Research

Sales follow up statistics, every one traced to a study.

Follow-up and networking statistics, each opened at the organization that measured it, worded to match what it measured, and dated. The famous ones that nobody can trace are at the end, with the trail.

The sales follow up statistics that hold up come from large sets of real emails: in 2025 data from Hunter, three messages in all got 6.8% replies against 3.3% for one, and in Backlinko’s 12 million outreach emails one follow-up went with 65.8% more replies. The most famous figures, that 80% of sales take five or more follow-ups and that 48% of salespeople never follow up, could not be traced to anyone who measured them. Below are 12 verified figures on networking, follow-up email and sales follow-up, each with its source and the date we read it, then the 4 that do not hold up.

Verified
12 figures, from LinkedIn, Boomerang, Hunter, Backlinko, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services and Forbes Insights.
Unverified
80% of sales need five or more follow-ups. 48% of salespeople never follow up. 44% give up after one follow-up. 80% of trade show leads never followed up.

Last checked . We re-check these every quarter.

By Kai, Founder of Cardr. First published .

6.8%

replies, three messages in all

Hunter ·

3.3%

replies, one email alone

Hunter ·
At a glance

Who measured what, and how many.

Each row links to the full line below, with its caveats. The sample column is the first thing to check before you quote a figure.

Follow-up and networking statistics at a glance, checked October 29, 2026
FigureWho measured itSample
79% say networking helps careers LinkedIn, 2017 15,905 members, 17 countries
38% find it hard to keep in touch LinkedIn, 2017 15,905 members, 17 countries
50 to 125 words gets most replies Boomerang, 2016 Over 40 million tracked emails
1 to 3 questions: 50% more replies Boomerang, 2016 Over 40 million tracked emails
Three messages: 6.8% vs 3.3% replies Hunter, 2026 report 31 million cold emails, 2025
Edited by hand: 5.2% vs 4.4% Hunter, 2026 report 31 million cold emails, 2025
One follow-up: 65.8% more replies Backlinko and Pitchbox, 2019 12 million outreach emails
80% of sales take five follow-ups Unverified None found
Networking

Networking statistics.

What professionals say about networking and keeping in touch, from a survey that publishes its sample and dates.

  1. 79%

    say networking helps careers progress

    LinkedIn ·

    79% of LinkedIn members surveyed worldwide agreed that professional networking is valuable for career progression (LinkedIn online survey of 15,905 members in 17 countries, February 6 to March 18, 2017).

    The same release says “almost 80 percent” consider networking “important to career success”, which is the line in its headline. The people asked were LinkedIn members, so it describes people already on a networking site.

    LinkedIn, Eighty-percent of professionals consider networking important to career success, June 22, 2017Read

  2. 38%

    find it hard to stay in touch

    LinkedIn ·

    38% of LinkedIn members surveyed worldwide said they find it hard to stay in touch with their network, and 49% gave not having enough time as the reason (LinkedIn online survey of 15,905 members in 17 countries, February to March 2017).

    The release does not say whether the 49% is of everyone asked or of the 38% who find it hard; it reads as the second. Quote them together, as here, rather than the 49% alone.

    LinkedIn, Eighty-percent of professionals consider networking important to career success, June 22, 2017Read

  3. 48%

    keep in touch when their career goes well

    LinkedIn ·

    48% of LinkedIn members surveyed worldwide said they keep in touch with their network when things are going well in their career (LinkedIn online survey of 15,905 members in 17 countries, February to March 2017).

    So under half keep in touch while their career is going well, which is when a note reads as interest rather than a request.

    LinkedIn, Eighty-percent of professionals consider networking important to career success, June 22, 2017Read

Follow-up email

Follow-up email statistics.

Length, subject lines and questions, from one company’s data on the emails its users tracked.

  1. 50–125

    words: the length with most responses

    Boomerang ·

    Emails of 50 to 125 words got the most responses in Boomerang’s data, drawn from over 40 million emails its users asked it to track (Boomerang, February 12, 2016).

    Boomerang is an email plug-in, and the emails are its own users’. It does not publish a separate sample or method for each finding, so treat this as one company’s data, and not as a study of follow-ups in particular.

    Boomerang, 7 tips for getting more responses to your emails (with data!), February 12, 2016Read

  2. 3–4

    words in the subject: most responses

    Boomerang ·

    Subject lines of 3 to 4 words, not counting “Re:” or “Fwd:”, received the most responses in Boomerang’s data (Boomerang, February 12, 2016).

    Backlinko’s 2019 study of outreach emails, below, found the opposite for its emails: longer subject lines did better. Different emails, different senders; neither settles it for a note to someone you met.

    Boomerang, 7 tips for getting more responses to your emails (with data!), February 12, 2016Read

  3. +50%

    responses when asking 1 to 3 questions

    Boomerang ·

    Emails asking 1 to 3 questions were 50% more likely to get a response than emails asking none, in Boomerang’s data (Boomerang, February 12, 2016).

