Speed to lead
Speed to lead is the elapsed time between a lead arriving and a human speaking to them.
The industry average first response time is roughly 42 hours. Responding inside five minutes multiplies the odds of ever reaching that patient by around nine times, which makes this the cheapest measurable improvement available to any practice buying full arch media.
The clock starts when the form is submitted or the call comes in, and it stops when a human being is in a two way conversation with the patient. An automated text is not the stop point, because it does not establish contact.
This is a staffing question before it is a training question. A front desk answering between other tasks cannot hold a five minute response window through a surgical day, which is why answering coverage exists as a service at all.
The formula
Measure the elapsed time from the lead arriving to the start of the first two way conversation with a human, and report the median across the cohort.
speed to lead = time of first two way contact - time lead arrived
What is included and what is excluded
Counts
- Time from form submission or inbound call to a human conversation
- Time accrued outside office hours, which is when many leads arrive
- The median across the cohort, reported with its denominator
Does not count
- Automated confirmation texts and emails
- Outbound attempts that did not reach the patient
- Time measured only during business hours, which hides the real delay
A worked example
A practice compares two intake arrangements on 100 leads each.
- 01Next business day response, contact rate 50 percent: 50 contacts
- 02Under five minute response, contact rate 72 percent: 72 contacts
- 03At 3.44 seated arches per 100 leads on the slower funnel
- 0472 / 50 = 1.44 times the contacts, on the same spend
The same 100 leads reach 22 more patients, with no additional media cost.
How this differs from
- Contacted
Contacted records that a conversation happened. This measures how long it took.
- Show rate
Speed to lead buys contacts. Show rate decides how many of them reach a chair.
- Cost per qualified lead
Faster contact lowers this cost without touching the media, because fewer leads are wasted.
These definitions come from our published measurement standard. Read The Arch Standard for the reporting rules they sit inside, or see every term.
Want this measured in your practice? A consult walks through how we track it, if that is useful.
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