In this article
How many replies come from follow-ups?
Instantly's Cold Email Benchmark Report 2026 covers 1 January to 18 December 2025. It finds the first email earns 58% of replies and all later follow-ups 42%. [1] Instantly describes its sample only as billions of cold-email interactions.
Smartlead's 2026 benchmark covers more than 850 million emails sent from January to June 2026 by senders of at least 500 emails. The reply rate falls at every step, from 1.18% for the first email to 0.33% for the seventh. [2] Follow-ups bring 38% of replies in a two-email sequence, 52% in a three-email sequence and 71% in a seven-email sequence. [2]
Both are vendor data from the senders' own platforms, and Smartlead says it cannot measure annoyance or unsubscribes. [2] Read them for the shape of the curve. They promise nothing about your list.
| Email in the sequence | Reply rate |
|---|---|
| First email | 1.18% |
| Follow-up 1 | 0.73% |
| Follow-up 2 | 0.56% |
| Follow-up 3 | 0.49% |
| Follow-up 4 | 0.37% |
| Follow-up 5 | 0.35% |
| Follow-up 6 | 0.33% |
Where does '5 to 7 touches' come from?
The rule that most sales need five follow-ups is repeated everywhere. We could not find a study behind it. One analysis, which is secondary rather than primary, traces it to an unpublished 1942 survey of a single Long Island chapter, with a sample under 40, and to a 2009 Marketing Donut column. [5] Treat it as folk wisdom.
The measured data shows replies still arriving at every step up to seven, at falling rates. [2] That is a reason to send more than one email. How many you send should depend on how much new you have to say.
When should you send the follow-up?
Instantly's benchmark suggests spacing follow-ups three to four days apart. [1] Smartlead's data supports a first follow-up at about three days, inside the common range of two to five business days, but it says its data shows when replies arrive and cannot show whether a longer gap makes the next email work better. [3]
Replies come quickly: 64% arrive within an hour, 88.5% within 24 hours and 93.9% within 72 hours of the email they answer. [3] That is why three days is a reasonable first gap. By then almost all the replies the first email will ever get have already arrived.
What should a follow-up email say?
Gong analysed 304,174 prospecting follow-up emails. Short, generic follow-ups were far less likely to lead to a meeting, and opening with 'following up' raised replies but lowered the odds of a meeting. [4] Gong reports correlation, not a controlled test.
We found no study that isolates new information against 'just checking in'. Reading the data above, our view is that a follow-up should give the reader a reason to answer that the first email did not. Three kinds work in practice, and the table below sets them side by side.
| Kind | What it contains | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| A dated fact | Something the company said or did after your first email, tied to the reason you wrote | You can point to a post, a hire or an announcement dated after the first send |
| A specific question | One question that needs more than yes or no, about their situation | You have no new fact, but you can ask something that helps you qualify |
| A piece of evidence | A short, specific example relevant to the problem you named in the first email | You have one that fits their case, not a generic link |
The last email can say that it is the last. It is a courtesy, and it lets the reader reply without feeling chased.
What we do and do not claim
Every message Mach drafts, a follow-up included, waits for a person's approval before it sends. That approval step is the check against a rushed follow-up.
We publish no reply counts by message position yet, because our own data is too young. When we have them they will be here with the method, as in the cost of one contact-ready lead.
Check this before you send the second email
Write one sentence on what is new since the first email. If nothing is, you do not have a follow-up yet, so wait for a signal or send the closing note.
After a campaign, count replies by message position: the first email, the first follow-up, the second. Compare your split with Instantly's 58% and 42% as a rough check on your own list. If almost all your replies come from the first email, the follow-ups are not adding reasons to reply.
Common questions
When should I send a follow-up email after no response?
About three days after the first email. Instantly suggests three to four days between follow-ups [1], and Smartlead finds that 93.9% of replies to an email arrive within 72 hours, so by day three most of the replies that email will get are in. [3]
How many follow-up emails should I send?
There is no proven number. The '5 to 7 touches' rule has no study behind it that we could find. [5] Smartlead's data shows replies still arriving at the seventh email, at falling rates. [2] Send as many as you have something new to say in, and keep each one short.
What should I say in a follow-up email?
Give the reader a reason to reply that the first email did not: a dated fact about their company since you wrote, one specific question, or a short piece of evidence that bears on the problem you named. Do not restate the pitch.
Does 'just following up' work?
Gong's analysis of 304,174 follow-up emails found that opening with 'following up' raised replies but lowered the odds of a meeting, and that short generic follow-ups were far less likely to lead to a meeting. It is correlation, not a controlled test. [4]
Sources and further reading
- Cold Email Benchmark Report 2026: Reply Rates, Deliverability and TrendsInstantlyBack to text
- Do cold email follow-ups work? BenchmarksSmartleadBack to text
- How long to wait for a cold email reply: benchmarksSmartleadBack to text
- 7 tips for writing the perfect follow-up sales email, according to scienceGongBack to text
- Sales follow-up: where the '80% need 5 contacts' statistic really comes fromAinoraBack to text
