Glossary: pipeline measures
What is reply rate in cold email?
Reply rate is the percentage of delivered emails that received a reply. You work it out by dividing the number of replies by the number of emails delivered and multiplying by 100.
Formula
Worked example
45 ÷ 1,500 × 100 = 3%
Reply rate is replies divided by emails delivered.
Count each prospect once, however many emails in the sequence they received. Then split the replies, because not every reply is good news.
Total replies include everything.
Interested answers, polite refusals, referrals to a colleague and requests to stop all count as replies.
Positive replies are the ones that matter.
Positive reply rate counts only interested answers: positive replies divided by emails delivered, times 100.
Automatic replies are left out.
Out of office notes and bounce messages are not people answering. Remove them before you count.
Here is reply rate worked out for an invented company.
Imagine Thistlewick, an invented security company. It sends a four-email sequence to 1,550 prospects, and 50 addresses bounce, so 1,500 are delivered. Over three weeks, 45 people reply. Its reply rate is 45 ÷ 1,500 × 100 = 3%.
Thistlewick reads all 45 replies. 18 are interested, 20 say no or not now and 7 pointed to a colleague. Its positive reply rate is 18 ÷ 1,500 × 100 = 1.2%. The 18 get a calendar link the same day, and the 7 referrals become new contacts for the list.
Thistlewick's 45 replies from 1,500 delivered emails
Use reply rate to judge the message and the list.
Reply rate is the most direct measure of whether the right people found the email relevant.
The four steps in order
- 1Count per prospect
- 2Sort replies
- 3Read by segment
- 4Answer fast
- 1
Count per prospect, not per email.
Someone who answers the third email is one reply for the sequence.
- 2
Sort replies by type.
Mark each as interested, not interested, referral or opt-out.
- 3
Read by segment and by step.
See which audience and which email in the sequence earn the interested replies.
- 4
Answer fast.
Reply to interested people the same day. Speed keeps the conversation alive long enough to book a meeting.
Prymatica A/B tests subject lines, angles and CTAs weekly to turn cold prospects into interested replies, then qualifies those replies and books them onto your calendar. See how Prymatica's cold email process works.
Teams make these mistakes with reply rate.
Out of office notes are counted.
Automatic replies inflate the number and tell you nothing about the message.
All replies are treated as wins.
A campaign can earn many replies that all say no. Track positive reply rate beside the total.
The base is emails sent.
Divide by delivered. Bounced emails were never seen, so they cannot be answered.
These glossary terms sit next to reply rate.
Questions
People ask these questions about reply rate.
How do you calculate reply rate?
Divide the number of prospects who replied by the number of emails delivered and multiply by 100. For example, 45 replies from 1,500 delivered emails is 45 ÷ 1,500 × 100 = 3%.
What is the difference between reply rate and positive reply rate?
Reply rate counts every human reply, including refusals. Positive reply rate counts only replies that show interest. In the example above, the reply rate is 3% and the positive reply rate is 1.2%.
What is a good reply rate for cold email?
It depends on the audience, the offer and the list, so the useful comparison is with your own earlier campaigns. Aim to raise positive reply rate from one test to the next.
How do you improve reply rate?
Tighten the list so every recipient fits, make the opening line specific to them, shorten the email, ask one easy question and add follow-ups. Change one thing at a time so you can see what worked.
Should reply rate be counted per email or per prospect?
Per prospect. A sequence of four emails gives each person four chances to answer, and an answer to any of them is one reply. Counting per email sent makes a longer sequence look worse than it is.
What is the difference between reply rate and response rate?
In cold email they mean the same thing. Some teams say response rate when they also count calls returned or forms filled, so check what a report includes.
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