What is speed to lead?
Speed to lead is the time between a buyer raising a hand and a real person responding to them.
Formula
Speed to lead = time of first human response – time of the form submission. Report the median and the slowest responses, because the average hides the slow ones. Exclude auto-responders.
Respond while the lead is hot. Interest is highest right after a buyer raises a hand, and they are often still on your site. A real person who replies within minutes, references what they asked, and offers a time to talk reaches them before a competitor does. Buyers usually contact several vendors at once, so a slow reply means they are already in conversation elsewhere.
Watch for repeat submissions. A buyer who gets no timely reply will often submit again, sometimes with a different email address. Match repeats on company domain, name, and phone number, alert the existing owner, and treat the second submission as a priority signal, not a duplicate.
Pair it with a response commitment (SLA): one named owner for every inbound lead and a time within which they respond. It affects CAC because it decides how many of the leads you already paid for turn into conversations, and whether repeat inquiries get counted as new demand.