Narrow follow-up questions keep the conversation going, while broad ones do not

Cold outreach

Reader Note:: Narrow questions are specific follow-ups like who, where, or which, not big open-ended prompts.
Evidence:: Observed behaviour
Vendor interest:: None
Sample:: Two conversation studies with people who already knew each other: study 1 had 192 participants in 96 pairs; study 2 had 222 participants and 125 conversations. Samples were mostly young adults and majority female.

Good for

Comparing yourself against a similar segment, and choosing what to test next.

Saying that one thing caused another, or predicting what you would get.
This was measured in one market. It may not hold where you are.
The source never says when this data was collected. It could be considerably older than the publication date suggests.

45.7%

Difference in lead rate between cold emails that open by naming a problem and those that don't — problem-led openers convert worse

Longer product conversations are more persuasive

21%

Share of B2B teams using multiple outreach channels that actually coordinate messaging across them

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

52.5%

Lift in lead rate for cold emails that promise a fast, near-term result — the strongest-performing message pattern tested

An offer in the subject line makes 77% of B2B prospects more likely to open a cold email, while shocking subject lines put off 32%

Cold email subject line type and likelihood to open
Subject line type	% More likely to open	Makes no difference (%)
An offer	77%	14%
Personalised (name/company name)	71%	22%
A question	69%	19%
Intriguing/mystery	64%	22%
Topical/trend/current affairs	64%	26%

54%

of surveyed B2B SaaS companies use partners to help with outbound prospecting and lead enrichment