Over the past two years, Stratford Meridian has analyzed more than 18,000 inbound leads flowing through ESAM across home improvement and service businesses in the U.S.

The pattern is clear: speed-to-lead is the single most powerful controllable lever for conversion.

Industry research has long shown that faster responses dramatically increase close rates—some studies suggest responding within the first five minutes can increase your chances of conversion by multiples. Our own ESAM dataset confirms this, but adds detail that matters for day-to-day operations.

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1. The first 5 minutes vs. the first hour

Across the sample:

• Leads contacted within 5 minutes of submitting a form or calling back a missed call converted to jobs at an average rate of 17.4%.

• Leads contacted between 5 and 60 minutes converted at 8.2%.

• Leads contacted after 60 minutes converted at just 3.6%.

In other words, moving from a ~1-hour response time to a sub-5-minute response time nearly quintuples the probability of closing a job.

For context, broad benchmarks put average lead-to-sale conversion rates across industries in the 2–5% range. High-intent home-services calls can perform better, but only when followed up quickly. 

2. Channels are not equal—but speed matters more than channel

ESAM data also shows that channel differences (web form vs. click-to-call vs. SMS) matter less than response time:

• When responded to within 5 minutes, web form leads converted at 15–16%,

• Click-to-call and missed-call-text-back leads converted at 18–19%,

• Inbound SMS inquiries converted at 16–18%.

Once response time slips past an hour, these channel gaps mostly disappear—everything falls back into the low single digits.

The implication: debating “best channel” is less important than operationalizing a fast response to all of them.

3. Automation vs. humans: the 2-step model

Top-performing clients in the dataset use a two-step speed-to-lead model:

1. Automated instant response via ESAM

   • SMS and/or email confirming the inquiry,

   • A simple question to qualify (“Is this for roofing, gutters, or siding?”),

   • A link to book a time or confirm a call.

2. Human follow-up within 5–10 minutes

   • Either a call or SMS from the office/sales team,

   • A short script focused on clarifying scope and next steps.

Accounts using both automation and fast human follow-up saw 24% higher show-up rates for estimates and 19% higher job close rates than accounts relying only on manual callbacks.

4. Operational takeaway

Many service businesses believe they have a “lead problem” when they actually have a response problem. With cost-per-lead rising in competitive home services categories, improving speed-to-lead can be the most cost-effective way to improve ROI on marketing.

For most owners, the practical question is not, “How do we get more leads?” but:

“How do we guarantee a sub-5-minute response for every lead we already pay for?”

In our view, the answer combines platform (ESAM), process (clear ownership and scripts), and measurement (MARC tracking response-time bands and conversion rates over time).

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Methodology: Analysis of anonymized ESAM lead and opportunity data across 21 Stratford Meridian client accounts between January 2023 and September 2025. Conversion is defined as lead-to-completed job. Results are directional and will vary by business model, service mix, and market conditions.