How to answer a website inquiry so the customer stops shopping

Answer a website inquiry within five minutes, and make the reply answer the question the person asked. An audit published in Harvard Business Review found the average reply took 42 hours. The fix I see most often now is an automatic email that arrives in five seconds and says nothing at all. The person still has their question, so they open the next tab. Somewhere in those tabs a business answers it, and that one gets the customer. Your reply has to say four things to be that business, and there is a cheap way to send it before the next tab opens.

In this article: how fast is fast enough · why a fast reply still loses the customer · what the reply should say · whether a canned reply can do it · questions people ask · what to do this week

How fast is fast enough?

Reply to a website inquiry within an hour at most, and aim for five minutes. In 2011, three researchers sent test inquiries to 2,241 US companies through their websites and timed the replies. 37% answered within an hour. 16% took up to a day. 24% took longer than a day, and 23% never answered at all. Among the ones that replied within a month, the average was 42 hours (Harvard Business Review).

The same researchers then looked at 1.25 million leads at 42 companies. A business that tried to reach the person within an hour was nearly seven times as likely to get a real conversation with a decision maker as one that tried an hour later. Against one that waited a day, it was more than sixty times as likely.

An hour is the line in that data. Five minutes is mine, for a simpler reason: once a reply can go out on its own, the extra fifty-five minutes buy you nothing. Someone waiting on a screen counts in seconds. When we moved an agency’s automations off a hosted platform, the reply its users waited for went from about 3 minutes to under 20 seconds (case study). That changed what the agency was willing to automate next.

Why does a fast reply still lose the customer?

A fast reply that answers nothing loses the customer the same way a slow one does: their question is still unanswered, so they keep shopping. “Thank you for contacting us. A member of our team will get back to you within 1 to 2 business days.” It arrives in five seconds, which is impressive, and it contains the news that the email arrived, which the person knew. A stopwatch counts that as a response. The person does not.

I learned this as the customer. When I was setting up an LLC in the United States, I was choosing between two companies. The first wanted me to fill in a very long form about my situation before anything else, and that alone put me off. It was too much work. The second had a clear FAQ page with a virtual assistant on it. I typed my questions, it answered them and linked me to the pages that explained the rest, and I made my decision right there. That company got my money.

The first company never got the chance to be slow. It asked for my homework before it had told me anything, and I left. Speed keeps you in the race. The answer wins it.

What should the reply say?

A reply to a website inquiry should do four things: answer the question, say what happens next, ask one question that moves things forward, and let the person book.

1. The answer to what they asked. If they asked whether you do bathrooms, say yes or no in the first line. If they asked about price, give the range or explain how you price, and if the honest answer is “it depends”, say on what. That answer is why they wrote, and the instant auto-reply skips it.

2. What happens next, when, and who. “Ana will call you tomorrow before noon” beats “a member of our team will be in touch”. A name and a time are a promise. “Soon” is a weather forecast.

3. One question that moves it forward. Ask for the one thing you need to help them, like the address or the size of the job. A long form is a bill the customer pays before you have done anything for them. My LLC story is what happens when you send one.

4. A way to book. Your calendar link, so the person who is ready now does not have to wait until you are ready too.

	The instant auto-reply	The 42-hour reply	The four-part reply
Arrives	In seconds	In about two days	In minutes
Answers the question	No	Maybe	First line
Says what happens next	“1 to 2 business days”	It is what happens next	A name and a time
Lets them book	No	Sometimes	Yes
What the person does meanwhile	Keeps shopping	Keeps shopping	Decides

Can a canned reply do it?

A canned reply can do all four if most of your inquiries ask the same few questions. Say you hear the same three on repeat: do you do this, what does it cost, how soon can you start. Write one reply for each, with all four parts. Send the right one automatically, based on what the person picks in a “what is this about” field on your form. Set it up as your form’s autoresponder, one version per option. It is an afternoon’s work.

For a business that gets a handful of inquiries a week about the same things, that is the whole job, and you should not pay anyone for more. It stops working when the questions stop repeating and the answer depends on what the person typed. Maybe they write in a language your reply is not in, or the answer lives in a forty-page document nobody wants to paste into an email. Then the reply has to read the question.

We built one for a law practice, which we do not name. An assistant on its website answers the visitor’s question in 20 to 90 seconds, then offers a consultation on the firm’s calendar. The client reported roughly 100 visitor questions in the first 2.5 weeks after launch, and about 33 of them became booked consultations. The figures are the client’s own and the window is short. The case study carries them with both caveats.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average response time to a website inquiry?

42 hours, in the audit most pages quote. Harvard Business Review timed 2,241 US companies in 2011; among those that replied within a month, the average was 42 hours, and 23% never replied at all.

Is an hour too slow?

An hour is the outer limit. In the same research, a business that reached the person within an hour was nearly seven times as likely to get a real conversation as one that tried an hour later. If the reply can go out on its own, five minutes costs nothing extra.

Does an automatic reply count as answering?

Only if it answers the question. An auto-reply that confirms receipt and promises contact in 1 to 2 business days leaves the person where a slow reply would. One that carries the four parts counts.

What do you do this week?

Send your own website an inquiry from your phone, with a real question in it, and time the reply. Then hold it against the four parts. Did it answer? Did it name a person and a time? Did it ask one question, or for your life story? Could you book? The instant auto-reply passes none of the four, in five seconds flat.

If yours fails, tell us what your inquiries usually ask and paste in the reply your website sends now. We will tell you straight whether a canned reply fixes it this afternoon, or whether your reply needs to read the question.