Lead response statistics
Lead response time,straight from the studies.
The speed-to-lead figures you see quoted everywhere, traced back to the study that published them, with the sample size, the exact finding and a link. Plus the popular numbers we couldn’t find a source for.
Checked against each primary source on
6 studies
Across industries
Harvard Business Review (Oldroyd, McElheran, Elkington), 2011
The Short Life of Online Sales Leads
An audit of 2,241 US companies’ web-lead responses, plus a separate analysis of 1.25 million leads at 42 companies.
- 37% of companies responded to a web lead within an hour; 16% within one to 24 hours; 24% took more than 24 hours; 23% never responded.
- Among companies that responded within 30 days, the average response time was 42 hours.
- Firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as firms that tried even an hour later, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited 24 hours or longer.
“Qualify” means reaching a decision maker for a meaningful conversation, not closing a sale. The average is 42 hours, not 47.
Read the source: Harvard Business Review (Oldroyd, McElheran, Elkington), 2011InsideSales.com with Dr. James Oldroyd (MIT), 2007
Lead Response Management Study
Six companies, more than 15,000 leads and 100,000 call attempts.
- The odds of contacting a lead were 100 times lower when called at 30 minutes instead of 5 minutes.
- The odds of qualifying a lead were 21 times lower at 30 minutes than at 5 minutes.
The study measured contact and qualification, not closing. It is not a Harvard study.
Read the source: InsideSales.com with Dr. James Oldroyd (MIT), 2007InsideSales, 2021
Lead Response Management Report
More than 400 companies, 5.7 million leads and 55 million sales activities, 2018 to 2020.
- Conversion rates were 8 times higher when the response came within 5 minutes than at 6 minutes or later.
- Fewer than 1% of attempts happened within 5 minutes.
XANT (InsideSales), 2014
2014 Lead Response Report
Secret-shopper web leads sent to 9,538 companies in 2013.
- 47% of companies never responded to the web lead.
- The median time to a first call was 3 hours 8 minutes.
Velocify, 2012
The Ultimate Contact Strategy
About 3.5 million leads at more than 400 companies, mostly mortgage and insurance.
- Calling a lead within the first minute increased conversion by up to 391%.
- 93% of converted leads were reached by the sixth call attempt, yet half of leads were never called a second time.
The report states no baseline for the 391%, so say “up to.”
Read the source: Velocify, 2012Drift (now hosted by Salesloft), 2017
Lead Response Survey
433 B2B SaaS companies sent a lead through their website.
- Only 7% responded within five minutes.
- 55% had not responded within five business days.
2 studies
Home services
Valve+Meter Performance Marketing, undated, c. 2018–19
State of Speed to Lead in Home Services
Secret-shopper leads to 466 US home-service companies, tracked for five days.
- 40% of companies never responded.
- 95% did not respond within five minutes, 71% not within an hour, and 55% not within a day.
- 85% never tried to call a second time.
Hatch (vendor data), 2024
HVAC speed-to-lead response rates
132,188 campaigns from 1,071 HVAC users of Hatch’s platform.
- 88% of users (941 of 1,071) took more than five minutes to reply to leads.
- Only 3% replied in under a minute.
2 studies
Car dealers
DAS Technology, 2025
Automotive dealership lead response study
Inquiries to more than 1,700 US dealerships in the second half of 2024.
- 61% of dealers responded within 15 minutes, up from 55% in 2022.
- 19% took more than an hour.
Foureyes (vendor data), 2026
2026 Automotive Dealer Benchmarks
More than 22,900 dealer websites, 2025 data.
- 62.8% of sales leads did not hear back from a salesperson within 24 hours.
1 study
How people read texts
SimpleTexting (vendor survey), 2025
Texting and SMS marketing statistics
A survey of 1,000 US consumers and 400 business owners, December 2024. Self-reported.
- 82% of consumers said they check texts within five minutes, and 32% within 60 seconds.
Numbers to stop quoting
Popular, repeated,and not what the studies say.
The average lead response time is 47 hours.
A misquote. HBR’s figure is 42 hours, among companies that responded within 30 days.
Responding in 5 minutes makes you 21 times more likely to close.
A misquote. The 2007 study found 21 times higher odds of qualifying, and it did not measure closing.
78% of customers buy from the first business to respond.
We found no primary source for this figure.
Text messages have a 98% open rate.
We found no primary source we could read, and texts have no open tracking to measure it.
80% of sales need five or more follow-ups.
Widely repeated, attributed to an unverifiable association. We found no study behind it.
Found a primary source for one of these, or a newer study? Write to hello@artificialwingman.com and we will add it. You are welcome to cite this page.
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