How A Faster Enquiry Response Time Generates Double The Conversions
in Insights - Last updated February 25th, 2021
How fast is your new enquiry response time?
More importantly, how quick should your response be to a new enquiry?
10 minutes? An hour? A day? A week?
According to a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review…
New enquiry leads are 10 times less likely to respond after 5 minutes.
Whilst conversion rates are 98% higher when following up within 5 minutes.
The long and short of it is that, as soon as the clock starts ticking, time is critical.
Now take a moment to think, how quickly do you respond to a new enquiry and are you making the most of these new opportunities?
Minimise Enquiry Response Time to Maximise Red Hot Leads
You’ve brilliantly executed a new marketing campaign.
Spent years delivering world class service to turn customers into brand ambassadors.
Perhaps you’ve launched a brand-new product line to take advantage of an emerging niche.
In each case, you’ve made a serious investment.
And for the majority, this has been done in order to raise the profile of your organisation and convert this increased exposure into bottom line revenue.
So when the leads come flooding in, you’re primed and ready to complete the sale, right?
To reiterate, new enquiry leads are 10 times less likely to respond after 5 minutes whilst conversion rates are 98% higher when following up within this same period.
If you’re hitting these targets, brilliant.
If not, you might be wondering what changes you can make to see an uptick in your ROI.
How Can I Improve Enquiry Response Time?
Automate your notifications.
If you’re still reliant on manually checking email inboxes or taking a daily cursory glance at the company online chat function, you’re neglecting prime opportunities.
Remember, you’ve already made a potentially significant investment in acquiring these leads. But allowing them to linger can end up with them falling by the wayside.
Ultimately, revenue is being left on the table.
Consider for a second the following…
- Are your sales team automatically notified the instant a prospect reaches out?
- Do they have the information they need to respond readily available?
- Is the right person responding to these enquiries?
Each of these points, if handled appropriately, will enable you to maximise each and every new enquiry.
Automation In Action
Receiving an SMS alert, sent directly to the sales team, works well as an instantaneous notification of a new enquiry.
It allows the sales person to immediately get in touch and call with one click.
Similarly, educating those handling new enquiries on the latest product line or external campaign is invaluable.
By ensuring they have an understanding on the motivation behind the new opportunity and an appreciation for the source they can tailor their response accordingly.
Finally, having a separate, focused team for new responses also increases conversions massively as this is their sole focus.
The crucial action is to provide minimal distraction from striking whilst the iron is hot.
If your new opportunity arrives through a new resource that you’ve curated, get in touch to understand the “why” behind the download.
Rather than waiting a day or two to give them a chance to browse through it, which we all know from experience there’s a fair chance we won’t, getting in touch immediately facilitates a conversation and allows you to understand what it was that prompted them to “convert”.
Interest peaks at the time of enquiry and subsequently wanes at an alarming rate.
If you want to maximise your ROI from your efforts to secure the enquiry in the first place, you need to be jumping on every opportunity straight away.
Only then can you maximise your chances of turning whatever piqued their interest into solid revenue.
So… how quickly should you respond to a new enquiry?
As soon as possible.
Intrigued to learn more? Check out our Insights Hub to keep your business at the cutting edge.
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- February 25th, 2021