The State of Prospecting 2024

The data, tactics and trends shaping successful prospecting in 2024 sopro.io
A practical guide to successful sales engagement in 2024, with data
from 75.2 million emails, over 9 million multi-channel
touchpoints, insights from 377 sales and marketing
professionals, and innovative strategies from our outreach experts.

Contents
FOREWORD CHAPTER 03 CHAPTER 07
The impact of targeting Multi-channel prospecting: Reaching

KEY
prospects where they are

FINDINGS CHAPTER 04
Getting eyes on your emails CHAPTER 08
What next?

INFOGRAPHIC CHAPTER 05
Sending at the ideal time WE'RE
CHAPTER 01 SOPRO
Business landscape in 2024 CHAPTER 06
Writing the perfect message APPENDIX
CHAPTER 02
Building your audience

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 2
Foreword.
Welcome to the third annual State of Prospecting Email remains the bedrock of good outbound marketing,
whitepaper, our biggest and most in-depth report yet. but the increased competition means we must innovate
As we enter 2024, the business landscape is a blend of and adapt to keep helping the right businesses find each other.
optimism and emerging challenges. The AI revolution is just The layering of additional channels and buyer intent signals
getting started, and the prospecting world is also undergoing elevates outreach to new heights, bringing together the latest
its own seismic shifts. Amidst these evolving dynamics, it seems tech with an understanding of human behaviour.
fitting to introduce this year's whitepaper. With eight years of campaigns, we have a mountain of data from
Much has changed since Sopro launched in 2015, yet our focus millions of emails, but this report also examines some of our new
on people remains steadfast. Success in sales has always outreach formats and technologies. It’s comparatively early days for
boiled down to forging connections, and ultimately, our role is these other channels, but the early insights are a promising glimpse
to help a person with a problem find a person with a matching into the prospecting future.
solution. While this year's report shows the prospecting world is
changing, that human aspect remains as central as ever.
Sopro started with email because that’s how people want to be Good multi-channel prospecting synchronises
contacted. This year’s survey shows that fact hasn’t changed, outreach across several channels. Great multi-channel
and that email remains the top channel for driving sales prospecting uses buyer intent triggers to send the
conversations. But the secret is clearly out, and a fresh approach right message, to the right person, in the right place, at
is needed to stand out from the masses and increase results.
the right time. It’s not about casting a wider net – it’s
weaving a more intricate and effective one.

Ryan Welmans Enjoy the whitepaper!

CEO and co-founder

Rob Harlow
Chief Innovation Officer and co-founder

Sopro.io 3
 3
Key Messages must be personal,
genuine and authentic.
findings. Genuine, personalised messaging is key to
making a memorable first impression. No
hard-selling, buzzwords or pressure, just a

4
natural introduction.

Multi-channel prospecting

1
meets prospects in the
Buyers want sellers to contact right place.
them, and they prefer email. Elevating email campaigns with multi-
Prospects continue to favour email for channel prospecting engages prospects
business outreach, affirming its role as a across their preferred platforms, increasing

5
lead generation powerhouse that delivers their ability to recall your brand.

2
“excellent” ROI.
Timing is everything: buyer
Competition is heating up. intent connects you with
Standing out is increasingly buyers at the right time.
difficult. Ensure your message reaches buyers
Studies show that the proliferation of DIY precisely when they are most receptive and
email tools is increasing competition, and actively seeking solutions, keeping your
rising above the competition is becoming brand top-of-mind during their decision-
increasingly difficult. making process.

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 4
In the whitepaper...

760,295
75.2 8,558,947 phone numbers, 22,210
million paid social ad gifts, InMails, and prospecting
emails sent impressions intent triggers campaigns

82
08
2,683 377 82 8 years
total Sopro clients survey respondents top industries of data and
expertise

Sopro.io 5
 CONTACTING EMAIL
BUYERS RESULTS
88% 67% 86%
3%
Only
say prospecting
say email prospecting delivers
of buyers want to of buyers prefer delivers “good to negative ROI
hear from suppliers to be contacted excellent” ROI
when researching via email
and evaluating (more than any
suppliers other channel)
Email was again rated the
most reliable channel for #1
driving leads
n avera
ea

4
r

ge
T here a

of

stakeholders in the decision-

making process (up from 3.6)

TOP THREE
MARKETING
CHALLENGES:

Generating enough leads

(picked by 46%)
Ensuring lead
Generating quality quality (38%)
content (36%)
#1
#2
#3
The State of Prospecting 2024 6
 MULTI-CHANNEL
PROSPECTING

