COLD EMAIL STATISTICS  //  first-party, every number with its denominatorApply
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Cold email statistics for 2026, with every denominator shown

Updated 24 September 2026 // by , ReplyLead // editorial standards // open data, CC BY 4.0

  • 2.12%median campaign reply rate per contacted lead, 81 campaigns
  • 1.32%of 429,763 sends bounced
  • 0.38xMicrosoft 365 vs Google Workspace reply rate, same campaigns
  • 8.28%of 9,847,723 measured domains cannot receive mail

The short answer: these are 36 cold email statistics from ReplyLead's own campaigns, verification runs and MX census, plus published prices and one BLS figure, each with its denominator and a link to the page that dates it. The median campaign reply rate is 2.12% per contacted lead across 81 campaigns (middle half 1.38%-2.97%); 1.32% of 429,763 sends bounced; Microsoft 365 recipients replied 0.38x as often as Google Workspace recipients inside the same campaigns; and 8.28% of 9,847,723 measured domains cannot receive mail at all.

Every figure here except the competitor prices and the BLS employer-cost share comes from ReplyLead's own sending, verification or census data, links to the page that shows how it was counted, and can be downloaded as CSV. ReplyLead runs cold email and LinkedIn outbound, so these are the numbers we operate by.

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Reply rates

  • 2.12%Median campaign reply rate per contacted lead81 campaigns with at least 500 contacted leads, extraction of 12 August 2026Method and data
  • 1.38%-2.97%Middle half of campaign reply rates (25th to 75th percentile)the same 81 campaignsMethod and data
  • 2.58%Pooled reply rate per contacted lead6,249 unique replies / 242,669 contacted leads, 115 campaignsMethod and data
  • 1.45%The same replies per sent message6,249 / 429,763 sent messagesMethod and data
  • 50 of 81Campaigns that replied below the pooled average (2.55%, pooled across the same 81 campaigns)81 campaigns with at least 500 contacted leadsMethod and data
  • 1.77Messages sent per contacted lead429,763 sends / 242,669 contacted leadsMethod and data
  • 0.04%Contacted leads who unsubscribed through the platform103 / 242,669Method and data
  • 4.41% vs 3.19%Reply rate per contact from 10+ year old sending domains vs newer ones (observational; only 4 older domains with sends)238 / 5,402 vs 5,342 / 167,704 contacts, sender-mailbox counters, snapshot 19 September 2026Method and data

Bounces and verification

  • 1.32%Share of cold email sends that bounced5,679 / 429,763 sends, 115 campaignsMethod and data
  • 1.33%Median campaign bounce rate (middle half 0.95%-1.68%)81 campaignsMethod and data
  • 3.51xHow often recipients behind a security gateway bounced vs Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace recipients without one, same campaigns95% CI 3.27-3.78, 92 campaignsMethod and data
  • 15.26%Bounce rate of Mimecast-protected recipients3,610 contacted leadsMethod and data
  • 1.93%Bounce rate of Proofpoint-protected recipients12,145 contacted leadsMethod and data
  • 0.67%Verifier-valid addresses that still bounced as dead (one two-day read)28 of 28 dead bounces were verifier-valid; one programme, August 2026Method and data
  • 3.34% to 1.19%One campaign's bounce rate before and after gateway-protected recipients moved to their own send (observed, not a controlled test)59 / 1,766 sends, then 57 / 4,791 sendsMethod and data
  • 45.5%Google Workspace addresses that came back catch-all in verification120,296 Google Workspace addresses (of 569,984 verified 21 July-4 September 2026)Method and data
  • 6.7%Microsoft 365 addresses that came back catch-all235,560 Microsoft 365 addresses, same runsMethod and data
  • 87.5%Addresses behind a Barracuda gateway that came back catch-all19,378 addresses, same runsMethod and data
  • 62.9%Catch-all addresses a second-pass verifier resolved to a positive verdict1,000 catch-all addressesMethod and data

Mail providers

  • 27.52%Domains in ReplyLead's B2B contact data whose mail is received by Microsoft 3652,492,673 of 9,058,780 domains with an MX record, resolved 19 July 2026Method and data
  • 25.37%Domains in ReplyLead's B2B contact data received by Google Workspace2,298,481 of 9,058,780Method and data
  • 52.89%Domains in ReplyLead's B2B contact data received by Microsoft 365 or Google Workspaceof 9,058,780 domains with an MX recordMethod and data
  • 6.45%Domains in ReplyLead's B2B contact data behind a security gateway584,271 domainsMethod and data
  • 42.45%Microsoft 365 share among companies with 51 to 250 employees605,526 domains in that size bandMethod and data
  • 3.89% vs 1.60%Reply rate of Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 recipients, pooled across campaigns131,148 and 142,210 contacted leads, 97 campaignsMethod and data
  • 0.38xHow often Microsoft 365 recipients replied vs Google Workspace recipients, inside the same campaigns95% CI 0.36-0.40Method and data
  • 3.3 vs 0.8Interested replies per 1,000 contacted: Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365131,148 and 142,210 contacted leadsMethod and data

Mail infrastructure

  • 8.28%Infrastructure Index domains that cannot receive mail by any route815,487 of 9,847,723 domains measuredMethod and data
  • 6.73%Infrastructure Index domains that no longer resolve (NXDOMAIN)662,748 of 9,847,723Method and data
  • 1.15%Infrastructure Index domains publishing a null MX that refuses all mail (RFC 7505)112,822 of 9,847,723Method and data
  • 552,369Domains with no MX record that still receive mail through an address record (implicit MX)of 9,847,723; often miscounted as deadMethod and data

