Decision window

The decision window is the short period — a few minutes — following a missed call, during which the caller still holds their phone and hasn't decided yet. They just called their first choice and nobody answered; they're now comparing options on Google Maps, and whoever recontacts them first takes a decisive lead. The window closes fast: a call to the next competitor, a return to daily life, forgetting.

The entire call-recovery strategy boils down to this window: a text sent in under ten seconds lands while it's open — the caller reads, replies, the conversation starts. A callback an hour later lands on a half-open window; a callback the next day, on a closed and locked one. It's a matter of seconds, not goodwill: even the most motivated customer stops being motivated after enough silent waiting.