Numbers Game: How soon should your business follow up with a web generated lead?

We have all heard that following up with web generated leads as soon as possible is a good idea. The question although still remains, what time frame should your business strive to make phone contact with potential buyers in order to maximize contact and qualification of web generated leads? A recent study by MIT and InsideSales.com, should help answer this question and also help increase your businesses sales.

• 5 minutes. According to the study, “the odds of contacting a lead if called within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 100 times.”  Statistics for qualifying leads are equally as surprising – “the odds of qualifying a lead in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 21 times.” Since the qualification stage is where we find out the purchasing potential of the web generated lead we should pay close attention and strive to follow up with all leads within 5 minutes.

• Too Many. What’s interesting about this study is that it only takes into account leads that were called upon at least one time.  Many studies exist that show between 30-80% of web generated leads are never followed up on.  If your business has any leads that fit this category, maybe it is time to add additional sales staff or other tools that can help your sales team quickly follow up on web generated leads.

• 4 – 6 PM. The best times of the day to make contact is between 4 to 6 pm. 7-8 AM and 11-12 were some of the worst times to call during the day. The study seems to suggest that calling leads around breakfast and lunch time is not the prime time for contacting or qualifying leads.  The study still leads the reader to believe that regardless of the time called – calling within 5 minutes is the most ideal follow up time.

• 49.7 Percent. The study also found that Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to call in order to contact web-generated leads. Tuesday is the worst day to make contact with a lead, with Thursday being a 49.7% better day to call.  Now, we wouldn’t suggest that everyone takes off Tuesdays for the rest of the year, but maybe Tuesdays should be earmarked for learning sessions and quarterly off site meetings for your sales teams.

Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Landing Page Optimization (LPO) are different ways that your team here at Leverage Marketing can help increase the number of web generated leads that your business receives.  Do you know what percent of these leads your sales team follows up on or even how quickly your sales representatives are following up on web generated leads?   Feel free to give your team here at Leverage Marketing a call and we will perform a complimentary review of your businesses response time.