ReplyClockExample Plumbing Co.
8 Texas locations tested Oct 6–8, 2026, each watched for 7 days. All times are Central Time (CT). Speed is scored on business hours: the location's posted hours, or Mon–Fri 9 AM–5 PM.
F 57
Network average (of 100)
6 of 8
Locations that sent a personal reply
2 hr 1 min
Median time to first personal reply (business hours)
1 A · 2 B · 2 D · 3 F
Grade mix
Top 3 fixes
- Fix Houston West's web form today. It rejected both of our submissions, so every web lead there is being lost (tagged "Broken intake").
- Put a named person behind every form inbox. San Antonio sent only an autoresponder and a promo email. Route form leads to a monitored inbox with an owner and a target of a personal reply within 1 hour.
- Answer the question in the first reply, and follow up once. Fort Worth deflected to "call the office", and Plano and Round Rock answered only in part. A shared reply template with price ranges and a booking link would lift scores on Question answered and Next step. Plano and Fort Worth never followed up.
Location ranking
| # | Location / channel | First personal reply (clock time) | Business hrs | Spd 35 | Pers 15 | Ans 20 | Next 10 | F/U 12 | Prof 8 | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austin North Web form · submitted Tue Oct 6, 10:12 AM CT |
10:15 AM CT (3 min) | 3 min | 35 | 15 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 100 | A |
| Named technician answered the question and sent a booking link. Two personal follow-ups. | |||||||||||
| 2 | Round Rock Site chat · submitted Wed Oct 7, 11:05 AM CT |
11:09 AM CT (4 min) | 4 min | 35 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 85 | B |
| A person joined the chat fast. Gave a price range but skipped the camera-inspection question. | |||||||||||
| 3 | Dallas Central Web form · submitted Tue Oct 6, 10:40 AM CT |
11:32 AM CT (52 min) | 52 min | 30 | 15 | 20 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 84 | B |
| Full answer and asked us to reply with a good time. Unsigned, with no contact details. | |||||||||||
| 4 | Plano Email · submitted Thu Oct 8, 10:02 AM CT |
1:12 PM CT (3 hr 10 min) | 3 hr 10 min | 24 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 65 | D |
| Booking link, partial answer, no follow-up. | |||||||||||
| 5 | Katy Email · submitted Wed Oct 7, 1:20 PM CT |
Thu Oct 8, 4:45 PM CT (27 hr 25 min clock) | 11 hr 25 min | 6 | 15 | 20 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 62 | D |
| Thorough, friendly answer, but it arrived the next afternoon. | |||||||||||
| 6 | Fort Worth Web form · submitted Tue Oct 6, 1:30 PM CT |
4:52 PM CT (3 hr 22 min) | 3 hr 22 min | 24 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 51 | F |
| Reply said "just call the office". The question wasn't answered. | |||||||||||
| 7 | San Antonio Web form · submitted Wed Oct 7, 10:25 AM CT |
None in 7 days | — | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 12 | F |
| Autoresponder only, then a generic promo email. No person ever replied. | |||||||||||
| 8 | Houston West Web form · submitted Thu Oct 8, 11:10 AM CT |
Form error (retried Fri Oct 9, 11:15 AM CT) | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | F |
| Broken intake: the form returned an error on both attempts. A real lead would be lost. | |||||||||||
How scores work (rubric v1):
- Speed (35): under 5 min 35 · under 1 hr 30 · under 4 hr 24 · same business day 18 · under 1 business day 12 · under 3 business days 6 · none 0.
- Personal (15): a person 15 · autoresponder or bot only 3.
- Answered (20): fully 20 · partly 10 · deflected 4.
- Next step (10): booking link or specific time 10 · clear ask 6 · vague 2.
- Follow-up over 7 days (12): 2 or more personal follow-ups 12 · 1 follow-up 7 · automated drip only 3.
- Professionalism (8): 2 points each for the right name and brand, no obvious errors, a named sender with contact details, and a polite tone.
- Grades: A 90+ · B 80–89 · C 70–79 · D 60–69 · F under 60.
Each location's evidence folder holds the submission timestamp, screenshots, and every reply with full email headers.