Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
92% of all customer interactions happen over the phone
It takes an average of 8 cold call attempts to reach a prospect
The best time to call a prospect is between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM
Email marketing has an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent
Personalized subject lines increase open rates by 26%
80% of business professionals believe email marketing increases customer retention
Direct mail has a median ROI of 29%
73% of American consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail
Direct mail requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than digital media
97% of B2B marketers believe in-person events have a major impact on business outcomes
68% of B2B marketers use in-person events for lead generation initiatives
Example trade show leads cost approximately $811 per lead on average
Outbound marketing leads cost 39% more than inbound leads on average
78% of salespeople using social media (social selling) outsell their peers
Responding to a lead within 5 minutes increases conversion rates by 9x
Cold Calling & Sales Outreach
- 192% of all customer interactions happen over the phone
- 2It takes an average of 8 cold call attempts to reach a prospect
- 3The best time to call a prospect is between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM
- 4The worst time to call a prospect is between 11:00 AM and 2:30 PM
- 582% of buyers accept meetings with sellers who proactively reach out
- 6Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to cold call prospects
- 7Successful cold calls average 5 minutes and 50 seconds in duration
- 8Asking 'How have you been?' increases success rates by 6.6 times in cold calls
- 957% of C-level executives prefer to be contacted by phone
- 10Sales reps spend about 15% of their time leaving voicemails
- 11The average voicemail response rate is only 4.8%
- 1244% of salespeople give up after one follow-up call
- 13Stating the reason for your call early increases success rates by 2.1x
- 14Using a local presence number can increase connection rates by 400%
- 1569% of buyers accepted a call from a new salesperson in the past 12 months
- 16Top performers in cold calling ask questions rather than pitch immediately
- 1742% of sales reps feel they do not have the right information before making a call
- 18Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads via outreach
- 1963% of salespeople say cold calling is the worst part of their job
- 20Organizations that do not cold call experience 42% less growth than those that do
Interpretation
These stats make one thing clear: the phone is king, with 92% of customer interactions and 57% of C-level preferences, so persist through the typical eight call attempts, cold-call on Wednesdays or Thursdays between 4:00 and 5:00 PM instead of mid-day, use a local number to boost connections by up to 400 percent, state your reason early and open with "How have you been?" to multiply your success, and avoid wasting time on voicemails that only get a 4.8 percent response while teams that quit cold calling suffer about 42 percent less growth.
Cold Emailing & Digital Outbound
- 1Email marketing has an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent
- 2Personalized subject lines increase open rates by 26%
- 380% of business professionals believe email marketing increases customer retention
- 435% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone
- 5Adding video to email can increase click rates by 300%
- 649% of businesses use some form of email automation for outreach
- 7Sending 3-4 follow-up emails increases reply rates significantly
- 8Emails with social sharing buttons have a 158% higher click-through rate
- 9Cold emails with 200-250 words witness the highest reply rate
- 1081% of B2B marketers use email newsletters for content marketing
- 11Tuesday is the best day to send emails for high open rates
- 12Interactive email content increases the click-to-open rate by 73%
- 1359% of B2B marketers say email is their most effective channel for revenue generation
- 14Emails that include a question in the subject line have a higher open rate
- 15Segmentation of email lists increases revenue by up to 760%
- 1621% of sent emails are never opened
- 17Including the recipient's name in the email body increases click-through rates
- 18B2B cold emails have an average open rate of 15-25%
- 1969% of mobile users delete emails that aren't optimized for mobile
- 20Testing two different subject lines (A/B testing) improves open rates by 49%
Interpretation
Email can be your most profitable marketing channel, returning about $36 for every $1 spent, but only if you personalize subject lines and names, segment lists to unlock up to 760% more revenue, optimize for mobile, A/B test subject lines, add video or interactive elements and social buttons, automate outreach and send 3 to 4 follow-ups with concise 200 to 250 word cold pitches on high-open days like Tuesday, otherwise your messages risk joining the 21% that are never opened.
