We’re taught that persistence wins deals.
The rep who's willing to hear “no” and keep emailing/calling is the one who lands the meeting. The rep willing to follow up for months or quarters is the one who lands the big deal.
But how much is too much? At what point are you straight-up harassing your buyers?
That's exactly what we wanted to investigate. Gong studied 85M+ cold emails to see how top performers book 8.1x more meetings than their avg. performing peers. In this newsletter, we’ll break down:
- How Many Emails Should You Send?
- How Do Cold Calls And Voicemails Impact Cold Email Reply Rates?
- Do Bump Emails Work? What About Breakup Emails?
- What’s The Best Combination Of Emails, Calls, And Social Touches?
I’ll also draw from my firsthand experience at Outbound Squad training reps at companies like Gong, Zoom, Shopify, and Rippling.
Let’s dig in.
How Many Emails Should You Send?
According to Gong’s data, 70% of cold email replies come AFTER the first email.
You can't get away with sending one or two emails and expect to get a response. The majority of your cold email replies will come after the first email.
The sweet spot is around 6-7 emails total before stopping. After that, there are significant diminishing returns.
A little stuck on what to say after the first or second email? Keep reading.
How Do Cold Calls And Voicemails Impact Cold Email Reply Rates?
In short, cold calls and voicemails TRIPLE your cold email reply rates.
“No one picks up the phone anymore.”
That statement isn’t entirely false. Cold call pick-up rates are 5.4% and declining substantially every year.
The future of cold calling is not booking live meetings.
It’s using the phone, through effective voicemails, as a “nudge” for the prospect to check their email. Lower-friction asks like this are way easier than playing phone tag with you.
Reps who make cold calls + leave voicemails more than triple their cold email reply rates.
Here are two voicemail frameworks from Cold Calling Sucks by Nick Cegelski and Armand Farrokh:
Do Bump Emails Work? What About Breakup Emails?
The data is clear: not only do bump emails work, they DOUBLE your reply rates when done well. Here’s how:
When writing a bump email, you have to keep it short. The longer your follow ups, the worse your reply rate. Limiting your bump emails to 1-2 sentences is how you double your reply rates.
So what type of bump email works best? Well, love ‘em or hate ‘em… breakup emails increase reply rates by 89%. Followed by CTA and “thoughts” follow ups.
Asking to share case studies can reduce reply rates by up to 47%.
Here are a few bump email frameworks you can steal:
What’s The Best Combination Of Emails, Calls And Social Touches?
A great multi-touch outbound prospecting campaign is like any other great routine. It’s simple, effective, and easy to follow.
Follow these guidelines:
- Multi-Channel: Phone + Email + Social
- Multi-Touch: 12-15 total touches across channels
- Multi-Day: 14-28 days
Use this pattern as a starting point:
- Weekly: 2 calls + 2 emails + 1 social touch
- Over 3 weeks: 6 calls + 6 emails + 3 social touches
Tactics for driving double-digit contact rates
Here’s an example of a full multi-touch prospecting campaign that follows a similar structure:
Verdict: Professional persistence pays off
Notice the word “professional.” Top reps perfect the art of following up without being a pest:
- Send at least 6 emails before giving up (it’s where 70%+ of your replies come from)
- Leave value-driven voicemails (increases reply rates by 3x)
- Leverage short bump emails, especially break-up emails (increase reply rates by 89%)
- Follow science-backed touch patterns
Put these practices into place and you’ll book a lot more meetings from your cold outreach.
Want more? The Ultimate Cold Email Data Report breaks down 20+ data-backed email insights that separate the top reps from the pack.
