When you are shopping for a service or product, chances are you have done at least a small amount of research and know what you are looking for. If you are shopping for a service online, you may send inquiries to several companies looking for a quote or more information. If one business responds within minutes, and another takes a week, which one do you think you will end up buying from?

More and more businesses are turning to the internet to generate sales leads. However, once you have the leads, the time it takes to respond is of utmost importance. The average response time of companies that responded to leads within 30 days was 42 hours.

Instant Gratification

In today’s fast-paced world, customers expect almost instant gratification and are likely to move on if they feel they are not getting what they want in a timely manner. The quality of your leads degrades rapidly over time, so you need to be addressing any inquiries as soon as possible, ideally within five minutes.

Customers are also more likely to buy from the company that responds to them first. The longer your response time is, the more likely it is that someone else will get that sale. In 2019, corporate spending focused on creating leads amounted to almost 2.6 billion dollars. This number will only continue to grow, and competition can be fierce. You want to make sure that your practice is making the most of its investments.

How Fast Should We Respond?

Responding within five minutes is ideal, and one hour should be the outer limit on response time. One study showed that businesses that respond within 60 minutes are more than 60 times more likely to qualify that lead as a company that responds in 24 hours. Most often, the first spa to contact a prospective customer is the one that gets the sale. Because of the personal nature of any cosmetic procedure, prospective clients want to find a spa that is sensitive to their needs. Responding as quickly as possible to their inquiries lets them know that they will be well taken care of.

How Can We Shorten Response Times?

Marketing automation is an important part of the marketing strategy that we can develop for your business. Email automation is an easy way to respond to customer inquiries quickly and efficiently, making it easier to communicate with prospective customers and improve conversion rates. SMS alerts are also a great way to engage your customer base. The cosmetic industry is growing quickly, and it is important to make your practice stand out.