I'll start off by saying this: I don't have any answers here, just data. Do with these content marketing statistics what you choose.
So here's the premise of the research: You've probably heard about the studies that show you'll increase conversion rates by 391% by calling new leads within one minute. Now that seems a bit invasive to me, but, as they say, numbers don't lie. Here at Nectafy, we see leads come in at all times of day and into the night. So if the goal is to get in touch within one minute of becoming a lead, what're you supposed to do outside of business hours? I set out to find when form submissions happen, by day of the week and time of day.
I took a look at a sample of 2,000+ form submissions (or leads) from the past year at Nectafy. Here are the results:
On what days do people fill out forms to download content?
Takeaways:
- 12.4% of leads are submitted on non-work days (Saturday and Sunday).
- People are 24% more likely to submit forms on Sunday than on Saturday.
- Thursday is the most popular day to submit forms.
- Saturday is the least popular day to submit forms.
- Wednesday is the least popular day during the work week.
What times of day do people fill out forms?
Keep in mind that all of these form submissions were recorded in Eastern Standard Time. So this data is from the perspective of the company's location, not the lead's. People from around the world submit forms and it could look like 3 a.m. EST when it's actually 2 p.m. local time for that lead. Therefore, you should use this data for your sales process, not to model the behavior of people online.
Takeaways:
- 38% of leads are submitted outside of work hours (assuming 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as a typical work day).
- 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. are the most popular times for form submissions.
- 3 a.m. is the least popular hour for form submissions.
- There is a slight pickup at 5-6 p.m. (the end of the work day).
- Mornings (before 12 p.m.) account for 41% of submissions.
- Afternoons (after 12 p.m.) account for 59% of submissions.
Now what?
What can your company do with this information? I recommend running the same analysis on your data (let me know if you need help @henryoloughlin). If you have a big enough sample size, you could learn a lot about what days sales people should be focused on contacting leads.
Maybe if you're a B2C company, you should think about adding a weekend crew. If you see a bit of a dip on Wednesdays (like we do), maybe you should do monthly trainings on those days. What if Europe is a big lead source—should you hire a salesperson there for time zone purposes?
By looking at your own data, you'll be able to make important sales decisions more easily. If you're looking for some quick insights based on our data, it's important to note that a good chunk of form submissions happen outside of work hours. Since we know it's important to get in touch with leads quickly, we all may be missing out on some great opportunities.