Direct Mail & Traditional Media
- 1Direct mail has a median ROI of 29%
- 273% of American consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail
- 3Direct mail requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than digital media
- 442.2% of direct mail recipients either read or scan the mail they receive
- 554% of consumers say they want to receive mail from brands that interests them
- 6Oversized envelopes have the highest response rate in direct mail at 5%
- 790% of direct mail gets opened compared to 20-30% of emails
- 856% of customers find print marketing to be the most trustworthy type of marketing
- 9Brand recall is 70% higher for direct mail than digital ads
- 10Direct mail response rates are 5 to 9 times higher than email
- 1139% of consumers try a business for the first time because of direct mail
- 12Adding a person's name to direct mail can increase response rates by 135%
- 1360% of catalog recipients visit the website of the company that mailed them
- 14Traditional TV advertising still commands 42% of ad spend for major brands (pre-2020)
- 1567% of consumers feel that the quality of the paper used in direct mail reflects the brand
- 16Consumers aged 45-54 are the most likely demographic to respond to direct mail
- 17Postcards have a 4.25% response rate for house lists
- 1882% of millennials view print advertisements as more trusted than digital
- 19Integrating direct mail with digital ads increases conversion rates by 28%
- 20The average lifespan of a direct mail piece is 17 days compared to seconds for an email
Interpretation
Despite the digital deluge, direct mail punches above its weight, getting opened and acted on far more often than email while delivering higher ROI, trust and brand recall, lasting weeks instead of seconds, appealing through paper quality and personalization especially to middle-aged buyers and millennials, and boosting conversions when paired with digital ads.
General Outbound Strategy & ROI
- 1Outbound marketing leads cost 39% more than inbound leads on average
- 278% of salespeople using social media (social selling) outsell their peers
- 3Responding to a lead within 5 minutes increases conversion rates by 9x
- 450% of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting
- 5Outbound strategies generate 55% of leads for B2B enterprise companies
- 672% of companies with less than 50 new opportunities per month did not achieve revenue goals
- 7The average Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for B2B Technology is $200+
- 860% of B2B marketers report that their outbound strategies are 'effective' or 'very effective'
- 961% of organizations believe that outbound marketing is effective for generating immediate results
- 10Misalignment between sales and marketing costs companies $1 trillion a year
- 11Companies with aligned sales and marketing achieve 24% faster revenue growth
- 1227% of B2B marketers say lack of budget is their biggest hurdle for outbound success
- 13Outsourced lead generation generates 43% better results than in-house for some sectors
- 1468% of B2B companies still struggle with lead generation
- 15Only 27% of leads sent to sales are qualified
- 16It takes an average of 3 months to ramp up a new outbound sales rep to full productivity
- 1733% of outbound sales costs go towards tools and technology
- 18Retargeting ads (a form of outbound) can boost ad response by 400%
- 19LinkedIn is responsible for 80% of B2B leads from social media
- 2090% of top-performing salespeople use social media as part of their outbound strategy
Interpretation
Outbound marketing is an expensive megaphone that costs about 39% more per lead and wastes half of sales time yet still produces roughly 55% of enterprise B2B leads, so the smartest teams win not by shouting louder but by using social selling, with LinkedIn driving 80% of B2B social leads and top performers relying on social, responding within five minutes to lift conversions ninefold, employing retargeting that can boost responses by 400%, aligning sales and marketing to avoid a trillion-dollar penalty and gain 24% faster growth, and investing wisely to tame $200-plus CACs and three-month ramp times while fixing poor lead qualification and scarce budgets.
Trade Shows & Events
- 197% of B2B marketers believe in-person events have a major impact on business outcomes
- 268% of B2B marketers use in-person events for lead generation initiatives
- 3Example trade show leads cost approximately $811 per lead on average
- 481% of trade show attendees have buying authority
- 592% of tradeshow attendees come to see what's new in products and services
- 685% of leadership utilize in-person events and trade shows for access to new customers
- 752% of business leaders say event marketing drives more ROI than any other channel
- 846% of attendees go to only one trade show per year
- 974% of attendees say that engaging with branded event marketing experiences makes them more likely to buy
- 10Following up with trade show leads within 4 days doubles the likelihood of a sale
- 1121% of marketing budgets are allocated to events and trade shows (pre-pandemic average)
- 1264% of exhibitors primarily use trade shows to build brand awareness
- 13Cost per interaction at a trade show is lower ($142) than a field sales call ($259)
- 1477% of marketers use events to nurture existing customers
- 1595% of marketers view in-person events as a primary way to form connection in an increasingly digital world
- 16Booth traffic increases by 52% when using pre-show marketing techniques
- 1784% of event attendees have a more positive opinion of the company after the event
- 18Only 6% of exhibitors believe they convert trade show leads well
- 1941% of marketers consider event marketing to be their single most effective channel
- 2087% of C-suite executives believe in the power of live events for face-to-face marketing
Interpretation
These numbers prove that live events are an extraordinarily effective, if not inexpensive, way to reach high-authority buyers and build brand awareness, so the smart play is to show up, stand out with pre-show marketing and hustle on prompt follow-up, because most attendees come to see what's new and only a few exhibitors actually convert leads.
