What are B2B cold email response rates? Belkins’ 2025 study

At Belkins, cold outreach is more than a service; it’s an ongoing experiment. With every campaign, we’re watching the numbers, spotting patterns, and refining what works. Our hands-on, data-first approach lets us uncover high-performing tactics and then roll them out for our clients at scale.

We analyzed 16.5 million cold emails across 93 business domains from January 2024 to December 2024 to pull fresh insights from our internal campaigns and capture what’s really moving the needle today.

The result? A complete view of what’s working (and what’s not) in cold B2B email outreach.

Key takeaways on cold B2B email response rates

Let’s cut to the chase. Cold outreach is getting harder, but smarter strategies still win.

1. Average reply rates dipped to 5.8% (vs. 6.8% in 2023). Open rates first started rising up to 46% in early 2024 but then dropped to 31–32% before we stopped tracking them mid-year.
2. Emails with 6–8 sentences get the best results: 42.67% open rate, 6.9% reply rate. Also, messages under 200 words perform better than anything longer.
3. One-touch sequences (without follow-ups) outperform longer ones. Adding a third email drops reply rates by up to 20%.
4. Reaching out to just 1–2 contacts per company brings reply rates up to 7.8%, while blasting 10+ people drops it to 3.8%.
5. Smaller campaigns, targeting under 100 recipients per campaign, give the best reply rate: 5.5%.
6. Thursday is the new hot day, with a 6.87% reply rate, while Monday lags behind at 5.29%.
7. Evenings (8–11 PM) bring in the most replies, peaking at 6.52%. Morning sends (especially between 7–11 AM) are still strong performers, too.

Here’s what you’ll find in this year’s benchmark report:

2023 vs. 2024: Reply rates decline year over year

Let’s call it like it is: Cold emailing got tougher in 2024.

While the tactics haven’t changed much, the environment definitely has, and it shows in the numbers.

Reply rates dropped from 6.8% to 5.8%

Across the board, 2024 saw a steady decline in reply rates, with every single month performing worse than the same time the year before.

The difference might seem small on paper, but it’s real in the inbox:

• 2023 average: 6.8%
• 2024 average: 5.8%

That’s a 15% drop year over year — a sign of mounting fatigue and shrinking attention spans.

What’s causing the drop?

Several factors came together in 2024 to make cold outreach more challenging:

1. Inbox fatigue is real.  Buyers are overwhelmed. They’re receiving more emails than ever and opening fewer of them. Unless your message really stands out, it’s easier than ever to hit “Delete” (or worse — “Spam”).
2. Stricter anti-spam policies. Email providers, especially Google and Outlook, tightened spam filters and bulk-sender rules. Even well-crafted emails can get lost in the void if authentication or engagement isn’t perfect.
3. Pixel tracking backlash. Some teams (including ours at Belkins) started turning off open-rate tracking pixels altogether. Not just for ethical reasons, but because emails without tracking performed better, especially in terms of deliverability. This experiment brought us 3% higher response rates.

Why replies (not opens) are the metric that matters in 2025

The drop in reply rates coincided with a broader strategic rethink: Maybe it’s time to stop chasing opens.

Instead of obsessing over vanity metrics, we started zeroing in on what actually matters — replies, conversions, and meetings booked. 

We stopped thinking only about landing in the inbox and switched to earning attention. And that starts with hyper-personalized, relevant outreach.

No more follow-ups? One email shows the best response rates

Follow-ups can make or break your cold outreach. Get it right, and you’ll spark conversations that would’ve otherwise fizzled. Push too hard — or too fast — and you’ll land in the “annoying” folder.

So, how many emails should you send? When should you nudge someone again? And how quickly does follow-up fatigue kick in?

Let’s break it down.

Shorter sequences win: One-touch emails outperform longer threads

We’ll cover how the number of emails in the sequence impacts response rates, the best time to follow up, the ideal sequence length, and more.

First follow-up brings the biggest gains

The magic happens in the second email.

When we analyzed high-performing campaigns, we found reply rates soared by up to 49% after the first follow-up. In the top 20%, some campaigns even doubled their responses just by sending a well-timed nudge.

This single step — a reminder that says, “Hey, still interested?” — will outperform anything else in your sequence.

Second follow-up? Fewer replies

The third email in the thread (aka second follow-up) brought 20% fewer responses in 2024. Compare that to a 9% lift in 2023, and the trend is clear: inboxes are getting colder, faster.

The takeaway? Keep expectations low after email #3. It may still be worth sending, but don’t bank on big returns.

Fourth follow-up = diminishing returns

By the time you hit follow-up #4 (your fifth email), response rates drop off a cliff, down 55% compared to earlier emails. In 2023, this drop was 20%. This year, it got worse.

More emails ≠ more results. In fact, longer sequences often lead to more unsubscribes and even spam complaints.

When follow-ups backfire: Spam & unsubscribe risks

More follow-ups might seem like a good idea until your unsubscribe rate starts spiking.