75%
of B2B companies say
68%
+
14.7% +
37.6%

results are better when

email prospecting Intent-based outreach (using
is combined with other say email prospecting IP match) increased lead
outbound marketing channels complements inbound volumes by 14.7%, and lead
marketing channels well quality by 37.6%

INCREASED Gifting increased lead

COMPETITION 4.8%
quality by

36.1%
+

The lead rates for

+
8%
email-only
Intent-based InMail messages
sent as part of a multi-channel of intent-based warm calls
campaign saw a 4.8% lead rate resulted in a booked sales
2023 saw a meeting

48.5%
year-on-year increase in
outreach
campaigns
are down
22.2% vs Highly-targeted paid social
the number of marketing
ads saw a
23%
2022

211%
emails

increase in direct leads Buyers that received personalised

and a 53% increase in letters were 23% more likely to
deals signed, compared to open a subsequent email than those
standard targeting. that hadn’t.

Sopro.io 7
Chapter one:
Business landscape in 2024
In this opening chapter, we dive into the dynamic business landscape
of 2024. We explore how a blend of factors will influence business
strategies, and explore the innovation driving companies forward. From
embracing digital transformation to navigating new investment climates,
this chapter sets the stage for understanding the role of strategic
prospecting in this ever-changing environment.

The State of Prospecting 2024 8

Future challenges
and opportunities
Looking ahead to 2024, both the UK and US business scenes face a mix of challenges and opportunities.

Economic climate
The economic forecast for 2024 suggests growth is expected to continue recovering after the
global disruptions of recent years. However, optimism is somewhat cautious due to the twin
challenges of inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions.

Business outlook
Businesses are expected to continue adapting to the 'new normal', with remote work, flexible
hours and digital transformation shaking things up. Underlying trends for personalised
experiences, sustainability, innovation, high efficiency and scalability continue.

Technological advancements
Technology continues to be a powerhouse for economic development. The tech sector's boom,
especially in Artificial Intelligence, automation and digital services drive new business models
and efficiency.

Regulatory environment
Regulations around data privacy and environmental standards continue to be a concern. For
businesses, this means extensive work on compliance - or bringing in external help - to keep
everything above board and customers assured.

Investment climate
Investor sentiment is cautiously optimistic, with a sustained interest in sustainable and
technology-driven investments. The funding landscape is competitive, and businesses with
innovative solutions and robust growth potential are more likely to secure investment.

The State of Prospecting 2024 9

How businesses are How confident are you that you will hit your

responding to 2024's 35%

sales targets by the end of your financial year?

challenges 30%

25%

20%
To get a better understanding of how businesses are responding
15%
to the changing landscapes of 2024, we conducted an extensive
10%
survey of 377 senior decision-makers in B2B sales and marketing.
The study reflects the diverse challenges and opportunities across 5%

various industries and underscores the need for, and effectiveness of, 0%
Exceeded Exceeding Meet Slightly Significantly Not sure/
strategic prospecting in the current market. targets targets targets below targets below targets targets
significantly somewhat not set

Meeting financial targets

We first asked our panel if they had achieved their financial Our next question focused on the current financial year, asking about their
targets in the past year. A solid 76%
reported meeting or confidence in meeting sales targets by the year’s end. Encouragingly, 81%
surpassing their targets last year, a testament to their of businesses expressed confidence in achieving or
resilience and adaptability amid economic and regulatory shifts. exceeding their targets, marking a notable 5% increase from the
previous year.
This data isn't just charts and numbers on a page. It's a narrative of real
To what extent did you meet your financial targets this year?
businesses - real people, facing real challenges - and succeeding. Despite
35%
the headwinds of economic uncertainty and rapid technological changes,
30% these figures underscore a story of agile adaptation.
25%
Businesses are not just surviving; they're thriving, harnessing new
20%
technologies, refining strategies, and staying attuned to customer needs to
15% enhance efficiency and engagement.
10%
Ultimately, the increased confidence is a beacon of hope.
5%
It signals that with the right strategies, the current
0%
economic environment allows businesses to succeed and thrive.
Exceeding Exceeding On track Slightly Significantly Not sure/
significantly slightly below below no targets So what challenges need to be navigated, and what is the best
way to arrive at the destination?

