Top 10
- The average cold call success rate was 2.7% in Cognism's 2026 State of Cold Calling report, up from 2.3% the year before.
- The vendor a B2B buyer contacts first wins the deal about 80% of the time, according to 6sense.
- 68.3% of the 58,662 people Krabat emailed held an owner, founder, CEO, president, managing director, principal or partner title.
- The median cold email reply rate on Woodpecker was 1.5% across 56,614 campaigns in the last 90 days of 2025, and the median open rate 26%.
- Cold email sequences sent to 21-50 recipients got a 6.2% reply rate on Hunter, against 2.4% for sequences sent to more than 500.
- 63.1% of the people Krabat emailed worked at companies with 1-50 employees, and 87.4% at companies with 200 or fewer.
- Opening a cold call with "Did I catch you at a bad time?" makes a rep 40% less likely to book a meeting, according to Gong's call data.
- Buyers first contacted sellers 61% of the way through their buying journey in 2025, down from 69% in 2023 and 2024, about six to seven weeks sooner.
- Turning off open tracking more than doubled reply rates in Snov.io's analysis of 44 million emails, from 1.08% to 2.36%.
- People at companies with 0-10 employees replied to Belkins' 2025 cold emails at 0.72%, more than three times the 0.22% rate at companies with 10,000+ employees.
How often cold calls work
- 1
The average cold call success rate was 2.7% in Cognism's 2026 State of Cold Calling report, up from 2.3% the year before.
Source: Cognism, 2026 [1]
- 2
The 2.3% cold call success rate Cognism measured for 2025 was down from 4.82% in 2024.
Source: Cognism, 2026 [1]
- 3
Sales reps needed 1.55 calls on average to reach a prospect, according to Cognism's 2026 cold calling data.
Source: Cognism, 2026 [1]
- 4
The average cold call lasted 82 seconds in 2026, down from 93 seconds in 2025, in data Cognism cites from WHAM.
Source: Cognism, 2026 [1]
- 5
Cognism's own sales team reports an 11.3% cold call success rate, up from 6.7% in its previous report.
Source: Cognism, 2026 [1]
- 6
Opening a cold call with "Did I catch you at a bad time?" makes a rep 40% less likely to book a meeting, according to Gong's call data.
Source: Gong, 2021 [2]
- 7
Reps who state their reason for calling get a 2.1 times higher cold call success rate, according to Gong.
Source: Gong, 2021 [2]
- 8
In successful cold calls, the rep's longest monologue runs 53 seconds against 25 seconds in unsuccessful ones, according to Gong.
Source: Gong, 2021 [2]
- 9
Reps talk 55% of the time in successful cold calls, according to Gong.
Source: Gong, 2021 [2]
What cold email reply rates look like
- 10
The average cold email sequence reply rate was 4.5% in 2025 across 31 million emails sent by Hunter users: 45 replies per 1,000 recipients.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 11
Sales outreach sequences on Hunter got a 3% average response rate in 2025, against 13% for digital PR and 7.5% for headhunting.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 12
The average cold email bounce rate was 3.6% and the average unsubscribe rate 1.6% on Hunter in 2025.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 13
The median cold email reply rate on Woodpecker was 1.5% across 56,614 campaigns in the last 90 days of 2025, and the median open rate 26%.
Source: Woodpecker, 2026 [4]
- 14
Reply rates on cold emails Belkins sent for clients fell from 0.50% in the first half of 2025 to 0.40% in the second half, measured against all emails sent.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [5]
- 15
Founders and owners replied to Belkins' 2025 cold emails at 0.57%, C-level executives at 0.42% and VPs at 0.32%.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [5]
- 16
People at companies with 0-10 employees replied to Belkins' 2025 cold emails at 0.72%, more than three times the 0.22% rate at companies with 10,000+ employees.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [5]
- 17
Cold emails Belkins sent between 8 AM and noon got the highest reply rate in 2025, 0.54%.
Source: Belkins, 2026 [5]
- 18
On Woodpecker, weekend reply rates run about 38% below weekday reply rates.
Source: Woodpecker, 2026 [4]
What changes cold email reply rates
- 19
Cold email sequences sent to 21-50 recipients got a 6.2% reply rate on Hunter, against 2.4% for sequences sent to more than 500.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 20
Emailing one or two people per company got a 5.1% reply rate on Hunter, against 3.5% when emailing three or more.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 21
Three-message sequences on Hunter got 6.8% total replies, against 3.3% for a single email.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 22
Hunter sequences with email tracking turned on got a 4.4% reply rate, against 7.4% without tracking.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 23
Sending from a custom domain got a 5.2% reply rate on Hunter, against 2.5% from free email accounts.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 24
Emails with two personalized fields got a 5.6% reply rate on Hunter, against 3.6% for emails with none.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 25
Turning off open tracking more than doubled reply rates in Snov.io's analysis of 44 million emails, from 1.08% to 2.36%.
