Definition. The time between a prospect's reply or enquiry and the first human response. Research compiled from eight major studies, including Harvard Business Review and MIT, found a response inside five minutes makes contact 100× more likely and qualification 21× more likely than an hour later.
The research
The most cited figures come from a body of work compiled across eight studies, including Harvard Business Review's analysis of lead response and MIT's research on lead qualification timing: responding inside five minutes makes you 100× more likely to make contact and 21× more likely to qualify the lead compared with waiting an hour. The average business takes around 47 hours, and the first responder wins the large majority of deals.
Why it matters more on LinkedIn
A LinkedIn reply arrives while the prospect is on LinkedIn. Ten minutes later they are in a meeting, an inbox, or someone else's DM. The window in which a reply can be turned into a conversation is measured in minutes, which is why algoacquisition handles every reply inside five minutes and puts a human caller on every interested lead inside the same window.
The number behind it
In algoacquisition's campaigns, moving reply handling into a five-minute window roughly 5×'d booking rates, and adding a warm call inside the same window 3×'d them again. The same interested leads, around 15× the booked meetings. The buyer's guide explains how to ask a vendor who, exactly, is answering at 9pm on a Thursday.
Related terms
- Interested lead — A reply from a person at a company matching the agreed ICP that expresses intent to learn more, see pricing, receive information or book a call. Connection accepts, opens and polite declines do not count.
- Warm calling — A phone call to a prospect who has already replied with interest to outbound, made while that interest is live, usually inside minutes of the reply. It is distinct from cold calling, where the prospect has had no prior contact.
- Booking rate — The share of interested leads that become booked meetings. In algoacquisition's campaigns it runs between 10% and 30% depending on the niche, with a blended 13.5% across all campaigns, and the top of the range belongs to campaigns where a human calls every interested lead inside five minutes.
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A minimum of 80 booked qualified meetings a quarter, in the contract. Talk to a strategist and we'll size the engine to your market.