Reply Rate
The percentage of sent emails that receive a reply from recipients.
What is Reply Rate?
Reply rate measures what percentage of your sent emails generate a response. It's the most important metric for cold email because it directly correlates with business outcomes.
Formula: (Replies / Emails Sent) x 100
Typical cold email reply rates:
- 1-2%: Common for generic outreach
- 3-5%: Good for targeted campaigns
- 5-10%: Excellent for highly personalized outreach
- 10%+: Outstanding (usually warm or referral-based)
Reply rate is superior to open rate because: 1. It measures actual engagement, not just email loading 2. It's not inflated by spam filter scanning 3. It directly predicts conversion to meetings 4. It doesn't require tracking pixels (which hurt deliverability)
Why It Matters
- 1The only metric that directly leads to business outcomes
- 2Indicates message-market fit
- 3Doesn't require deliverability-damaging tracking
- 4More accurate than open rates
How to Measure
Track replies as a percentage of total emails sent. Segment by campaign to identify what messaging works.
Related Tools
Related Terms
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