# Inbound enquiry > Someone has contacted you through your website, email, phone or messaging to ask about what you sell. They have told you they are interested; the risk is replying too slowly. Source: https://www.fyadvisers.com/signals/inbound-enquiry/ Author: FYAdvisers Last updated: 2026-10-06 - Category: Inbound - Intent: High - Act within: Same day, ideally within minutes - Where to find it: [Your own enquiry channels: how to respond faster](https://www.fyadvisers.com/blog/respond-to-enquiries-faster/) (Free); [PDPC: Advisory Guidelines on Key Concepts in the PDPA](https://www.pdpc.gov.sg/-/media/files/pdpc/pdf-files/advisory-guidelines/ag-on-key-concepts/advisory-guidelines-on-key-concepts-in-the-pdpa-17-may-2022.pdf) (Free) ## What this signal means A potential customer has contacted you: a website form, an email, a call, a chat or a message asking about your product or service, or asking for a quote. Unlike every other signal in this library, you do not need to infer intent. The buyer has stated it. That makes the inbound enquiry the strongest buying signal there is, and the one most often wasted. ## Why it predicts a purchase A buyer who enquires is usually already looking. They have a need, they have found you, and they want to know whether you can help. Many will be contacting other suppliers at the same time. Whoever replies first with something useful has a real advantage, because it shapes how the buyer thinks about the problem and sets the standard others are compared with. Enquiries go cold for ordinary reasons: a shared inbox where everyone assumes someone else replied, a form that asks too little so a back-and-forth is needed, an enquiry routed to the wrong person, or a message that arrives after hours and waits until the next day. ## Where to find it in Singapore This is a first-party signal: it arrives in your own channels, not in a public source. - **Website forms.** Usually the easiest to structure and route. - **Email and shared inboxes.** Common, but easy to lose track of. - **Phone and messaging apps.** Fast for the buyer, but often leave no record unless someone writes one. - **Marketplace and directory listings**, if you use them, which may send enquiries to a separate inbox. Collecting personal data through an enquiry form brings PDPA obligations. PDPC's [Advisory Guidelines on Key Concepts in the PDPA](https://www.pdpc.gov.sg/-/media/files/pdpc/pdf-files/advisory-guidelines/ag-on-key-concepts/advisory-guidelines-on-key-concepts-in-the-pdpa-17-may-2022.pdf) explain the Notification Obligation: organisations must tell individuals the purposes for collecting, using and disclosing their personal data, on or before collecting it. A short line on the form saying how you will use the details covers the basics. ## How to monitor it 1. **List every channel** where enquiries arrive today and who sees each one. 2. **Send each enquiry to one named person** rather than a shared inbox, with a backup for leave and after hours. 3. **Ask for the details you need to reply** on the form itself, such as company, need and timeline, so the first reply can be useful. 4. **Alert the right person straight away**, by whichever channel they actually check. 5. **Record every enquiry and its outcome** in one place, so you can see response times and what happened next. Our guide on [how to respond to enquiries faster](/blog/respond-to-enquiries-faster/) works through these steps. ## How fast to act The same day at the latest, and within minutes during working hours where you can. This is the one signal where speed matters more than research. An acknowledgement that a person will follow up is fine, but it does not replace the reply. ## Example first message Illustrative example: > Subject: Re: Quote request for office cleaning, Paya Lebar > > Hi Jasmine, thank you for your enquiry about daily cleaning for Ardent Design's Paya Lebar office. From your form, it is about 4,000 square feet with 40 staff, cleaned after 6pm. I can visit on Thursday or Friday afternoon to confirm the scope and send a quote the same day. Which suits you better? > > Regards, Hafiz ## Pitfalls and rules - **Do not let automation do the selling.** Automatic acknowledgements are useful, but anything that commits your business should come from a person. - **Check for spam and job seekers** before routing, so salespeople see real enquiries first. - **Use the data for what you said.** If your form says details are used to respond to the enquiry, do not add the person to unrelated marketing without dealing with consent. - **Keep a record.** An enquiry that lives only in one person's inbox is lost when they are away. - **For later follow-ups**, check [B2B outreach in Singapore: what PDPA and the Do Not Call rules allow](/blog/b2b-outreach-pdpa-dnc-singapore/). If this is your main gap, see our [speed-to-lead response service](/services/speed-to-lead/). At [Jeff Learning Center](/work/jeff-learning-center/), an enquiry form with AI course matching alerts the owner when a lead leaves a phone number, and FYAdvisers reports that the team gets back to leads within five minutes. That is a reported outcome, not a measured average or a guarantee. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why is an inbound enquiry the strongest buying signal? Every other signal is a guess about intent. An enquiry is not: the buyer has contacted you and asked a question. The main risk is on your side, in responding slowly or not at all. ### How fast should we reply to an enquiry? The same day at the latest, and within minutes during working hours if you can. Buyers often contact several suppliers, and the first useful reply has an advantage. ### Should an automatic reply count as a response? An automatic acknowledgement is fine, but it is not the reply. A person should follow up with an answer or a next step as soon as possible.