that answers first is the one in the conversation.

How a small business can reply faster

Get every inquiry in one place, whether it arrives by form, email, text or direct message.
Get alerted on your phone the moment one arrives.
Reply first with something short and human, then follow up properly.
Set a rule for nights and weekends, such as an automatic note saying when you will call back, and keep it.
Track the time to first reply each month, alongside where each lead came from.

Sources

Lead systems and lead tracking

A lead that waits a day goes cold, and a lead with no source teaches you nothing. Ascent Vision fixes both.

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