Market Research for Inquiry Response Time

Lately I’ve been using contact us forms on websites for companies that I would have normally called in order to test the effectiveness and response time for their follow-up emails and calls. The results aren’t pretty. Companies must not a) have a process for their online form inquiries, b) get very many leads online, or c) only have the form because the web design firm went ahead and included it.

Here’s my simple research:

• Local tire store – responded eight days later with the quote I requested
• Local dentist – no response at all
• Child swim coach – one hour response
• Marketing vendor – responded 24 hours later and never responded to my email response (has been eight days)

Now, I’m not saying small businesses should drop everything when an email comes in but they should prioritize these prospect inquiry requests, as with inbound marketing, these are usually the most serious leads. A couple ideas for the issue include having alerts for these sent to a special email address that multiple people receive as well as using software to have the phone ring when a form is completed.

What else? What’s your experience been like using contact us forms online?