All topics26 Response speed7 Observed delays7 No response4 Follow-up3 Calling times2 First contact3
A Published study or data auditB Vendor data or documented case study
Reference Published finding Evidence details Publication
SRC-001 Level A Response speed
8× Conversion rates are 8 times higher when the first call happens within five minutes rather than later.
Sample 5.7 million inbound leads, 55 million sales activities, 400+ companies
What the study does not measure Closed revenue. The study measures inbound lead conversion within the sales process, not closed deals. XANT / InsideSales, Lead Response Management 2021 2021 2018-2020 US
Open publication SRC-002 Level A Observed delays
< 1% Fewer than 1% of first call attempts happen within five minutes of the lead arriving.
Sample 5.7 million inbound leads, 400+ companies
What the study does not measure The reasons behind the delay. The study observes the practice, it does not analyse its causes. SRC-003 Level A No response
77% 77% of inbound leads never receive a response.
Sample 5.7 million inbound leads
What the study does not measure The quality of the leads involved. The study does not separate workable leads from the rest. SRC-004 Level A Follow-up
81% 81% of sales reps stop after five contact attempts or fewer.
Sample 55 million sales activities
What the study does not measure The revenue impact of stopping. The study measures attempts and contacts achieved. SRC-005 Level A Follow-up
+15% Moving to seven or more attempts increases the number of leads actually reached by 15%.
Sample 55 million sales activities
What the study does not measure The point beyond which further attempts become counter-productive. SRC-006 Level A Observed delays
57.1% 57.1% of first call attempts happen more than a week after the lead arrives.
Sample 5.7 million inbound leads
What the study does not measure What becomes of those leads. The study measures time to first attempt. SRC-007 Level A Observed delays
42 hours The average time to first response to a web form enquiry is 42 hours.
Sample 2,241 US companies audited
What the study does not measure The median, which is far lower. A 42-hour average is pulled up by companies that answer days later. Oldroyd J., McElheran K., Elkington D., « The Short Life of Online Sales Leads », Harvard Business Review, vol. 89 n° 3, mars 2011 2011 US
Open publication SRC-008 Level A Response speed
7× Contacting a lead within the hour makes qualification 7 times more likely than contacting them an hour later.
Sample 1.25 million leads, 42 companies (29 B2C, 13 B2B)
What the study does not measure Closed sales. The study measures qualification, the prospect entering the sales process. SRC-009 Level A Response speed
60× Contacting a lead within the hour makes qualification more than 60 times likelier than after 24 hours.
Sample 1.25 million leads, 42 companies
What the study does not measure Closed sales. The study measures qualification. SRC-010 Level A Observed delays
37% 37% of audited companies respond to a lead within one hour.
Sample 2,241 US companies
What the study does not measure The response channel. An automated email counts as a response. SRC-011 Level A No response
23% 23% of audited companies never responded to the test lead.
Sample 2,241 US companies
What the study does not measure Whether the silence was deliberate or accidental. SRC-012 Level A Observed delays
3h08 The median time to first phone response is 3h08, against a 61-hour average.
Sample 14,061 companies examined, 9,538 sent a test lead
What the study does not measure The full distribution. The gap between median and mean reveals a long tail without describing it. SRC-013 Level A Observed delays
61 hours The average time to first phone response is 61 hours.
Sample 14,061 companies examined
What the study does not measure Typical performance. The average is pulled by companies answering days later. SRC-014 Level A No response
47% 47% of examined companies responded through no channel at all.
Sample 9,538 companies sent a test lead
What the study does not measure What commercially became of those enquiries. SRC-015 Level A Response speed
÷21 The odds of qualifying a lead drop 21-fold between a 5-minute and a 30-minute call.
Sample 3 years, 6 companies, 15,000+ leads, 100,000+ call attempts
What the study does not measure Closing rates. The study explicitly states it did not address them. Oldroyd J. (MIT Sloan), Lead Response Management Study, InsideSales.com, présentée au MarketingSherpa B2B Demand Generation Summit, 16 octobre 2007 2007 US
Open publication SRC-016 Level A Response speed
÷100 The odds of reaching a lead drop 100-fold between a 5-minute and a 30-minute call.
Sample 6 companies, 15,000+ leads, 100,000+ call attempts
What the study does not measure Closing rates. The study did not address them. Oldroyd J. / InsideSales, Lead Response Management Study, 2007 2007 US
Open publication SRC-017 Level A Calling times
Wednesday and Thursday Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to reach a lead, up to 49.7% more contacts than the worst day.
Sample 100,000+ call attempts
What the study does not measure How this transfers to current or European habits. US data from 2004-2007, pre-smartphone. Oldroyd J. / InsideSales, Lead Response Management Study, 2007 2007 US
Open publication SRC-018 Level A Calling times
4pm – 6pm The 4pm-6pm window yields up to 114% more contacts than the worst window; for qualification, 8-9am and 4-5pm lead, up to 164% above the 1-2pm window.
Sample 100,000+ call attempts
What the study does not measure Validity in France today. To be verified on your own data, which the product makes possible. Oldroyd J. / InsideSales, Lead Response Management Study, 2007 2007 US
Open publication SRC-019 Level A First contact
80% The vendor a buyer contacts first wins the deal roughly 80% of the time.
Sample nearly 4,000 B2B buyers across North America, EMEA and APAC
What the study does not measure Any effect of response speed. Causality runs the other way: buyers rank vendors before reaching out and contact their favourite first. What this shows is the cost of silence when you are already the favourite. SRC-020 Level A First contact
95% In 95% of cases, the winning vendor was already on the shortlist drawn up on day one.
Sample nearly 4,000 B2B buyers
What the study does not measure How that list forms. The study observes its stability, not its formation. SRC-021 Level A First contact
92.4% In Europe, the chosen vendor was on the day-one shortlist in 92.4% of cases.
Sample European subset of the 2025 sample
What the study does not measure Differences between European countries. The analysis treats Europe as a whole. SRC-022 Level A Observed delays
7% Of 433 B2B companies tested by mystery shopping, 7% responded within five minutes.
Sample 433 B2B SaaS companies tested, 32 responding within 5 minutes
What the study does not measure Response quality. An automated acknowledgement counts. Drift (aujourd'hui Salesloft), Lead Response Survey, février 2017 2017 US
Open publication SRC-023 Level A No response
55% 55% of tested companies did not respond within five business days.
Sample 433 B2B SaaS companies tested
What the study does not measure What happens beyond five days. The test stopped there. SRC-024 Level B Response speed
+391% Calling within one minute of the lead arriving increases conversion by 391%.
Sample roughly 3.5 million leads, 400+ companies
What the study does not measure Generalisation beyond the sample's phone-heavy verticals, mortgage, insurance, education. SRC-025 Level B Follow-up
93% 93% of converted leads are reached by the sixth call or earlier.
Sample roughly 3.5 million leads
What the study does not measure The effect of cadence itself, separate from initial lead quality. SRC-026 Level B Response speed
39.6% vs 31.3% At a software vendor that analysed 60,000+ follow-up calls, qualification reached 39.6% when calling back within one minute, against 31.3% at five minutes, 20.9% at one hour and 9.2% the next day.
Sample 60,000+ follow-up calls, single unnamed company
What the study does not measure Any market-wide value. These are one company's figures and are in no way an average. Étude de cas d'un éditeur de logiciels comptables, relayée par HubSpot 2019 US
Open publication