Here’s what the data says:

• Spam complaints grow with each follow-up
  • 1st email: 0.5% spam rate
  • 4th email: 1.6% spam rate
• Unsubscribe rates stay low… at first
  • Round 1: 0.1%
  • Round 2: 0.05%
  • Round 3: 0.8%
  • And Round 4? A painful 2%

That means by the time you’re four emails in, your risk of annoying someone off your list (or worse — into the spam folder) has tripled or more.

📚 Related post: How to write a follow-up email the right way

Ideal sequence length: 1 email?

Campaigns with just 1 email got the highest reply rate of 8.4%. Anything beyond that sees replies gradually decline.

Yes, you might need more touches to generate a booked meeting. But when it comes to pure response rates, less is more. 

📚 Related post: How to generate B2B leads from email marketing

Sales expert opinion: How to get more responses

Even the perfect sequence won’t work if your message doesn’t resonate.

Here’s what our outreach pros recommend:

Be hyper-relevant to your niche

Write like a human

📚 Related post: 6 best cold email templates to close more sales

The best time to get more email responses (spoiler alert: Thursday nights)

Timing matters no less than the quality of your message. Cold outreach performance changes a lot depending on the day and even the hour you hit “send.”

Our data shows some clear patterns in recipient behavior. Here’s what we found.

Thursday is the reply rate king

Looking to get a response? Thursday is your best bet, pulling in an average reply rate of 6.87% — the highest of any weekday.

Wednesday and Tuesday are strong contenders too, but Monday remains the underachiever with just 5.29%. No surprise there — people are still catching up and prioritizing internal tasks.

Late evenings result in high reply energy

Reply rates don’t just fluctuate by day. Timing matters too.

Across our campaigns, the sweet spot is between 8–11 PM, with reply rates peaking at 6.52%. Why? Inbox pressure drops, distractions fade, and people finally get around to non-urgent messages.

Compare that to the early morning hours (5–8 AM), where reply rates sink to just 5.29%.

Evening emails also edge out others in open rates, hitting 36.41%, the best of any time slot.

So, what’s the winning combo?

• Try sending emails on Thursday evenings between 8–11 PM
• Avoid Monday mornings and Friday afternoons
• Test timing — different audiences may surprise you

Entry-level pros and small teams drive the most replies

Let’s talk about who’s actually replying to your emails and who’s ghosting you.

Our data shows big differences in engagement depending on job title, seniority level, company size, and industry.

Individual contributors are your best bet

If you’re aiming for high engagement, go low (in the org chart, that is).

• Entry-level professionals top the chart with an 8% average reply rate and a whopping 50% open rate
• In some sectors, top performers in this group hit 12%+ replies
• Team leads/supervisors also tend to respond more often than C-level execs, generally above 7% 

Why? They’re closer to day-to-day problems and more likely to care about the tools that can be used to solve them.

C-level execs: High status, low response

Executives may seem like the ideal target, but they’re also the hardest to reach.

• C-level reply rates dip to just 5%
• Open rates hover around 30%, well below their entry-level counterparts

It’s not that executives are uninterested. They’re just busy, and their gatekeepers heavily filter any incoming communications. If you’re reaching out to the C-suite, your message has to be laser-focused and value-packed.

Company size matters

Smaller companies tend to respond more. Here’s how reply rates stack up:

• 2–10 employees: 6.8%
• 11–50 employees: 8.2%
• 5,000+ employees: ~5% or lower

At large enterprises, multiple contacts get the same outreach, which can feel spammy. Smaller teams? You’re more likely to hit the right person directly.

More isn’t better: Fewer contacts per company = Higher reply rates

Here’s a cold outreach truth that might sting: The more people from the same company you email at once, the fewer responses you’ll get.

Yep, even if you personalize every message.

Our data shows a clear pattern:

• Targeting just 1 person per company? You’ll get the best results with a 7.8% reply rate.
• Emailing 10+ people at once? Replies drop by more than half, down to 3.8%.

Why the drop?

• Your outreach starts to feel impersonal, even if it’s technically personalized
• It creates internal confusion — “Didn’t someone else on my team already get this?”
• Worst case? It looks like spam, and you burn trust before you even get a shot

Hot industries for cold emails: Solar, construction, and environmental lead the pack

We’ve gathered the sectors where cold outreach shines brightest, with open rates between 43% and 48% and reply rates well above the average. 

The standouts:

• Solar
• Construction
• Environmental services

Each of these sectors consistently delivers reply rates of 6.3% or higher, placing them at the top of the engagement leaderboard.

Why they’re winning:

• Buyers in these industries are actively looking for new tools and solutions
• There’s often less cold email saturation compared to SaaS or IT
• Outreach that speaks directly to project timelines, compliance, or sustainability goals tends to land better 

Low-engagement sectors still show potential with targeted outreach

Some industries just aren’t inbox darlings, at least when it comes to reply rates. But even in these so-called “low-performing” sectors, smart outreach still makes a difference.

