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Why we picked it This is the honest benchmark most founders never get shown: Belkins analyzed 7.5 million cold emails and, crucially, switched to measuring replies against total emails sent instead of emails opened, so the numbers stop flattering you. It also breaks reply rates down by role and company size (founders and owners reply most, big enterprises least), which tells you whether a low number is you or just the segment you picked. Read it to calibrate what normal actually looks like before you decide anything is broken.
What Are B2B Cold Email Response Rates? (2026 Study, 7.5M Emails)
From Belkins by Belkins ~15 min read
- Measured against total emails sent (not just opens), average reply rates are far lower than the 5 to 8 percent numbers floating around, so judge your campaign on the same honest denominator.
- Reply rates swing hard by who you target: founders and owners answer most, VPs and large enterprises least, so a weak number may be a targeting choice, not broken copy.
- Use these as a floor to sanity-check your own numbers, then look at deliverability, targeting, and offer in that order before blaming the writing.