    A correlation in one company’s data. It fits the advice on this page to end with one small question, but it does not prove a question causes the reply.

    Boomerang, 7 tips for getting more responses to your emails (with data!), February 12, 2016Read

Sales follow-up

Sales follow-up statistics.

How replies change with follow-ups, from two large sets of outreach emails. Both measure cold outreach, not people you have met, so read them as the floor.

  1. 6.8%

    replies to three messages, against 3.3% for one

    Hunter ·

    Sequences of three messages got more replies than single emails, 6.8% against 3.3%, in 31 million emails sent by Hunter users in 2025 (Hunter, State of Email Outreach 2026).

    Hunter calls it “+106%” more total replies. These are cold emails from Hunter’s users. The report says “the best sequences use a total of three messages”: three in all is its peak, not a floor.

    Hunter, State of Email Outreach 2026Read

  2. 5.2%

    replies when edited by hand, against 4.4%

    Hunter ·

    Manually edited emails got a higher reply rate than fully automated ones, 5.2% against 4.4%, in 31 million emails sent by Hunter users in 2025 (Hunter, State of Email Outreach 2026).

    Hunter gives it as “+18%”. Cold outreach again. It is the reason every template here leaves the key line in brackets for you to write.

    Hunter, State of Email Outreach 2026Read

  3. +65.8%

    replies with one follow-up

    Backlinko ·

    In 12 million outreach emails, sending one follow-up went with 65.8% more replies, and 8.5% of all the emails got a response (Backlinko, with data from Pitchbox, last updated April 16, 2019).

    The article’s own summary hedges it (“Follow-ups appear to significantly improve response rates”), and the emails are outreach for links and coverage, not notes to people the sender has met. The study gives no time period.

    Backlinko, We Analyzed 12 Million Outreach Emails, updated April 16, 2019Read

  4. 36–50

    characters: the best subject length

    Backlinko ·

    Subject lines of 36 to 50 characters got the best response rate in the same 12 million outreach emails (Backlinko, with data from Pitchbox, last updated April 16, 2019).

    Its key finding puts it as long subject lines having “a 24.6% higher average response rate” than short ones. Its body text gives 32.7% for the same comparison; we quote the summary’s figure. Set it beside Boomerang’s 3 to 4 words above: the two disagree, which is worth knowing before you quote either.

    Backlinko, We Analyzed 12 Million Outreach Emails, updated April 16, 2019Read

Meeting in person

Why meeting in person counts.

Two 2009 surveys on face-to-face meetings, checked for our business card audit.

  1. 95%

    of HBR subscribers who travel: face-to-face is key

    HBR Analytic Services ·

    95% of Harvard Business Review subscribers who travel for business said face-to-face meetings are a key factor in successfully building and maintaining long-term relationships (Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by British Airways, online survey, June 2009).

    It surveyed 2,300 subscribers online, and 2,207 qualified by having taken a business trip in the previous three years; the 95% is of them. The sponsor is an airline, with an interest in the answer, as we have in ours.

    Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, Managing Across Distance in Today’s Economic Climate, 2009 (PDF)Read

  2. 87%

    of 760 executives: in person is worth the cost

    Forbes Insights ·

    87% of 760 business executives agreed that in-person meetings have tangible business benefits that outweigh the cost savings of web or video conferencing (Forbes Insights, Business Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face, survey of June 2009).

    The report draws it as two bars, 46% strongly agree and 41% somewhat agree; 87% is their sum. Its other much-quoted figure, 85% who say in-person meetings “build stronger, more meaningful business relationships”, is 85% of the 84% who said they prefer meeting in person, not of everyone surveyed, so “85% of people”, as Speed Networking puts it, overstates it.

    Forbes Insights, Business Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face, 2009 (PDF)Read

Figures that do not hold up

4 famous figures, followed back.

These turn up on most follow-up statistics pages. We followed each one to where its citations stop. None is quoted anywhere on this site as a fact.

01 Unverified

We could not trace it to an original study with a method.

Usually credited to
The “National Sales Executive Association”; often Marketing Donut or HubSpot
Checked
  1. Marketing Donut, HubSpot
  2. “National Sales Executive Association”
  3. Association not found

“80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact.”

What we found

It usually comes as a table: 2% of sales on the first contact, 3% on the second, 5% on the third, 10% on the fourth and 80% on the fifth to twelfth. In August 2014 VentureBeat went looking for the association it is credited to and wrote: “These stats are completely made up, and the National Sales Executive Association doesn’t exist.” The nearest real body it found was the National Association of Sales Professionals, with no sign of a former name.

It is still everywhere. Peak Sales Recruiting (updated August 12, 2025) lists “80% of sales require five follow-up calls” and links to a page on invespcro.com, which refused our request. Cirrus Insight (June 29, 2026) has “80% of sales require five follow-up calls after the initial meeting”, with no link.

Where the trail ends. At an association nobody has been able to find. We found no survey, sample or date behind the 80%.

