11:40 am, March 27, 2026
New and used car dealers are missing out on sales due to gaps in speed, follow-up and availability when responding to leads.
That is according to a new white-paper report from Impel, which has been looking into how retailers handle leads and meet ever-changing customer expectations.
The study, titled After the Lead Lands, was presented at Car Dealer Live in Gaydon last week, where Impel’s UK managing director, James Leese, appeared on stage to discuss the findings.
The report, which analysed mystery shop data, consumer surveys and more than 300,000 leads, says that dealers are currently being held back by the limitations of manual follow-up strategies, which prevent customers from getting a response outside of office time.
It found that 67% of buyers expect a same-day reply, while at the same time around a third of all customer engagement now takes place outside of normal working hours.
Speaking with Car Dealer’s James Batchelor, Leese explained how slow or generic responses are damaging trust and costing conversions.
Explaining the rationale behind the research, he said: ‘The amount of leads that dealers generate is very important and it’s a big point because of the amount of money that’s invested in generating leads to get to the top of the funnel.
‘But actually, what happens what that lead lands is hugely important. Converting that lead through the funnel to become an appointment to ultimately help you sell a car, is massive.
‘If you look at the data, in the UK market, roughly 20 to 30% is the conversion rate of leads to appointments to bring people into your showroom so actually there is 70 to 80% of those high value leads that you’re generating that aren’t resulting in that.
‘We wanted to understand why, so the easiest way to to that is to say “let’s put ourselves in the consumer journey and see what happens.’
Elsewhere, the white-paper found that 25% of leads re-engage after more than 48 hours of silence, with Leese going on to stress the importance of persistent follow-up strategies.
The study also showed that 60% of customer interactions now happen via SMS, with the text channel delivering a 14% conversion rate compared to just 8% for email.
Meanwhile, 35% of buyers said they would look elsewhere if a dealer is slow to respond, and 12% of enquiries never received a tailored reply at all.
The research also found that the average contact window lasts just 3.9 days before communication stops, meaning deals are being missed as a result of poor engagement.
Speaking at the British Motor Museum, Leese added: ‘Customers now expect a response. I think a third [want a response] within six hours or a day and then 25% of that are saying they expect a response within an hour.
‘They are expecting speed, they want to move quick but then at the same time they also want the right information. They don’t just want an automated response, they want something that’s going to give them a response to the questions they’ve asked to help them move through that process.
‘If you don’t do any of that, then 35% of those customers, or those opportunities are going to go elsewhere. They are not going to hang around – speed is important but also the quality of that response is also hugely important.’
The white-paper can be downloaded here, and the session can be watched by visiting the Car Dealer Live website where you can purchase a replay ticket.
Watch (and listen on Spotify) James Baggott’s highlights of Car Dealer Live 2026 below.
