The Prospectio Outbound Evidence Report
B2B outbound benchmarks from campaigns we ran and measured. 389,890 prospects, 15,018 meetings, 41 client programmes, eight years. Free, no gate, no email required.
Almost every outbound benchmark you will find online is either a vendor survey, an aggregate of other people's aggregates, or a number somebody made up in 2019 that has been recycled since. These pages are neither. Every figure comes from campaigns run for 17 clients, measured to the point a meeting was accepted in their calendar.
We publish the method alongside the numbers so you can judge them, including the tests where the result went against what we expected and the ones where a lift in replies produced no extra meetings at all. Every test compares two variants of a single element against an otherwise identical sequence, with prospects split at random inside each client account so that industry, geography, seniority and company size are held constant on both sides. No test was called below 2,000 prospects per arm.
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Benchmarks by segment
B2B outbound meeting rates by product category
Measured B2B outbound meeting rates across twelve product categories, from software development services to CRM.
B2B outbound reply rates by company size
Measured B2B outbound reply rates, meeting rates and deal sizes by company size, from under 50 employees to over 2,000.
B2B outbound reply rates by persona
Measured B2B outbound reply rates, meeting rates and average deal sizes for fourteen buying personas.
B2B outbound reply rates by region
Measured B2B outbound reply and meeting rates across nine regions including the UK and Ireland, DACH, the Nordics, France and the US.
The fifteen controlled tests
Each test changes one element of an otherwise identical sequence. Reply rate and meeting rate are reported together, because several variants lifted replies and produced no extra meetings at all.
Test 1: answering inbound replies within 24 hours
Controlled result from 10,120 inbound replies across 41 B2B programmes: replies answered inside 24 hours converted to meetings at 21.4 percent against 3.6.
Test 2: organic connection request against Sales Navigator InMail
Controlled A/B across 4,330 prospects: Sales Navigator InMail replied at 3.7 percent while a connection request followed by a message replied at 37.0.
Test 3: verified ICP and subject-matter fit against broad role targeting
A/B test across 6,870 enterprise prospects: job-title targeting replied at 13.0 percent; verified subject-matter fit replied at 51.9 percent.
Test 4: a 2.5-sentence question-led message against a longer one with solution detail
Controlled A/B across 7,990 prospects: a two-and-a-half sentence question-led message with no pitch replied at 44.5 percent against 18.6 percent for a longer.
Test 5: naming the prospect's own product or a direct competitor
A/B test across 10,815 prospects: naming their product or a competitor lifted replies from 17.1 to 34.5 percent and meetings from 1.8 to 4.3.
Test 6: asking questions rather than talking about yourself
Controlled A/B across 9,540 enterprise prospects: question-led copy replied at 33.2 percent against 10.8 percent for company-led copy.
Test 7: director level and above against manager level and below
Controlled A/B across 11,780 enterprise prospects: directors and above replied at 32.0 percent and booked at 2.2 percent; managers booked at 4.4 percent.
Test 8: a personalised video first touch against text only
Controlled A/B across 8,385 prospects: a personalised video first touch replied at 40.4 percent against 28.8 percent for text-only.
Test 9: naming a shared colleague or connection
Controlled A/B across 7,340 prospects: naming a shared colleague lifted reply rate from 27.0 to 35.1 percent and meeting rate from 3.5 to 5.1 percent.
Test 10: LinkedIn only against LinkedIn plus email
Controlled A/B across 9,020 prospects: running email alongside LinkedIn lifted reply rate from 23.3 to 31.5 percent.
Test 11: posting twice a week during an active campaign
Controlled A/B across 5,550 prospects: posting twice a week during a campaign lifted reply rate from 29.5 to 36.0 percent and meeting rate from 3.8 to 5.1.
Test 12: a voice note at step two against a text follow-up
A/B test across 5,915 prospects at small companies: a step-two voice note lifted replies from 30.7 to 33.7 percent and meetings from 4.1 to 5.0.
Test 13: a calendar link in the reply
A/B test across 6,655 prospects: a calendar link in the reply left replies flat at 33.4 percent and lifted meetings from 4.6 to 5.0 percent.
Test 14: how long an outbound sequence should run
Rolling measurement across 38 B2B programmes: meetings per prospect rose to 5.3 percent at six weeks, plateaued at 5.4 percent at eight.
Test 15: reply rate by first-message character count
Twelve weeks of measurement across 2024 and 2025: first messages of 240 to 420 characters replied at 38.6 percent.
By persona
Outbound benchmarks for COOs
12,400 COOs contacted across 41 client programmes. 29.7% replied, 4.2% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €22,600.
Outbound benchmarks for CTOs
34,900 CTOs contacted across 41 client programmes. 31.6% replied, 5.1% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €44,500.
Outbound benchmarks for Founders and CEOs
19,600 founders and ceos contacted across 41 client programmes. 41.2% replied, 6.3% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €16,400.
Outbound benchmarks for Heads of Engineering
31,200 heads of engineering contacted across 41 client programmes. 36.4% replied, 5.6% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €41,200.
Outbound benchmarks for Heads of Marketing
28,900 heads of marketing contacted across 41 client programmes. 27.4% replied, 3.8% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €33,100.
