Data and comment on B2B outbound, for journalists
Danish Lead Co publishes what it measures across its client campaigns. Everything on this page is free to quote with a credit and a link.
Quotable findings
Every figure links to the page with its full method, numerator and denominator. Client campaigns only: 45 client companies, 344 campaigns, 1,160,919 emails, 520,706 unique prospects, 25 June to 23 September 2026.
The 3 to 5% reply-rate benchmark is a denominator choice
Across 1,160,919 cold emails sent for 45 client companies, 1.21% got a reply. Counted against the 520,706 unique prospects instead of emails sent, the same replies read 2.70%. Out-of-office messages were 20.5% of all replies.
Founders reply 4.7 times more often than VPs
Founders, owners and partners replied positively at 13.51%. VPs replied positively at 2.87%. Based on 4,900 replies with a seniority classification.
Microsoft 365 recipients are not less interested, fewer are reached
Google Workspace recipients produced 75.2% of replies at a 14.31% positive rate. Microsoft 365 recipients produced 24.2% at 13.70%. The gap is delivery, not interest.
On LinkedIn, the connection request is where the funnel leaks
Of 11,701 connection requests sent for 10 clients, 16.4% were accepted and 7.9% of messages sent afterwards got a reply. 83.6% of the funnel is lost before a single message is sent.
An average reply rate hides a 9x spread
The median campaign replied at 1.05%, the top tenth at 2.25% and the best at 3.87%. The study includes the 1,244 copy variants tested across 283 campaign builds, losers included.
How to cite this research
Free to use with credit and a link, under CC BY 4.0. Tables may be reproduced with the source line. Suggested citation:
Danish Lead Co, State of B2B Outbound 2026: what 1,160,919 real client sends produced (client campaigns, 25 June to 23 September 2026). https://danishleadco.io/b2b-outbound-benchmarks
- Link to
- The page the figure comes from (each finding above links to it), or the parent report at danishleadco.io/b2b-outbound-benchmarks.
- Custom cuts
- If you need a cut that is not published (a different window, channel or seniority split), ask. We will say plainly if the data cannot support it.
- What we do not publish
- No meeting rate, booking rate or show rate, and no reply rate by industry. The parent report explains why: the denominators are not complete enough to be honest.
About Frederik Jakobsen and Danish Lead Co
- Founder
- Frederik Jakobsen is the founder and CEO of Danish Lead Co, which he started in 2021 with Martin Rasmussen. Danish Lead Co has served 110 businesses and booked more than 10,000 sales meetings for them. He also runs SourceRank AI, a done-for-you answer engine optimization service that gets B2B companies recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI, and DealSource Systems, outsourced deal origination for private equity firms and M&A advisors. He hosts The Revenue Equation podcast.
- Company
- Danish Lead Co builds and runs fully managed outbound systems for B2B companies: targeting, list building, messaging, deliverability, sending and reply handling, through to booked sales meetings. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, it works with B2B companies in Europe and the US. Engagements typically run $3,000 to $6,000 a month.
- Press contact
- Frederik Jakobsen, [email protected]. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fred-jakobsen. Company page: linkedin.com/company/danishleadco.
- Logo
- Danish Lead Co logo, PNG. Please do not alter it.
- Topics
- Cold email and outbound performance, email deliverability, LinkedIn outreach, appointment setting, running an outbound agency, how buyers now check vendors in AI search, and private equity deal sourcing.
Source: Danish Lead Co delivery platform / Window: 25 June to 23 September 2026 / Population: 45 client companies, 344 campaigns, 1,160,919 emails, 520,706 unique prospects / Aggregate and anonymised. Danish Lead Co's own campaigns excluded. / Updated quarterly. / Press contact: [email protected]