Lead Response Time Study: 5 Minutes = 100x More Likely to Connect

Harvard Business Review Lead Response Time Study: The 5-Minute Rule

According to the Harvard Business Review lead response time study, companies that respond to leads within 5 minutes are 100 times more likely to make contact than those that wait 30 minutes. The original research, conducted by Dr. James Oldroyd at MIT and published via InsideSales.com, analyzed over 15,000 leads and found that the 5-minute window is the single most critical factor in lead conversion.

Key Findings: 5 Minutes = 100x More Likely to Connect

The Harvard Business Review / MIT Lead Response Time Study at a Glance:

• 100x more likely to connect with a lead when responding in 5 minutes vs. 30 minutes (Source: MIT / InsideSales.com Lead Response Management Study, Dr. James Oldroyd)
• 80% drop in lead quality after the first 5 minutes (Source: Harvard Business Review, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads," 2011)
• 78% of customers buy from the first business to respond (Source: Lead Response Management Study, Dr. James Oldroyd, MIT)
• 391% improvement in conversion when responding within 1 minute (Source: Velocify Research)
• 21x more likely to qualify a lead by responding within 5 minutes vs. 30 minutes (Source: Lead Response Management Study)
• 7x more likely to qualify by responding within 1 hour vs. 2 hours (Source: Harvard Business Review)
• 47 hours is the average B2B lead response time across industries (Source: Drift / InsideSales.com)

If your business relies on paid leads from Yelp, Google LSA, or Thumbtack, your response time determines whether those leads become revenue or waste. See how AI autoresponders achieve sub-60-second response times →

MIT Lead Response Time Study: 100x More Likely to Connect in 5 Minutes

The MIT lead response time study, formally known as the Lead Response Management Study, was conducted by Dr. James Oldroyd in partnership with InsideSales.com. The study analyzed the response patterns of over 15,000 leads across multiple industries and established the now-famous "5-minute rule" for lead response.

The study found that contacting a lead within 5 minutes of their inquiry makes you 100 times more likely to reach them compared to waiting just 30 minutes. After 5 minutes, the odds of qualifying that lead drop by 80%. This research was later cited by Harvard Business Review in their article "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads," which brought the findings to mainstream business audiences.

For home service businesses receiving leads from Yelp, Google Local Services Ads, Angi, or Thumbtack, these findings have direct revenue implications: every lead you pay for has a rapidly decaying value curve that starts the moment the customer submits their request.

Lead Response Time Statistics: Complete Data for 2026

Why Lead Response Speed Matters

1. Customers Are Comparing Options

When someone searches for a service, they typically contact 2-3 businesses simultaneously. The Harvard Business Review lead response time study found that companies who respond within an hour are 7 times more likely to qualify the lead than those who wait even 60 minutes — and 60 times more likely than companies that wait 24 hours or longer.

2. Intent Decays Quickly After 5 Minutes

A customer's urgency peaks at the moment they reach out. The MIT lead response time 5 minutes study by Dr. James Oldroyd confirmed that purchase intent begins declining almost immediately after initial contact. After an hour, many leads have either solved their problem another way or moved on to a competitor who responded faster.

3. First Impressions Set Service Expectations

Your response time signals how you'll treat them as a customer. A study in the Journal of Marketing Research found that response speed is the #1 factor customers use to judge service quality before making a purchase decision.

The Real Cost of Slow Lead Response

Consider this scenario: You spend $50 on a Google Local Services Ad that generates a lead. If you respond in 30 minutes instead of 5 minutes, your odds of converting that lead drop by up to 21x according to the MIT lead response time study. That $50 lead effectively becomes worth less than $2.50.

For a business generating 100 leads per month at $50 each ($5,000/month in ad spend), slow response times could be costing you the equivalent of $4,750 in wasted ad spend monthly.

Speed to Lead: How Response Time Impacts Revenue

The speed to lead impact on revenue is staggering. According to the MIT lead response time study conducted by Dr. James Oldroyd, contacting a lead within 5 minutes makes you 100 times more likely to connect than waiting just 30 minutes. The Harvard Business Review lead response time study found that companies responding within one hour are 7x more likely to qualify the lead — and 60x more likely than those waiting 24 hours.

For home service businesses buying leads from platforms like Yelp, Google Local Services Ads, or Angi, these speed to lead statistics translate directly to revenue. A $50 lead that gets a 5-minute response has a fundamentally different ROI than the same lead with a 30-minute response.

