Usually somewhere between 0.3% and maybe 5%. Mathematically that means one in every 200 to 400 emails or so should be somewhat positive. I can usually get a booking rate of about 0.1% to 2% without much fuss. My best performing email campaigns have positive reply rates and later booking rates of somewhere around 1% to 2%, which is quite difficult to achieve. Practically speaking, as long as you get 0.1% to 2%, you're pretty solid — that means basically one in every 300 emails or so will land you a meeting. And you need to understand that not everybody will show up to those meetings, because cold email is a pretty cold approach — it's kind of buried in the name there. So you can expect somewhere between 1 in 400 people that you send to actually showing up to a meeting if your copy is good. Aim for that and you can make a tremendous amount of money.
There are nine key variables—deliverability, open rate, reply rate, positive replies, meeting attendance, proposal conversion, sign‑up rate, refund rate, and your price—so you can’t give a single volume number. You need to estimate based on your own metrics; if you could send a million emails a day you’d likely make money, but you’d have to pay for that sending capacity.
No, you have a fantastic set of metrics. A 2% reply rate with 54% positive reply means approximately one in a hundred emails is getting back to you positively, which means you can probably book 25 to 50% of those — somewhere between a 0.25% and 0.5% booking rate, meaning one in every 200 to 400 people will actually book a call with you. You can send 200 to 400 emails a day with very basic sending infrastructure that costs less than $100 a month, which means you can literally book one meeting every single day — 30 meetings a month with infrastructure that's $100 a month. That means your meetings cost you just over $3. If you have a funnel like this, you should put all your time, energy, and money into maximizing the fruits of it. In the business we'd call that a banger funnel — a really good funnel. I've had way better email campaigns, but that one's pretty good. Most of my money with cold email has been made in campaigns like this — campaigns that don't appear super extremely positive or fruitful. It's like, 'Oh yeah, we only had a two or three percent reply rate, but we have a big positive reply rate,' which means the people getting back to you like you and are a good fit for what you're selling. It isn't always 100% correct, but anyway.
A 71% open rate sounds impressive, but opens don’t matter if you get no replies. Stop obsessing over open metrics and focus on response rates. For your first test send around 500 emails—not a thousand—so you can verify deliverability before you turn off open tracking. Once you know the emails are landing, work on the copy: most cold‑email copy is weak, so study proven formulas (like the one in my 56‑minute video) and adapt them to your niche, such as gyms or personal trainers. Even a few percentage‑point lift in reply rate is worth it. Remember, sending 100 emails with no replies isn’t catastrophic, but 500 with zero replies indicates a problem that needs fixing.
First, map out your funnel: open → reply → positive reply → booking → show‑up → proposal → closed deal. Identify which step is breaking down. Start by verifying deliverability with tools like GlockApps or MailboxTester; aim for an 80%+ inbox rate. Check your subject line—personalize with the recipient’s first name and avoid generic phrasing. If reply rates are low, the copy is likely the issue; make sure your targeting is solid and your offer compelling. Positive replies depend on both copy and offer relevance. Bookings require quick, friendly follow‑up and clear calendar links. Show‑ups need confirmation and a compelling meeting agenda. Proposals test your sales skills, and closing hinges on both proposal quality and negotiation. Run a full audit: send 5,000 test emails, track open rates (5% is a red flag, 30‑50% is acceptable), tweak subject lines, and improve copy. I don’t recommend a “yes” CTA because it feels like a mass campaign; instead, personalize each outreach to increase perceived relevance.