Why Lead Response Time is a Critical Factor in Converting B2B Leads

The B2B world can be incredibly competitive, especially when traditional advertising methods used in the B2C world aren’t effective. But one thing you can do to get a leg up on your competition is to improve your lead response time. Here’s why lead response time is a critical factor in the realm of B2B lead conversion.

What is lead response time?

Lead response time is the amount it takes to respond to a lead after they reach out to your company. In the context of digital marketing, this refers to the time it takes to respond to a lead after they complete an online form. The average lead response time for B2B companies, per Hubspot, was 42 hours, and many companies never responded at all.

Why does lead response time matter?

Lead quality degrades over time. If you don’t respond to your leads, they grow cold and lose interest, either because they’ve moved on to other companies, or they simply move on to their other responsibilities. In fact, the sooner you can respond to your leads, the better.

Why is this? Well, the internet has changed buyer behavior. Customers are doing significant online research about the products and services they’re interested in, all without ever talking to another person. So when potential buyers do reach out, it’s usually when they’re very close to the purchase stage of their buyer’s journey. And that’s the best time to reach them—when they’re interested in and ready to talk to a salesperson.

In addition to when you respond to your leads, how matters too, and how often. Are your reaching out via email or phone? You should probably be doing both. And you shouldn’t give up after one attempt. Doing this helps you to establish a relationship with your lead, nurturing them into a prospect and then a customer.

How do you improve your company’s lead response time?

The first thing you should do is test that response time, and determine how far away your company is from a quick response. Once you’ve done that, you can set in place email automation to send email to leads immediately after they convert by completing a form on your website or landing page. Email automation can also help you follow up with leads at regular intervals to keep your company top of mind.

If you’re ready to improve your lead response time and convert more leads, it’s time to get in touch with Evenbound. We have expertise on the content strategies that will increase visitors, conversions, and leads from your digital content, as well as email marketing and lead segmentation strategies to reduce lead response time and give you the greatest ROI for your digital marketing efforts.