The Secret to Increasing Your Online Lead Response Rate
How long does it take you, or your team, to respond to a lead from RightMove, Zoopla, or OnTheMarket? What if you received that lead on a Saturday after you’ve closed up for the weekend; how long will it be until the lead receives a response from someone on your team? If your answer was anything less than 2 days, you’re doing better than most agents. The average time from receipt of an online lead to the initial response is just under 47 hours, assuming the lead gets a response at all. In fact, our own research shows that only 53% of online property portal leads are ever responded to at all.
This is the single most important reasons why your expensive online leads don’t convert as well as you expect them to.
Olivia Can Help
Olivia is a service that responds to your RightMove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket leads within a few minutes of the lead’s enquiry, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. When an enquiry is received, Olivia will send a text message to your lead; the content of that message is based on a script that you write. When the lead responds, our agents continue with the full scope of your script. Some of our most successful customers use Olivia to schedule viewings, others focus on lead qualification and getting the information they require up front.
The best part is that your leads love the service too. You might think that it would seem creepy to a customer to get a text message so quickly after sending an enquiry, but the two most common responses we get are, “Wow that was fast!”, and “Thank you for following up so quickly!” This sets the tone for your relationship with the customer, it looks impressive, and it builds an initial trust and sense of goodwill that your agency will put an equal effort into meeting their needs.
The Science Behind Olivia
Several years ago, an MIT research study was undertaken to determine the impact of a fast response to onine leads
The results were staggering:
- The odds of contacting a lead decrease by over 10 times in the 1st hour
- The odds of qualifying a lead decrease by over 6 times in the 1st hour
- The odds of contacting a lead if they are contacted within 5 minutes are 100 times higher versus only 30 minutes
- The odds of qualifying a lead if contacted within 5 minutes are 21 times higher versus 30 minutes
Today, with increases in smartphone usage, ever-increasing competition for people’s attention, and a higher expectation for an immediate response among consumers, the benefit of an immediate response is likely even higher.
Olivia’s agents respond to every lead in under 5 minutes.
Using SMS to Increase Response Rates Again
Olivia relies on SMS as our primary method to engage leads. Our research shows that many consumers do not answer phone calls, with the most common reasons noting that calls can be inconvenient to take, intrusive, or otherwise distracting. Similarly, many consumers report that emails are quickly lost and forgotten.
Conversely, 98% of SMS messages are read, and 90% are read within 3 minutes of receipt.
When Olivia responds to your leads in under 5 minutes, there are 3 things that are working in your favour:
- You’re reaching them on the device they keep with them at all times, in a way that is not invasive yet quickly gets their attention
- You’re top of mind. They’ve just sent you an enquiry, likely from their smartphone a few minutes earlier
- You’ve just made an amazing first impression.
If you want to increase your lead engagement, Olivia can help. Schedule a demo of Olivia and I’ll personally walk you through the whole process, or sign up for a Free Trial today.
You May Also Enjoy
Applicant budgets remain stable and rental prices in line with historic norms
The Impact of Increasing Lease Conversions on Estate Agents in 2026
First-time buyers help drive the most home moves for three years
Mortgage Lending Statistics – December 2025
Bank of England interest rates decision – Thoughts from the Industry