Source: Snov.io, 2026 [6]
- 26
Emails sent through the Gmail API got a 3.45% average response rate in Snov.io's data, against 1.66% over SMTP.
Source: Snov.io, 2026 [6]
- 27
On Woodpecker, the fourth email in a sequence gets about half the median reply rate of the first (0.5% against 1.0%).
Source: Woodpecker, 2026 [4]
- 28
Woodpecker campaigns with a bounce rate under 2% got a 1.6% median reply rate, about 60% more than campaigns bouncing over 20% (1.0%).
Source: Woodpecker, 2026 [4]
- 29
Mailboxes sending 1-20 emails a day had a 2.0% median reply rate on Woodpecker, four times the 0.5% of mailboxes sending 101-200 a day.
Source: Woodpecker, 2026 [4]
- 30
Independent companies on Woodpecker got a 2.7% median reply rate on campaigns of 0-50 prospects and 1.2% on campaigns of 1,001-5,000.
Source: Woodpecker, 2026 [4]
- 31
Adding the recipient's name to an email subject line raised the chance the email was opened by 20% and raised sales leads by 31%, in a field experiment published in Marketing Science.
Source: Marketing Science, 2018 [7]
What B2B buyers say about outreach
- 32
LinkedIn is the preferred outreach channel for 50.5% of decision makers Hunter surveyed, against 25% for email.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 33
65% of decision makers say cold emails fail because they feel too sales-focused, and 61% cite irrelevance, in Hunter's 2026 survey.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 34
69% of US decision makers say it bothers them if AI was used to write a cold email.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 35
33% of decision makers say they have not replied to any cold email in the past year, and 32% replied to five or more.
Source: Hunter, 2026 [3]
- 36
B2B buyers initiated 79% of first contacts with sellers in 2025, according to 6sense's survey of nearly 4,000 buyers.
Source: 6sense, 2025 [8]
- 37
The vendor a B2B buyer contacts first wins the deal about 80% of the time, according to 6sense.
Source: 6sense, 2025 [8]
- 38
Buyers first contacted sellers 61% of the way through their buying journey in 2025, down from 69% in 2023 and 2024, about six to seven weeks sooner.
Source: 6sense, 2025 [8]
- 39
B2B buyers bought from one of the vendors on their Day One shortlist 95% of the time in 2025, up from 85% the year before.
Source: 6sense, 2025 [8]
- 40
94% of B2B buyers ranked their shortlist in order of preference before speaking to any seller.
Source: 6sense, 2025 [8]
- 41
68% of B2B buyers already knew a seller at the vendor they bought from, according to 6sense.
Source: 6sense, 2025 [8]
- 42
67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience, according to a Gartner survey of 646 buyers.
Source: Gartner, 2026 [9]
- 43
45% of B2B buyers Gartner surveyed in 2025 used AI during a recent purchase.
Source: Gartner, 2026 [9]
Who Krabat campaigns email
- 44
68.3% of the 58,662 people Krabat emailed held an owner, founder, CEO, president, managing director, principal or partner title.
Source: Krabat · 2026-08-11 to 2026-09-23 · 58,662 contacts emailed · method
- 45
63.1% of the people Krabat emailed worked at companies with 1-50 employees, and 87.4% at companies with 200 or fewer.
Source: Krabat · 2026-08-11 to 2026-09-23 · 37,497 emailed contacts with a known company size · method
- 46
68.9% of the people Krabat emailed were in the United States, 10.1% in the United Kingdom and 6.3% in Canada.
Source: Krabat · 2026-08-11 to 2026-09-23 · 58,662 contacts emailed · method
- 47
40.6% of the people Krabat emailed received at least one follow-up by September 23, 2026.
Source: Krabat · 2026-08-11 to 2026-09-23 · 58,662 contacts emailed · method
- 48
1.9% of Krabat's first emails went out on a Saturday or Sunday (UTC).
Source: Krabat · 2026-08-11 to 2026-09-23 · 58,662 first emails · method
Frequently asked questions
What is the average cold call success rate?
