Cold email data: our statistics, benchmarks and studies

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Most cold email statistics are quoted from someone else's survey. The pages in this hub are built from our own sending, and each one says what it counts, over what period and with what denominator, so you can tell a reply rate from a positive reply rate and a share from a rate.

The core study is reply rates by industry: per-step analytics for four 2026 campaigns, 91,209 emails sent, with human replies of any sentiment counted and auto-replies left out, plus 1,543 unique people who replied positively between August 2025 and July 2026. Rates carry 95% confidence intervals and groups under 30 are suppressed. The statistics page sets our figures beside the published benchmarks, and the positive reply page breaks those 1,543 interested leads down by vertical and by what they said.

Two studies look at the sequence itself. The follow-up page shows replies by step, which answers how many follow-ups are worth sending. The subject line page lists the subject lines behind 2,333 positive-reply events, each with its denominator, so a line that won once is not presented as a pattern.

The benchmarks group holds the fintech email security benchmark: how 478 fintech and financial-services companies from four public rankings set up DMARC, SPF, DKIM, BIMI and MTA-STS, by segment and region. The deliverability pages cover how many emails one inbox should send per day and why a campaign gets no replies, which is more often the list than the inbox.

A note on terms, since they decide what a number means. A reply rate here is human replies of any sentiment, divided by emails sent or by contacts as each page states; a positive reply rate counts only the replies that showed interest. A share, such as the share of interested leads in one sector, is not a rate and cannot be compared with one. The glossary defines each term.

Both datasets are published as CSV files under CC BY 4.0, aggregates only: no lead, recipient or company is named. If you quote a figure, link the page it came from; each one states its method in full.

Studies from our campaign data

Cold email reply rates by industry (2026): our data from 91,209 emails — Human reply rates by recipient industry and step from 91,209 cold emails we sent in 2026, plus what interested prospects asked first. Free CSV.
Cold Email Statistics (October 2026): Our Campaign Data Beside the Published Benchmarks — Published reply rates run 0.45% (Belkins) to 3.43% (Instantly). Ours: 546 human replies on 91,209 emails sent, 0.32%–1.00%. Every denominator labelled.
Cold email positive reply rate: what 1,543 interested leads said, by vertical — Cold email positive reply rate benchmarks disagree by 10x because they count different things. Our counting rule, and 1,543 interested leads by vertical.
How many follow-ups a cold email sequence needs: 91,000 sends, by step — Four to five emails. In 91,000+ sends across four 2026 campaigns, the first email drew 14–39% of human replies, follow-ups 1–3 drew 41–68%. Data by step.
Cold email subject lines behind 2,333 positive-reply events, each with its denominator — Cold email subject lines from our own data: the patterns behind 2,333 positive-reply events, one same-list test, and two outside studies. No open rates.

Benchmarks

Fintech email security benchmark 2026: how 478 fintechs set up DMARC, SPF and more — We checked 478 ranked fintechs' email records. 97.5% publish DMARC, 46.7% enforce p=reject, 16.5% don't enforce at all. Full data by segment and region. (العربية)

Deliverability and volume

How Many Cold Emails per Day per Inbox? We Set 15–33, and What Gmail and Outlook Require — How many cold emails per day per inbox: the 179 inboxes we sent from on 16 Oct 2026 were set to 15–33 a day, plus what Google, Yahoo and Microsoft require.
Why Cold Emails Get No Replies: Check the List Before Deliverability — Why cold emails get no replies: our October 2026 audit of two campaigns found 1 in 5 leads had most likely changed jobs. Deliverability was fine.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker — A domain’s MX, SPF, DMARC and DKIM records, graded, with what to fix (free).
Cold email capacity calculator — Daily sends, the week-one ramp, and the inboxes and domains a volume needs (free).

Download the data

Cold email reply study 2026 (CSV) — Aggregates from the reply rates study, CC BY 4.0.
Fintech email security benchmark 2026 (CSV) — Aggregates from the benchmark, CC BY 4.0.

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