The majority of online customers expect a response to an email within 24 hours, according to research carried out by data capture agency Lifestyles Online.

A huge 84% of respondents said they expected a reply to a specific product request within a day, with 17% saying they would want to hear back from someone within 15 minutes. Just 16% would be prepared to wait more than 24 hours before they contacted another company.

Failing to get back to someone at all would result in no further contact from that customer in 85% of cases, the research added.

"A business wouldn't survive very long if it ignored customers' questions on the shopfloor," said Craig Carr, co-founder and Director of Lifestyles Online. "The same is now true online, as this research proves.

"Online leads, whether gathered from your website or captured externally, have a real prospect behind them and need treating as such."