Glossary term
What is Response time?
Short answer
Response time is the average delay before a business answers any customer contact, such as a call, text, email or web form, measured from the moment it arrives.
Response time, explained for tree service owners
Response time is how long customers wait for an answer from you, across every channel. Lead response time is the same idea focused on new leads. For a tree service, a quick reply can decide whether the customer books you or calls the next company. Look at your average and your slowest cases, not only your best day. Slow replies often happen when crews are out, at night or during storms. Set a clear target, such as a same-hour text reply during business hours and an automatic reply for after-hours messages. Measure it with your phone or messaging tool so you can see improvement.
Related terms
- Lead
Lead is a person or household that has shown interest in a business's service, for example by calling, texting or filling in a form, but…
- Lead response time
Lead response time is the amount of time between a new lead contacting a business and the business making its first reply, whether by…
- Answer rate
Answer rate is the share of incoming calls to a business that a real person picks up, out of all the calls that come in during a set period.
- Booking rate
Booking rate is the share of leads or calls that end with a booked estimate or job, found by dividing bookings by total leads in the…
- Follow-up sequence
Follow-up sequence is a planned series of messages sent to a lead over several days or weeks, such as texts or emails, to keep the…
- Reactivation campaign
Reactivation campaign is a set of messages sent to past customers or old leads to invite them back for a new job, a trim or a seasonal…
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