Global businesses are falling out of touch with sales leads, with as many as half of prospects never receiving a personalised response, according to a new InsideSales.com study.
The research – which audited over 4700 leads across numerous verticals – found the average lead response time was 38 hours and 35 minutes, a 22% increase since June 2016.
Despite becoming slower at responding to leads, 28.4% of first email responses were determined to be automatically generated emails.
On a more optimistic note, the research did show that phone persistency has improved: 7.8% more leads received phone calls in November than they did in June this year.
However, 77% of leads still never receive a phone call, despite it being the most successful form of contact for following up sales inquiries.
Martin Moran, EMEA VP and GM of InsideSales.com, commented: “The recent transformation of the sales process, where better analysis of data has left cold calls a thing of the past, makes these results particularly worrying for businesses.
“Prospects are expecting a more personalised sales experience than ever before, particularly as an increasing number of sales teams now employ data driven analytics and insights in equal measures to better target accounts.
“The fact that half of all inquiries never even receive a personalised response seriously diminishes the value of this investment.”
