Our friends at Direct Connect have released new lead response research focused on the Australian automotive industry.
Over several weeks, more than 1,800 mystery shopper leads were submitted to 600 dealerships nationwide, covering 42 automotive brands. Each enquiry was designed to measure how effectively dealerships handled online leads, with a strong focus on response speed and follow-up quality.
The Secret Shopper project assessed how online enquiries were managed and benchmarked both lead response times and overall response rates. This provided a clear view of how quickly dealers are engaging with potential customers once a lead is received.
The findings were surprising.
On average, dealerships took 12 hours and 45 minutes to respond to online leads when measured across calendar hours. Even when measured only during business hours, the average response time was still 4 hours and 42 minutes.
For an industry where speed, trust, and first contact matter, these delays highlight a significant opportunity for improvement.
You can explore the full findings by downloading the whitepaper from Direct Connect.