Sopro.io 10
 More people
Luckily for that top problem, we identified

The real world digital

also asked the B2B sales and email prospecting as a
marketing panel which channels successful channel for
are the best for driving leads. generating leads than
marketing landscape Email once again came out top. PPC, LinkedIn InMail,
and cold calling
combined.
To get a better picture of the real-world challenges and solutions, we
returned to our 377 B2B sales and marketing decision-makers. We first
asked them to choose their single biggest digital marketing challenge. Which channel is most successful
at driving leads?
Biggest digital marketing challenges
The main challenges picked by our panel are: Email

Referrals

Paid social media

Generating Ensuring Producing
Organic social media
enough leads lead quality quality content

28% 19% 18%

Organic search (SEO)

Paid search (PPC)

Affiliate marketing

Direct messaging on LinkedIn

Webinar/events
The top two challenges in 2024 are the same as they were in 2023: Direct mail (letter etc)
and if we’d been doing this survey longer, quite possibly for a long time Cold calling
before that. Ensuring a steady supply of high-quality leads is an external
Display advertising
marketing challenge.
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Creating quality content comes third, replacing “proving ROI”. This is
an interesting challenge in the same year that we saw Large Language
Models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Bard become mainstream. Perhaps
there’s life in the old content writer yet? (Side note: hello to my boss )

The State of Prospecting 2024 11

Number of decision-makers So, generating enough high-quality leads is a
challenge, and the number of people in the decision-
Next, we asked about the number of decision-makers that sales
making unit has increased, likely slowing down the
teams were facing.
length of time to close a deal at best, and causing
inaction at worst.
88% of buyers
• There are an average
of 4 stakeholders in the want to hear from
decision-making process (up from 3.6 in 2023). Sellers contacting buyers suppliers when
• 4
 7%of B2B companies have 3-5 decision- With that being the case, do buyers actually want researching and
suppliers to contact them at all? And if so, when in evaluating their
makers involved in their buying team.
their journey are they looking for the suppliers to options (vs 75%
• 1
 1% of companies have 6 to 9 stakeholders contact them? last year)
involved in the decision-making process! Only 1% of buyers said they didn’t want to hear from
suppliers at all.
Survey results

9%
26%
23%

39%

When I'm thinking When I'm actively When I'm identifying and After a request for a
about new solutions looking for a solution evaluating solutions proposal or quote
Buyer journey

AWARENESS INTEREST EVALUATION ACTION

Open to fresh ideas Looking for new and Comparing different Seeking specifics and
and possibilities specific solutions solutions nearing the decision

Sopro.io 12
Choosing the right channel
So if buyers want you to contact them to help their research,
what channels do they want you to contact them on?
Did you know...
What is your preferred way of hearing from sellers?
Letters sent as part of a strategic
multi-channel campaign make
Email

Social media

In-person events
prospects 23% more likely to open
Word of mouth a subsequent email, in addition to
Telephone any leads directly attributed to
Conferences/webinars
those letters.
Post

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

The data indicates direct mail is making a comeback - 18% said

they are happy to be contacted by post - more than double the
7% we saw in 2023.
B2B buyers’ positive view of email buyers is backed up by their
selling counterparts, who overwhelmingly vouch for the payback
of email prospecting.

86% of companies say email prospecting

delivers “good to excellent” ROI.
And that’s compared to 72% last year. In fact, only 3% say
prospecting delivers negative ROI (down from 4% last year).

The State of Prospecting 2024 13

The increase in competition
Although 18% of companies don’t engage in email
prospecting, (down from 21% last year) email marketing is on the
rise, and inbox competition is growing.
Continuing digital transformation trends have increased the number of
businesses using email prospecting. The pandemic further accelerated
this, which in turn added to the proliferation of email marketing tools,
enabling even more people access to the power of email.
Anecdotally, most professionals can see the rise in outreach when they
open their inboxes. While exact numbers for B2B outreach are hard
to come by, we do know the volume of all emails sent worldwide has
grown significantly, from 269 million per day in 2017 to 347 million
per day in 2023.
Backing this up, Litmus reports there are a staggering 1.5 billion
marketing emails opened each month, an increase of 48.5% from last
year. Additionally, HubSpot tells us that 37% of brands increased
their email marketing budget in 2023, with 33% of marketers sending
weekly emails and 26% sending multiple emails per month.
This intensified competition in the inbox underscores
the need for more strategic and creative email
marketing approaches to stand out.

Sopro.io 14
Chapter two:
Building your audience
Chapter two delves into the art and science of building your audience,
exploring various strategies from buying data to manual database
building and social media outreach. We'll weigh their advantages and
challenges, helping you navigate the complexities of audience mapping.

The State of Prospecting 2024 15

Buying data Building your
Buying data can be the easiest way to get contact details
for relevant people quickly. If you use this approach, you’re
own database
not alone. The manual approach to building a business database is a common choice,
favoured by more than half the companies in our survey. It’s a hands-on
26% of our survey panel rely on bought email method, demanding significant time and effort but offering precise control
lists for prospecting data. over your database.