Top performers within the pack:

• IT consulting: 5.93% reply rate
• Software development: 5.89%
• Business consulting: 5.92%

These sectors punch above their weight when it comes to engagement, proving that even with modest visibility, well-crafted outreach works.

Trailing behind:

• Cloud solutions: ~4.97%
• Cybersecurity: ~4.86%

These industries struggle to break through the noise, possibly due to inbox oversaturation or messaging fatigue.

Short, focused emails get the best results, every time

Once you’ve nailed your timing and your audience, there’s one more make-or-break factor: what’s inside the email. 

From sentence length to links and attachments, the structure of your message plays a huge role in whether it gets ignored, opened, or answered.

Let’s break down the data on what really moves the needle.

Email length: Short wins, again

Turns out, when it comes to email copy, less really is more.

• 6–8 sentences is the golden range, delivering the highest reply rate of 6.9% and a strong 42.67% open rate
• Go longer than that (13+ sentences), and response rates drop to 3.8%

Word count tells the same story:

• 101–200 words = top performer (6.8% reply rate)
• 600+ words = bottom of the pile (4%)

Questions: The fewer, the better

This one surprised even us.

• According to Reply.io's data, emails with no questions scored the highest reply rate in one dataset (up to 1.5%)
• Add 1–5 questions, and the rate drops to between 0.2% and 0.6%

Why? Too many questions feel like a quiz. One strong CTA beats a list of asks every time.

Wrapping up: Cold outreach in 2025 and beyond

Cold outreach is evolving, and evolving quite fast.

What worked a year ago might not cut it today. Between inbox fatigue, tighter spam filters, and rising buyer expectations, the game is tougher, but not impossible.

This year’s benchmark report proves that thoughtful, personalized outreach still wins.

The most successful teams aren’t sending more emails, they’re sending smarter ones. They’re testing timing, tightening their subject lines, simplifying their message, and targeting the right people, at the right companies, with the right tone.

So, if you’re wondering whether cold email still works in 2025, know that it does. But only if you do it with intention.

Here’s the bottom line:

• Prioritize reply-driven metrics over opens
• Focus on short, clean, human-sounding messages
• Cut the fluff — every word should serve a purpose
• Send fewer, better-targeted emails

And most importantly: keep testing. Your next breakthrough might be one subject line, one timing tweak, or one segment shift away.

FAQ

How many cold emails does it take to get a client?

Just like with the reply rates, there’s no silver bullet. Sometimes, prospects may reply to the first email. In other cases, you’ll need to spend months nurturing potential customers to land meetings with them.

If we’re talking about the optimal number of cold emails not to scare them off, it’s around 1–2 messages in a row.

How many cold B2B emails should I send per day?

To prevent your cold emails from going to spam, you’d better not exceed the limit of 500 messages per day. Also, if you’ve just registered a mailbox, we don’t recommend sending bulk mailings from it. Start small by warming it up and then growing the number of emails gradually, but still don’t go over 500 daily.

What is an acceptable email bounce rate for your B2B business?

Bounce rate means the percentage of emails that don’t get through to your recipients for whatever reason. A 2% bounce rate is considered to be an industry average. If your number is higher, it’s time to review your lead lists and domain configurations.

Relevant reading:

• What is the best time to send a B2B email? (Belkins’ study 2023)
• Sales follow-up statistics in B2B: Belkins’ 2023 study
• Cold email outreach statistics and benchmarks in B2B 

Sources and methodology

Unless otherwise noted, all figures in this report are based on outreach performance data collected between January 2024 and December 2024 by Belkins and its technology partners.

Cold email data

We analyzed 16.5 million cold emails sent by Belkins across 93 business domains.

• Open rate was calculated as the percentage of unique recipients who opened at least one email in a sequence.
• Reply rate reflects the share of unique recipients who responded to a message, excluding auto-replies and bounces.
• Follow-up steps refer to subsequent emails sent to the same contact within a sequence.
• Contact volume per company was estimated using unique domains (e.g., @company.com), excluding public providers (e.g., @gmail.com).
• All time-based metrics were localized by recipient city using Geonames time zone data.
• Industry segmentation and job seniority were determined through Belkins’ custom enrichment and data normalization logic.

LinkedIn data

Provided by Expandi. Based on internal platform data covering 20+ million outreach attempts from 13,000+ unique LinkedIn accounts, collected between January 1 and December 31, 2024.

• Performance was evaluated by campaign type, job title/seniority, industry, geography, and timing (day and month).
• Datasets track both campaign-level and contact-level engagement.

Cold calling data

Belkins shared internal performance data based on over 49,000 calls made via the Nooks platform in Q4 2024, segmented by company size. These results are compared against Nooks’ internal industry benchmarks.

Content-level insights

Reply.io analyzed 2.5 million cold emails across various content experiments, including tests involving subject lines, media usage, links, and message formatting.

All data was deduplicated and filtered for quality. Variations below ±0.2 percentage points are considered within the margin of error.