Reply within the hour, and within minutes when you can. That is what the best-known study of lead response time supports. The rest of this article covers what that study measured, what it did not, and how a busy Bengaluru broker can hit the hour when a 99acres or MagicBricks lead lands during a site visit or after 7 pm.
What the HBR study found, in two numbers
The study found that the first hour decides most of a lead's value. In 2011, three researchers published an audit of how quickly US companies responded to leads that came in through their websites1.
- Firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were about 7 times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited longer than an hour1.
- They were more than 60 times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited 24 hours or more1.
The authors were James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington. The article, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads", ran in the March 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review1.
What the study does not say
It does not say anything specific about Indian property buyers, and it is not a guarantee. Four limits matter before you quote it to a client or a team.
- It is US data from 2011. The companies audited were American and came from many industries, not real estate in Bengaluru1.
- It measured web leads. It tells you nothing direct about replies on WhatsApp.
- It compares firms, not leads. Firms that respond fast may also be better run in other ways. The study shows a strong link between speed and qualification, not that speed alone causes it.
- It does not carry every number attached to it. Larger multipliers, often paired with a much shorter window, circulate online under the HBR name. They come from different studies. If you want to use one, find and cite that study directly.
None of this weakens the main point. It means the honest version of the claim is "within the hour", backed by US evidence, not a precise multiplier for your market.
Why the hour matters more for portal leads
A portal lead is rarely yours alone, so the first broker to call usually gets the conversation. Portal leads are commonly shared between several advertisers, which one Indian marketing agency lists as the main drawback of the channel2. The buyer who enquired on your 2BHK listing may well have enquired on other listings the same evening.
Newer US tests show how often nobody answers quickly:
- In a 2024 test, secret shoppers sent 100 enquiries to US agents3. 47% received no response, and the median reply took 39 minutes3.
- A 2026 study sent 2,198 phone and website enquiries to offices of 21 large US real estate brands4. 68% of website enquiries got no response within 24 hours, and only 10% heard from an agent within an hour4.
We could not find a published equivalent for Bengaluru. That gap is why Pouncer is running the Bengaluru property enquiry response study, with consenting brokers and builders and aggregate results only.
How to reply within the hour when you are on a site visit
Pick one of four ways, and decide before the next lead lands rather than after. Each has a cost and a catch.
- An evening rota. One person in the team owns new leads after 6 pm, by turn. It costs nothing but goodwill, and it fails the night that person is at a family function.
- A telecaller. A dedicated caller answers every lead in working hours. It works well by day and does not cover 10 pm or Sunday morning.
- A WhatsApp first reply. An instant message tells the buyer you have the enquiry and when you will call. WhatsApp's policy requires that the person gave you their number and opted in to hear from you. Outside the 24-hour window after their last message, you can only send approved templates5. Read how your portal words its enquiry consent before you automate this.
- An automated responder. Software replies on WhatsApp and calls the buyer back. In India, calls placed by software without a person dialling count as application-to-person (A2P) calls and must be declared to your telecom operator in advance6. Pouncer is one such service: it replies on WhatsApp, calls back in Kannada, Hindi or English, and books the site visit.
For a team of brokers sharing one pool of portal leads, the broker teams page shows how the reply and the summary fit around the people already selling.
Time your own reply this week
You can measure your current speed in one evening, without any software. Do it on channels you own, not on portal listings, so no paid lead is wasted.
- Ask a friend to send an enquiry to your website form at 11 am on a weekday, another at 8 pm, and a third on Sunday morning.
- Note the time each one was sent and the time of the first reply of any kind, on any channel.
- Note who replied: a person, an auto-reply, or nobody within 24 hours.
If the 8 pm and Sunday enquiries wait until the next working morning, read what happens to property enquiries after 7 pm and on Sundays. If you pay for portal leads, the same timings change your real cost per site visit, which is worked through in is a 99acres leads package worth it?.
Questions
Does replying within an hour guarantee more site visits?
No. The HBR study found that fast responders were far likelier to qualify leads, across US firms. It did not measure site visits or Indian buyers. Speed gets you the conversation; the listing, the price and how you handle the call still decide the visit.
Is an instant WhatsApp auto-reply enough?
It is a start, not an answer. An auto-reply tells the buyer you exist. It does not learn their budget, location, BHK or timeline, and it does not book a visit. Most buyers still need a call or a real chat soon after.
What counts as a reply in Pouncer's field study?
The first human or automated response the enquirer receives, on any channel, measured from the moment the enquiry was sent. The study also records which channel the reply came on.