If you quote itDo not. If you need a number on follow-ups, use one of the measured ones above, with its sample.

02 Unverified

We could not trace it to an original study with a method.

Usually credited to
The same “National Sales Executive Association” table
Checked
  1. The same table
  2. Untraceable

“48% of salespeople never follow up with a prospect.”

What we found

It is the other half of the same table: 48% never follow up, 25% make a second contact and stop, 12% make three, and only 10% make more than three. VentureBeat’s 2014 check covers this half too, with the same verdict.

Peak Sales Recruiting gives it as “48% of salespeople never even make a single follow-up attempt after a cold call”, again linking to invespcro.com rather than to a study, and other pages now credit Peak itself.

Where the trail ends. At the same untraceable table, with a citation chain that now loops through the pages repeating it.

If you quote itDo not quote it. It has no sample, no date and no organization behind it that we could find.

03 Unverified

We could not trace it to an original study with a method.

Usually credited to
Usually no one; Smartlead links it to Marketing Donut
Checked
  1. Smartlead
  2. Marketing Donut
  3. Pages cite each other

“44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up.”

What we found

Peak Sales Recruiting has “44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up call” and links, as before, to invespcro.com. Cirrus Insight calls it “the widely repeated persistence-decay sequence”, with no link, and gives the same 44%.

Its numbers do not match the table above (48% never, 25% after a second contact), which is a sign of a figure being retold rather than measured.

Where the trail ends. At pages that cite each other. We found no original study containing it.

If you quote itDo not quote it.

04 Unverified

We could not trace it to an original study with a method.

Usually credited to
CEIR, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research
Checked
  1. Pages crediting CEIR
  2. CEIR’s own reports
  3. No CEIR study found

“80% of trade show leads are never followed up.”

What we found

We traced this one for our business card statistics audit. The pages that credit CEIR, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, link to no CEIR study, CEIR’s own 2019 report on lead follow-up gives no such rate, and an exhibit company wrote in 2018 that CEIR has disavowed it.

Where the trail ends. Short of CEIR itself: we found no CEIR study containing it, and could not find the disavowal on CEIR’s own site either.

If you quote itDo not credit it to CEIR. The full trail is in the audit.

How we checked

Only what we could open.

  1. A page quoting it
  2. The page it cites
  3. Wayback capture if gone
  4. Where citing stops

A figure is on this page only if we opened the organization that measured it, and it says who was measured, how many, and when. Each line is worded to match what its source measured, so “LinkedIn members surveyed” never becomes “professionals”. The date beside each source is the day we read it.

We left out every figure we could not trace to a study, however often it is quoted, and we did not put a number of ours in its place. Where a source refused our request, we name it and do not link it.

Most of these studies count cold outreach: emails to strangers. A note to someone you met yesterday starts from a conversation, so read them as the floor for that, not the ceiling.

Cardr sells follow-up: Pro drafts each message and reminds you to send it. A figure saying most people never follow up would suit us, which is exactly why we checked those first, and why none of them is used here.

Put it to use

The templates these numbers shaped.

The networking follow up email templates keep to 50 to 125 words and end with one small question. The no-response templates stop after three messages in all. The subject lines page sets Boomerang and Backlinko side by side, because they disagree.

Free card. Pro does the follow-up.

Your card, your page and every contact it brings in are free. Pro writes each follow-up from what you talked about and emails it to you at 9 a.m., ready to send.

See what Pro does
Questions

Follow-up statistics, answered.

Is it true that 80% of sales require five follow-ups?

Nobody we could find has measured it. The figure comes from a table credited to the “National Sales Executive Association”, and VentureBeat reported in 2014 that no such association exists. Pages that repeat it today link to each other, not to a study.

Do follow-up emails increase reply rates?

In the two largest sets of data we could open, yes, up to a point. Backlinko found one follow-up went with 65.8% more replies across 12 million outreach emails, and Hunter found three messages in all got 6.8% replies against 3.3% for one, across 31 million cold emails in 2025. Both are cold outreach, not people you have met.

How long should a follow-up email be?

In Boomerang’s data on over 40 million emails its users tracked, emails of 50 to 125 words got the most responses. Boomerang publishes no separate method for that finding, so treat it as one company’s data.

What percentage of professionals think networking is important?

In LinkedIn’s 2017 online survey of 15,905 members in 17 countries, 79% agreed professional networking is valuable for career progression, and the release says almost 80% consider it important to career success. Everyone asked was a LinkedIn member.

Is there a reliable statistic on how many people never follow up after networking?

Not one we could trace. The figures usually quoted, 48% of salespeople never following up and 80% of trade show leads never followed up, lead to an organization nobody can find and to a CEIR study nobody has produced. The closest measured figure is LinkedIn’s: 38% of members surveyed found it hard to stay in touch with their network.

Can I quote or link to this page?

Yes. Each figure has a copy button, a link to its source and the date we read it. Please link the original source too. If you know a study we missed, tell us and we will add it at the next check.

Where these numbers lead

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