Cold Email Metrics to Track: The Five Numbers That Matter

What each number tells you

• Delivered over sent shows list quality and deliverability.
• Replied over delivered shows the match between list and message.
• Positive over replied shows how right your offer is.
• Calls over positive shows how well you follow up.

Why open rates mislead

Some mail apps load images before a person reads, so opens can be false. Replies are the number to trust.

How to read the funnel

Find the weakest stage. Low delivered means fix setup. Low replied means fix the list or first line. Low calls means fix your reply.

Change one thing at a time

Otherwise you will not know what moved the number.

A worked example

You send 200 emails. 190 are delivered, 12 people reply, 6 of those are positive, and 3 book a call. That is 95% delivered, a 6.3% reply rate and a 3.2% positive rate. If 1 call becomes a customer, your email to customer rate is 0.5%. Now you know where to work. If delivered had been 80%, you would fix setup before anything else.

Common mistakes

• Judging a campaign after twenty emails.
• Counting out of office replies as interest.
• Comparing your number to a benchmark that counts differently from you.
• Changing the list, the line and the offer in the same week.

Where Touchbase fits

Touchbase finds companies that fit what you sell, says why each one fits, writes a plain first email for each that you approve before anything is sent, and handles replies and follow-ups. You choose who to write to and what goes out.