Got a minute?

If you’re in a consumer-focused business, the answer is “no.”

Two days ago we released a survey that revealed some eye-opening data related to customer hold times and their likeliness to convert. The bottom line: if you keep your customers waiting on hold, and they may not be a customer for long.

The longer customers do wait (“longer” meaning more than just one minute) they’re less likely to convert into sales. Consider this statistic:

Ifbyphone® research finds 59 percent of consumers more likely to buy when brands answer the phone in under a minute; 73 percent more likely to recommend highly responsive brands to other consumers.

A minute isn’t much time, but it’s all the time a customer needs to make some hard-hitting decisions with regard to your business. Here are some survey highlights that show you what’s at stake with your business’ response time.

• 84 percent of customers are likely or very likely to do business with a brand if they respond in less than a minute. Only 53 percent say the same after waiting for more than a minute.
• Four out of five respondents indicated a desire to abandon a brand due to poor response times, but nearly half (45%) reported they couldn’t walk away for contractual or other reasons.

There’s a lot more insight from the 531 U.S. prospects and customers surveyed, so read the full report to learn more.

Ifbyphone report:

Consumers Waiting On-Hold More Than One Minute Won’t Convert or Refer