Pricing and cost

  • 7 of 14B2B lead generation companies that publish a price on their own site14 providers compared, checked September 2026Method and data
  • +20%Rise in SalesRoads' single-SDR price, $9,950 to $11,950 per four weeksarchived page of 28 July 2026 vs September 2026Method and data
  • +140%Rise in OutreachBloom's entry managed cold email plan, $1,000 to $2,400 a monthJune 2024 to September 2026Method and data
  • 32.8%Employer cost on top of wages for private-industry sales and related occupations (the SDR calculator's default)BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026Method and data

Channels

  • 45 to 1Emails to LinkedIn invitations in one 12-month ReplyLead engagement (activity, not reach)1,080,000 emails and 24,000 invitationsMethod and data

Reply rate by who receives the mail

Bar chart of cold email reply rate per contacted lead by recipient mail environment: Google Workspace 3.89%, Microsoft 365 1.60%, security gateway 3.07%, other hosts 4.02%.
Reply rate per contacted lead by the recipient domain's mail environment. Source: cold email reply rates by email provider.

When this page does not apply

  • You want an industry average. Every campaign, verification and census figure describes ReplyLead's own data, not a market-wide rate; the BLS share and the competitor prices are the only outside figures. The method page linked from each statistic says what was counted.
  • You need a forecast for your campaign. These are measured outcomes of past campaigns; your list, market and copy set your own rates.
  • You compare two numbers with different denominators. Per contacted lead, per sent message, per address and per domain are different units; read each card's sample line and its method page.
  • You are reading this months from now. Each statistic links to a method page that carries its extraction or check date; the method pages hold the current figures.

How this page was built and checked

Statistics are copied from ReplyLead's published data pages and asserted against those pages at build time; nothing on this page is computed differently from its source. Reply and bounce figures come from the campaign book (115 campaigns, 429,763 sends, extraction of 12 August 2026) and the provider dataset (327,273 contacted leads, 97 campaigns, April-September 2026); catch-all figures from 569,984 verified addresses (21 July-4 September 2026); provider shares from the MX census of 19 July 2026 (9,058,780 domains with an MX record, of 10,241,042 resolved) and mail capability from the Infrastructure Index 2026 Q3 (9,847,723 domains measured); the aged-domain, dead-address and gateway-split figures come from the separate reads named on their cards, and the 32.8% from BLS. Automatic replies are included in reply counts. Prices are quoted from each provider's own pages on the dates shown on the comparison page. Last checked 24 September 2026.

Common questions

What is the average cold email reply rate in 2026?

In ReplyLead's campaign book the median campaign reply rate is 2.12% per contacted lead across 81 campaigns with at least 500 contacted leads, with a middle half of 1.38%-2.97%. Pooled across all 115 campaigns, the 6,249 replies read 2.58% per contacted lead and 1.45% per sent message, so state the denominator before comparing any two figures.

What percentage of cold emails bounce?

1.32% of 429,763 sends in ReplyLead's campaign book bounced (5,679), and the median campaign bounce rate was 1.33%. Who receives the mail matters: recipients behind a security gateway bounced 3.51x as often as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace recipients without one, and 15.26% of Mimecast-protected contacted leads bounced (a per-lead rate from the April-September 2026 provider dataset).

Which email provider gets the most cold email replies?

Between the two largest providers, across 327,273 contacted leads, Google Workspace recipients replied 3.89% of the time and Microsoft 365 recipients 1.60% (recipients on other hosts replied 4.02%); inside the same campaigns Microsoft 365 recipients replied 0.38x as often (95% CI 0.36-0.40). Google Workspace recipients also produced 3.3 interested replies per 1,000 contacted against 0.8 for Microsoft 365.

What share of B2B companies use Microsoft 365 for email?

In ReplyLead's B2B contact data, 27.52% of 9,058,780 domains with an MX record are received by Microsoft 365 and 25.37% by Google Workspace; Microsoft 365's share peaks at 42.45% among companies with 51 to 250 employees. This is the footprint of one B2B contact database, not a market-share census of business email.

Can I reuse these statistics?

Yes, under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. Each card has a copy-citation button, the full list downloads as CSV, and the campaign, provider and pricing data are archived on Zenodo with the DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22920956; the catch-all and infrastructure datasets download from their own pages.

Sources and check dates

ReplyLead's method and data pages behind each statistic:

  1. Cold email benchmarks 2026: the 115-campaign extraction: sends, replies, bounces, unsubscribes.
  2. Cold email reply rate distribution: the 81-campaign median and the below-average count.
  3. Cold email reply rates by email provider (open data): reply, interest and bounce rates by recipient mail environment.
  4. B2B email provider market share (MX census): provider shares of 9,058,780 domains.
  5. B2B Email Infrastructure Index 2026 Q3: mail capability of 9,847,723 domains.
  6. What is a catch-all email domain?: catch-all rates across 569,984 verified addresses.
  7. 14 B2B lead generation companies compared: published prices and the price history.

Outside primary sources, each read on the date shown:

  1. Zenodo: ReplyLead open B2B outbound benchmarks (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22920956): the archived open-data record behind the reply, bounce and provider statistics. checked 24 September 2026.
  2. Kaggle: B2B cold email and outbound benchmarks 2026: a mirror of the same open data. checked 24 September 2026.
  3. RFC 5321, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (IETF): implicit MX: a domain with no MX but an address record still receives mail, which is why 552,369 domains are counted as mail-capable. checked 24 September 2026.
  4. RFC 7505, A 'Null MX' No Service Resource Record (IETF): the null MX record behind the 1.15% of domains that refuse all mail. checked 24 September 2026.
  5. BLS: Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 4: private-industry sales and related occupations: wages 75.3% of total compensation, the basis of the 32.8% figure. checked 24 September 2026 in a browser fetch; bls.gov answers 403 to scripted requests.

Want these rates on your own list? How ReplyLead runs outbound and pricing.