How fast should a business reply to customer messages?
On social media, about three in four consumers expect a reply within 24 hours or sooner, according to the 2025 Sprout Social Index, so a day is the outer limit, not the goal. Answer first the messages closest to a sale, like an order, a price or a time, and never trade accuracy for speed.
What customers say they expect
The research below on reply speed comes from social media. The 2025 Sprout Social Index surveyed 4,044 consumers who follow at least five brands on social media, in September 2024. About three in four said they expect a response within 24 hours or sooner.
The same research found that 73% agree that if a brand fails to respond to their questions on social, they will buy from a competitor next time. That is what people say they will do, not a measure of what they did. Still, it is a clear signal of how much a missing reply can cost.
These numbers are about social media customer service in general. They are not a study of Instagram DMs alone. They are a fair guide to what someone sending you a DM expects, as long as you read them that way.
Why speed matters to sales
Zendesk's CX Trends 2026 research surveyed 6,182 consumers in 22 countries in June 2025. 86% said responsiveness and accurate resolution highly influence their purchase decisions. That question is about customer service in general, not messaging alone.
Notice the two halves of that sentence. Responsiveness is one. Accurate resolution is the other. A fast answer that is wrong does not count.
Look at the questions in your own inbox. Are you open tonight? How much is the family meal? Do you come out to my area? Can you fit me in this week? Treat questions like these as buying moments, and answer them while the customer is still deciding.
Fast is not enough: the answer has to be right
A quick reply with the wrong price, the wrong hours or an item you no longer sell can lead to a refund, a wasted trip or a bad review. Speed only helps when the answer is true.
The fix is to write down the answers you give every week, once, and answer from that. Your hours, including holidays. Your menu or services with current prices. The area you cover. How pickup, delivery or payment works. Who handles complaints.
What to answer first
When messages pile up, sort them by how close each one is to a sale or a problem:
- Anything urgent or about safety, like a leak at a customer's home. These go to a person right away.
- Orders and carts in progress. The customer is ready to pay.
- Price, availability and timing questions. The customer is choosing now.
- Complaints. Answer quickly, and take them to a person, not a template.
- General questions, like parking or whether you cater.
Restaurants can see how a DM becomes a checkout order on Square, and contractors how to capture leads while on a job.
Set a reply target you can keep
You don't need a benchmark from someone else's business. You need a promise you can keep. Start by measuring where you are.
- For one normal week, note when each message arrived and when it got a reply.
- Split the week into open hours and closed hours, and compare the two.
- Pick a target for each. For example, within an hour while open, and by the next morning when closed.
- Write the target down and tell the team who covers messages during rush hours.
- Measure again a month later.
After hours, say something true
Your messages don't stop when you close. You have three honest options for the hours nobody is watching.
- An away message that gives your hours and says when you will reply. It sets expectations, but it does not answer the question.
- Saved replies for the questions you get every day, sent by whoever checks the inbox first.
- An AI assistant that answers from your real menu, prices and hours, says it is automated, and hands anything sensitive to a person. DM DESK is one tool that works this way.
To put a dollar figure on slow replies, try the missed message cost calculator with your own numbers.
What the research doesn't tell you
These surveys measure what people say they expect and what they say they will do. They don't measure what happened to sales at a business like yours when replies got faster. No study can tell you your own number.
That's why the most useful data is your own. Count your messages, your reply times and how many answered messages turned into a sale. A month of that tells you more about your customers than any national survey.
A restaurant example
A restaurant gets a DM at 7:40pm asking for two burgers for pickup. If the reply comes the next morning, that dinner is gone. If the reply comes in minutes, with the price and a link to order, the customer can still eat tonight.
If your restaurant uses Toast, see how to take orders from Instagram DMs with Toast.
Questions owners ask.
Is replying within 24 hours fast enough?
It meets what about three in four consumers say they expect on social media, according to the 2025 Sprout Social Index. For an order for tonight, though, a reply the next day comes after the meal.
Do I need to reply at night?
You need to set an honest expectation at night. An away message with your hours, saved replies, or an AI assistant that answers from your real information are all ways to do that.
Which messages should I answer first?
Urgent and safety messages, then orders in progress, then price, availability and timing questions, then complaints, then general questions.
Does a fast reply help if the answer is wrong?
No. In Zendesk's 2025 survey, consumers named responsiveness and accurate resolution together. Write down your answers once so a fast reply is also a right one.
How do I know my current reply time?
Track one normal week: when each message arrived and when it got a reply, split into open and closed hours.
Sources
- Sprout Social, Social media customer service statistics to know in 2026 (citing the 2025 Sprout Social Index), 2026.
- Sprout Social, The 2025 Sprout Social Index, 2025.
- Zendesk, Contextual Intelligence Becomes the New Standard for Exceptional Customer Experience in 2026 (CX Trends 2026), 2025.
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