The State of Prospecting 2026 (Sopro)

Vendor report

Publisher: Sopro
Evidence:: Observed behaviour
Vendor interest:: High
Sample:: Survey: 442 senior B2B decision-makers (self-reported). Also draws on ~126M emails / 25M multichannel touchpoints and a 650,000-email 2025 send corpus for the message-pattern analysis, plus 2025 campaign benchmark data (lead rates by company size/industry).
Methodology: Disclosed
Geography: Global
Data period: 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2025
Published: 2026

Summary:

Sopro (a B2B outreach/prospecting vendor) report mixing three data types:

(1) a commissioned survey of 442 senior B2B decision-makers (self-reported)

(2) analysis of ~126M emails / 25M multichannel touchpoints and specifically a 650,000-email 2025 send corpus used for a word-presence-vs-lead-rate 'sentiment/bias' analysis (quasi-experimental — not randomized, naturally occurring copy variation)

(3) 2025 campaign benchmark data (lead rates by company size/industry — observed platform data).

Vendor interest is high: Sopro sells the exact multi-channel/AI-orchestrated prospecting services the report's conclusions point toward.

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

Industries with clear operational needs have a higher B2B email lead rate, with Public Safety leading at 5.4%

B2B cold email lead rate by industry: top 10
Industry	Lead rate (%)
Public Safety	5.4%
Government Administration	5.2%
Civil Engineering	4.6%
Mining & Metals	4.3%
Market Research	4.3%

3.0%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Construction prospects in 2025

4.3%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Mining & Metals prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

5.2%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Government Administration prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

2.1%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Pharmaceuticals prospects in 2025

4.3%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Market Research prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

1.0%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Computer Software prospects in 2025

B2B contact databases cover small companies far better than big ones: 64.3% coverage for firms with 1–10 employees vs 0.3% for 10,001+

B2B database size and market coverage by company size
Company size	Prospects	Coverage (%)
1-10	4	64.3%
11-50	8	27%
51-200	15	11.8%
201-500	21	6%
501-1,000	28	3.7%

52.5%

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

The ten industries that receive the most B2B cold emails turn only 1.0–3.0% of them into leads (2025)

B2B cold email lead rate by industry: top 10, with YoY change
Industry	% of 2025 emails	Lead rate (%)
#1 IT & Services	6.1%	1.4%
#2 Financial Services	5.7%	1.6%
#3 Construction	5.1%	3%
#4 Computer Software	4%	1%
#5 Hospital & Health Care	3.4%	1.7%

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1.6%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Financial Services prospects in 2025

2.2%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Automotive prospects in 2025

3.5%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Higher Education prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

1.4%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Marketing & Advertising prospects in 2025

4.6%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Civil Engineering prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

3.3%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Utilities prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

3.1%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Renewables & Environment prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

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%

Open full graph

21%

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

4.0%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Oil & Energy prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

1.6%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Retail prospects in 2025

5.4%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Public Safety prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

1.7%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Hospital & Health Care prospects in 2025

1.9%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Real Estate prospects in 2025

1.4%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to IT & Services prospects in 2025

3.4%

lead rate on B2B cold emails sent to Chemicals prospects in 2025, one of the ten highest by industry

The State of Prospecting 2026 (Sopro)

Summary:

Cards from this research