How the ROI estimate works

1. The calculation

The calculator first estimates how many enquiries each month are delayed or missed. It multiplies that number by the percentage the visitor thinks could become useful conversations with a better reply process.

It then uses the visitor's own completion estimate and value for each completed matter. The yearly figure is the result over twelve months, before costs, tax, refunds, fall-through, attribution effects and timing differences.

If a working monthly investment is entered, ROI is calculated as: (potential annual gross value − annual investment) ÷ annual investment. EstateMeld's calculator does not prefill an EstateMeld price.

2. Why response time is included

A 2011 Harvard Business Review study audited 2,241 US companies and separately examined 1.25 million sales leads. Companies contacting a prospect within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to qualify the lead than companies that waited even one hour longer. This was broad, cross-industry US research—not an Australian real-estate trial and not an EstateMeld result—so the calculator treats it as directional evidence only.

3. What the estimate does not prove

• It does not prove that every delayed enquiry can be recovered.
• It does not account for lead quality, duplicate enquiries, market conditions, agent capacity, attribution, or transaction fall-through.
• It does not establish EstateMeld pricing or the cost of a client's third-party systems.
• It does not use another vendor's response rates, case studies, or customer ROI as an EstateMeld benchmark.
• It does not replace a baseline measured from the client's own workflow.

4. How to make the estimate more useful

During discovery, EstateMeld can map one agreed enquiry journey and replace broad assumptions with the team's own numbers: enquiry volume, response timing, contact rate, useful-conversation criteria, appointment rate, completion rate, value and setup costs. Scope, measurement, responsibilities and data handling are agreed in writing before launch.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission guidance says projections should have reasonable grounds and account for uncertainties. That is why the public calculator exposes its assumptions and labels the result as a scenario.

5. Privacy and data handling

The public calculator runs in the visitor's browser. Its fields are not submitted to EstateMeld and do not ask for personal information. A real implementation requires a separate, agreed data flow. Australian privacy guidance emphasises collecting only information reasonably necessary for the work and using specific, informed consent where required.

Sources and references

1. Oldroyd, James B.; McElheran, Kristina; Elkington, David. “The Short Life of Online Sales Leads.” Harvard Business Review, March 2011.
2. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. “False or misleading claims.” Accessed September 2026.
3. Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. “APP 3: Collection of solicited personal information.” Updated May 2026.