COLD EMAIL
What 2 million real cold emails reveal about B2B outreach. Every data point from real campaigns
STATISTICS
February 2026 · 2M+ emails · 61K replies · 100+ industries
AVG REPLY RATE
POSITIVE RATE
EMAILS ANALYZED
REPLIES CLASSIFIED
RESEARCH / STATISTICS
Reply Classification
Reply Sentiment Breakdown
Only 14.1% of replies are genuinely positive. Nearly half (45.1%) are auto-replies. The effective "interested reply rate" across all contacts emailed is ~0.64%.
THE FUNNEL
From Send to Interested Reply
1,369,822
28,632 2.09%
8,737 0.64% of total
SEQUENCE POSITION
Initial Message vs Follow-Up
Initial Outreach
79.4%
of all replies
1.83%
Reply Rate
8.90%
Positive Rate
Follow-UP
20.6%
of all replies
7.55%
Positive Rate
1.22%
Reply Rate
The average cold email reply rate is 2.09%. But only 14.1% of those replies express genuine interest making the real "interested" rate roughly 1 in 157 contacts.
The first message drives 79.4% of all replies at a higher reply rate (1.83% vs 1.22%) and higher positive rate (8.90% vs 7.55%). Follow-ups have diminishing returns.
Small companies respond positively at 5.3x the rate of enterprises. Fewer gatekeepers, faster decisions, decision-makers read their own email.
5.3x
Religious institutions (4.28%) reply at 2x the rate of computer software (2.09%). Mission-driven organizations consistently outperform commercial industries.
Informal tone outperforms formal by 78% in positive reply rate. Every cold email guide says "be professional"—the data says be human.
78%
Frequently Asked Questions
1209 Mountain Road Pl NE Ste N, Albuquerque, NM, 87110, United States
Sales@globaldatavista.com
+1 (575) 232-5035