The data is clear: speed to lead is not just a metric — it's the single biggest lever you can pull to improve lead conversion and revenue generation. (For a breakdown of which lead sources deliver the best ROI when you do respond fast, see Best Lead Sources for Home Service Businesses.)

Paying for leads on Yelp, Google LSA, Angi, or Thumbtack? Your response time is the difference between a $50 lead that books a $5,000 job and a $50 lead that goes to your competitor. See how Casey responds to leads in seconds →

How to Actually Respond to Every Lead in Under 5 Minutes

The statistics above paint a clear picture: the 5-minute window is real, and most businesses miss it. The average response time across industries is 47 hours — nearly 600x slower than what the research says you need.

So how do you actually close the gap?

For most businesses — especially home service companies juggling jobs, driving between appointments, and managing crews — the problem isn't awareness. They know speed matters. The problem is execution. You can't respond to a Yelp lead in 90 seconds when you're under a sink or on a roof.

The Three Approaches to Sub-5-Minute Response

1. Staff a dedicated response team. Hire someone whose only job is monitoring leads and responding immediately. This works during business hours but leaves nights, weekends, and holidays uncovered. Cost: $35,000–$50,000/year, with gaps in coverage.

2. Use a call center or answering service. Call centers can handle volume, but they often lack context about your business, your services, and what qualifies as a good lead. The response is fast but generic — and research shows response quality matters nearly as much as speed.

3. Deploy AI-powered lead response. AI autoresponders respond to inbound leads within seconds — not minutes — across every platform simultaneously. The AI qualifies the lead, asks relevant follow-up questions, and routes the conversation appropriately. This is how businesses achieve the sub-60-second response times the MIT and Harvard research points to as optimal.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Consider a plumbing company running ads on Yelp, Google Local Services, and Thumbtack simultaneously. At 8:47 PM on a Tuesday, a homeowner with a burst pipe submits a Request a Quote on Yelp and messages two other plumbers on Thumbtack.

With a human-only approach, that lead sits untouched until the next morning — 12+ hours later. The homeowner has already booked with whoever responded first.

With an AI autoresponder, the response goes out within seconds. The AI asks what type of plumbing issue it is, confirms the address, and checks urgency. By the time the homeowner finishes messaging the second plumber on Thumbtack, they've already gotten a substantive response from the first business and are ready to book the job.

This isn't theoretical. It's the exact scenario the MIT lead response time study describes: the first responder wins 78% of the time. The only question is whether you're the first responder or the business that responds tomorrow morning.

Platform-Specific Response Challenges

The 5-minute rule applies universally, but each lead platform has different mechanics:

• Yelp — Leads come through Request a Quote messaging. Yelp tracks your response quality and speed, which affects your visibility to future customers.
• Google LSA — Leads are phone-call-first. Missed calls during busy hours are the #1 source of wasted ad spend.
• Thumbtack — Customers compare multiple pros simultaneously. Response speed is the primary competitive differentiator.
• Angi — Multiple businesses receive the same lead. First to engage meaningfully wins.
• Meta (Facebook/Instagram) — Leads come from ads and often need nurturing. Slow first response kills engagement before it starts.

For businesses advertising across multiple platforms, the response time challenge compounds. You don't just need to respond fast on one platform — you need to respond fast on all of them, simultaneously, 24/7.

The Bottom Line

In competitive markets, response speed is often the difference between winning and losing a customer. The research is clear: responding in under 5 minutes dramatically increases your conversion rates.

If you're investing in advertising, make sure you're not wasting that investment with slow response times. Every minute you wait, your competitors might be responding first.

Further Reading

• Best Lead Sources for Home Service Businesses — Compare Yelp, Google LSA, Angi, Thumbtack, and Meta. Which platforms deliver the best ROI when you respond fast?
• Casey AI vs Call Centers — How does AI lead response compare to traditional call centers for speed, cost, and lead quality?
• How AI Autoresponders Work — See how AI achieves the sub-60-second response times the Harvard and MIT research identifies as optimal.

Stop Losing Leads to Slow Response Times

You've seen the data: 78% of customers buy from the first responder, and lead quality drops 80% after 5 minutes. If you're spending money on Yelp, Google LSA, Angi, Thumbtack, or Meta ads to generate leads, the math is simple — respond faster, close more.

Casey is an AI autoresponder built specifically for home service businesses. It responds to inbound leads within seconds across every ad platform, qualifies intent, and books jobs — 24/7, including nights and weekends when most leads go unanswered.

• See how the AI Autoresponder works
• Learn about AI Job Booking
• See how Casey works on Yelp | Google LSA | Thumbtack