Outbound benchmarks for Heads of RevOps
26,700 heads of revops contacted across 41 client programmes. 32.9% replied, 5.0% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €51,900.
Outbound benchmarks for HR Directors
34,200 hr directors contacted across 41 client programmes. 30.8% replied, 4.3% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €31,700.
Outbound benchmarks for HR Managers
19,200 hr managers contacted across 41 client programmes. 28.6% replied, 3.9% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €29,400.
Outbound benchmarks for IT Directors
58,400 it directors contacted across 41 client programmes. 34.2% replied, 4.8% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €38,000.
Outbound benchmarks for Procurement Managers
11,300 procurement managers contacted across 41 client programmes. 21.8% replied, 2.7% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €35,600.
Outbound benchmarks for Product Leaders
38,700 product leaders contacted across 41 client programmes. 33.8% replied, 4.9% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €39,800.
Outbound benchmarks for Solution Architects
15,490 solution architects contacted across 41 client programmes. 38.1% replied, 5.9% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €47,200.
Outbound benchmarks for Talent Acquisition Leads
16,100 talent acquisition leads contacted across 41 client programmes. 30.4% replied, 4.1% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €26,800.
Outbound benchmarks for VP Sales
42,800 VP Sales contacted across 41 client programmes. 30.1% replied, 4.4% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €57,300.
By company size
Outbound benchmarks: 10 to 50 employees
28,600 prospects contacted at companies of 10 to 50 people. 38.4% replied, 6.1% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €11,200.
Outbound benchmarks: 2,000+ employees
196,190 prospects contacted at companies over 2,000 people. 26.8% replied, 3.5% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €102,000.
Outbound benchmarks: 200 to 500 employees
37,400 prospects contacted at companies of 200 to 500 people. 32.6% replied, 4.6% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €19,400.
Outbound benchmarks: 50 to 200 employees
34,300 prospects contacted at companies of 50 to 200 people. 35.2% replied, 5.3% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €14,800.
Outbound benchmarks: 500 to 2,000 employees
93,400 prospects contacted at companies of 500 to 2,000 people. 30.1% replied, 4.2% booked a meeting, and the average deal was €48,600.
By region
B2B outbound benchmarks: Benelux
36,090 prospects contacted in Benelux. 31.2% replied and 4.4% booked a meeting, ranking 5th of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: CEE
41,400 prospects contacted in Central and Eastern Europe. 33.8% replied and 4.9% booked a meeting, ranking 3rd of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: DACH
63,800 prospects contacted in the DACH region. 32.4% replied and 4.7% booked a meeting, ranking 4th of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: France
32,200 prospects contacted in France. 29.8% replied and 4.1% booked a meeting, ranking 7th of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: Iberia
18,800 prospects contacted in Iberia. 30.5% replied and 4.3% booked a meeting, ranking 6th of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: Nordics
38,900 prospects contacted in the Nordics. 34.6% replied and 5.0% booked a meeting, ranking 2nd of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: UK & Ireland
68,300 prospects contacted in the UK and Ireland. 35.1% replied and 5.2% booked a meeting, ranking 1st of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: US East
58,600 prospects contacted in the US East Coast. 28.9% replied and 4.0% booked a meeting, ranking 8th of nine regions.
B2B outbound benchmarks: US West
31,800 prospects contacted in the US West Coast. 27.6% replied and 3.8% booked a meeting, ranking 9th of nine regions.
By category
Outbound benchmarks: AI order-to-cash
12,400 prospects contacted for companies selling AI order-to-cash software. 4.2% booked a meeting, ranking 9th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Analytical SaaS
3,760 prospects contacted for companies selling analytics software. 4.6% booked a meeting, ranking 6th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Cloud platform
117,000 prospects contacted for companies selling cloud platform services. 3.5% booked a meeting, ranking 10th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Coding software
3,690 prospects contacted for companies selling coding and developer tools. 5.3% booked a meeting, ranking 2nd of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: CPaaS
34,800 prospects contacted for companies selling communications platform services. 4.2% booked a meeting, ranking 8th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: CRM
84,300 prospects contacted for companies selling CRM software. 3.5% booked a meeting, ranking 11th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: HR SaaS and AI
46,200 prospects contacted for companies selling HR software and HR AI. 4.4% booked a meeting, ranking 7th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Marketing SaaS
2,880 prospects contacted for companies selling marketing software. 5.3% booked a meeting, ranking 4th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Networking and security
59,700 prospects contacted for companies selling networking and security products. 3.5% booked a meeting, ranking 12th of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Outsourcing
3,480 prospects contacted for companies selling outsourcing services. 5.3% booked a meeting, ranking 3rd of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Software development
17,630 prospects contacted for companies selling software development services. 5.5% booked a meeting, ranking 1st of twelve categories.
Outbound benchmarks: Systems integration
4,050 prospects contacted for companies selling systems integration services. 4.6% booked a meeting, ranking 5th of twelve categories.
Using the data
Everything here is free to cite with attribution. If you want the figures applied to your own campaign rather than read, the reply rate calculator benchmarks a campaign you have already run and the ICP fit scorer scores a segment before you build the list.
Cite as: Prospectio.ai, B2B Outbound Benchmarks 2026, 389,890 prospects across 41 client programmes, 2018 to 2026.
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