javoResponsiveness
Companies took 73 times longer than the 10 minutes customers expect to answer an email
In a test of 1,000 companies, 62% never answered a customer email, and the others took 12 hours 10 minutes on average. Set against what customers call an immediate reply, the gap is large.
Email feels like a safe channel: the request is written, nothing gets lost. In practice, many businesses answer late, or not at all.
What SuperOffice measured
In 2018, SuperOffice sent a customer service email to 1,000 companies and timed the answers.
- 62% never replied.
- 90% did not acknowledge receipt.
- The average response time was 12 hours 10 minutes.
Set against what customers expect
The same year, HubSpot asked 1,000 consumers what “immediate” means: 62% put it at 10 minutes or less for a sales question. The average measured by SuperOffice is 73 times that.
| Out of 100 emails sent | Result |
|---|---|
| No reply at all | 62 |
| A reply, after 12 h 10 min on average | 38 |
Closing the gap
- Acknowledge every request straight away, with a realistic time for the full answer.
- Answer the frequent questions without waiting: a chat agent can do this at any hour.
- Keep email for what needs thought, and track how long your replies really take.
Sources
Javo answers your visitors, even out of hours.
Installed on your site with one line of code, from €600 per product.