Cognism's 2026 State of Cold Calling report puts the industry average at 2.7%, up from 2.3% the year before and down from 4.82% in 2024. It takes 1.55 calls on average to reach a prospect, and the average cold call lasts 82 seconds.
What is a normal cold email reply rate?
It depends on how the vendor counts. Hunter reports a 4.5% average sequence reply rate across 31 million emails sent in 2025. Woodpecker's median campaign got 1.5%. Belkins, which divides replies by every email sent, measured 0.40% to 0.50% in 2025.
How many follow-ups should a cold email sequence have?
On Hunter, three-message sequences got 6.8% total replies against 3.3% for a single email. On Woodpecker, each later email gets fewer replies: the fourth email gets about half the median reply rate of the first.
When do B2B buyers talk to sellers?
In 6sense's 2025 survey of nearly 4,000 B2B buyers, first contact came 61% of the way through the buying journey, buyers started 79% of those conversations, and the vendor contacted first won about 80% of the time.
Does personalization raise cold email replies?
In Hunter's 2025 data, emails with two personalized fields got 5.6% replies against 3.6% with none. In a field experiment published in Marketing Science, adding the recipient's name to the subject line raised the chance of an open by 20% and sales leads by 31%.
Who do Krabat campaigns email?
Mostly owners and founders of small companies. Of 58,662 people Krabat emailed between August 11 and September 23, 2026, 68.3% held an owner, founder, CEO or similar title, 63.1% of those with a known company size worked at companies of 1-50 employees, and 68.9% were in the United States.
Sources
- [1]Cognism. 2026.↑1 ↑2 ↑3 ↑4 ↑5
- [2]Gong. 2021.↑6 ↑7 ↑8 ↑9
- [3]Hunter. 2026.↑10 ↑11 ↑12 ↑19 ↑20 ↑21 ↑22 ↑23 ↑24 ↑32 ↑33 ↑34 ↑35
- [4]Woodpecker. 2026.↑13 ↑18 ↑27 ↑28 ↑29 ↑30
- [5]Belkins. 2026.↑14 ↑15 ↑16 ↑17
- [6]Snov.io. 2026.↑25 ↑26
- [7]Marketing Science. 2018.↑31
- [8]6sense. 2025.↑36 ↑37 ↑38 ↑39 ↑40 ↑41
- [9]Gartner. 2026.↑42 ↑43
Method
We searched Google for sales prospecting statistics, prospecting statistics and outbound prospecting statistics, read the pages that ranked and traced each number to the company that measured it. Many of those pages attribute numbers to Gartner, Forrester or old industry studies we could not find, so we kept only numbers we could read on the producer's own page, checked on September 24, 2026. Gartner and 6sense pages were read through web.archive.org copies. Most cold email and cold call benchmarks come from vendors measuring their own users (Hunter, Woodpecker, Snov.io, Belkins, Cognism, Gong), and each vendor divides replies by a different base: Belkins counts replies against every email sent, Hunter against recipients of a sequence, Woodpecker takes the median campaign. Compare numbers within one source, not across sources. We found one peer-reviewed field experiment on cold email (Marketing Science, 2018); academic work on B2B prospecting is thin. Krabat numbers come from its production database: every first email sent from August 11 to September 23, 2026, excluding projects owned by our own test accounts.
Krabat numbers new on this page:
- 68.3% of the 58,662 people Krabat emailed held an owner, founder, CEO, president, managing director, principal or partner title. Job titles of every contact who received a first email, matched on those words; projects owned by our own test accounts excluded.
- 63.1% of the people Krabat emailed worked at companies with 1-50 employees, and 87.4% at companies with 200 or fewer. Company size band from the lead database for each emailed contact; 21,165 contacts with no size band are left out.
- 68.9% of the people Krabat emailed were in the United States, 10.1% in the United Kingdom and 6.3% in Canada. Country field on each emailed contact.
- 40.6% of the people Krabat emailed received at least one follow-up by September 23, 2026. Contacts with two or more sent messages. Contacts first emailed in late September were not yet due a follow-up, so this is a floor.
- 1.9% of Krabat's first emails went out on a Saturday or Sunday (UTC). Send time of each first email, by UTC weekday: Saturday 644, Sunday 450.
All 48 statistics as a CSV: sales-prospecting-statistics.csv.
Cite this page
Krabat, “Sales Prospecting 2026 Statistics (Updated September)”, updated September 2026, https://krabat.ai/research/sales-prospecting-statistics
To cite one number, link its anchor: each statistic has one, for example https://krabat.ai/research/sales-prospecting-statistics#stat-1.