But there are several reasons why this shortcut isn’t the way to 53% of our surveyed companies use manual search and
get the best results.
outreach for their prospecting.
Advantages
Advantages
• Plug and play: Quick access to data without in-house
• Bespoke: Build smaller, targeted lists without expert help.
expertise or time investment.

Challenges Challenges
• Time-consuming: Building a database manually is labour-intensive.
• Data decay: Bought lists quickly become outdated.
• Requires multiple tools: Email finders, phone number finders, web scrapers.
• Specifics: How accurately can you target your ideal
customers? • Suitability: Effective for smaller companies, challenging for larger ones.
• Legal and ethical concerns: Compliance with GDPR. • Ongoing management: Keeping a manual list up to date is resource-heavy.
Ethical sourcing of data. • Complex process: Takes many manual steps to create the list (see below).
• Effectiveness: Needs regular auditing for relevance and • Compliance: Always ensure adherence to regulations like GDPR.
compliance.
• Limited personalisation: An inability to make messages
sound genuine. Download our guide for more details on
building the perfect prospecting database.
57% of companies rate their email
personalisation as “basic” or “intermediate”
(only using a prospect or business name). How to build your
prospecting database

Sopro.io 16
Social media
outreach
In the B2B world, direct social media outreach often means
using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and InMail to send cold
approaches to prospects. It’s a hands-on method which can
be fruitful - so long as you don’t expect your harvest to be
too big.

44% of companies use LinkedIn InMail

for their prospecting.
Advantages
• Direct contact: Contact decision makers directly on LinkedIn.

Challenges
• Limited messages: The number of InMails you can send is
restricted, especially on free accounts.
• Lower success rates: The high number of outreach messages
on LinkedIn decreases the success of standalone contact.
• Profile dependency: Success heavily depends on the
strength of your LinkedIn profile.
• Response tracking: Managing responses is cumbersome
without CRM integration.
• Compliance: Ensure adherence to LinkedIn's
terms of service and contact regulations.

The
The State
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of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 17
Using data specialists
Outsourcing your prospecting to experts gives you a comprehensive database
that can streamline your process and yield better results. The expertise and
advanced technology ensure that your business has access to accurate, current
and compliant data, regardless of its niche.
57% of companies agree that prospecting is best delivered
by a specialist agency.

Building a bespoke database

At Sopro, the process of building a database is complex and comprehensive:
• Diverse data sources: Rather than depending on a single data source, Sopro's world-class
technology amalgamates and validates information from multiple channels. This multi-source
approach enhances the accuracy and relevance of the data.
• Customised client lists: When a new client comes aboard, our experts use the technology to
build a completely customised list, tailored specifically for that client's unique needs.
• Innovative tech systems: The backbone of data building combines extensive website crawl data,
a series of sophisticated algorithms, big data solutions and multiple email verification systems.
• Comprehensive data points: With 160 different data points, we ensure a laser-focused approach
to pinpoint your target persona. This results in a dataset that's not just large, but also highly
tailored and targeted.
• Compliance: Our in-house Compliance Officer ensures everything we do meets all regulatory
requirements.
The advantage of bringing on an expert partner means they:
• Precisely identify and target your desired audience.
• Ensure the sourcing and verification of up-to-date contact details.
• Maintain a rigorous adherence to data protection laws.

Sopro.io 18
Chapter
three:
The impact of
targeting and testing
This chapter unpacks the art of targeting
and testing in B2B marketing. We'll explore
strategies that can unveil new market
segments and refine customer profiles to
reach decision-makers and enhance the
effectiveness of email prospecting.

The State of Prospecting 2024 19

Mastering your
target market
Most companies have a pretty decent understanding of their target
market and customer profiles. But testing on top of that knowledge can
Most prospected industries
see a big impact. Who is everyone else targeting? When it comes to the most
prospected industries, Financial Services and Construction
Testing quickly reveals in-depth audience insights, and can deepen your
combined take up over 20% of all emails sent last year!
understanding of existing markets, as well as uncover hidden opportunities.

73% of B2B professionals agree that email prospecting INDUSTRY % OF EMAILS

is a powerful tool for exploring new segments within Financial Services 12.8%
their markets. Construction 8.1%
This chapter certainly doesn’t advise a complete overhaul of your audience Retail 6.5%
in order to chase a better lead rate listed here. Instead, we’re looking at the
Insurance 4.2%
impact of subtle, informed shifts in targeting.
Real Estate 3.9%
72% of companies say prospecting significantly
Telecommunications 3.8%
enhances their understanding of customer profiles and
Hospitality 3.6%
target markets.
Higher Education 3.0%
Getting your message in front of the right person is, of course, critical. If done
well, it unlocks one of the key advantages of prospecting: Banking 2.9%

Staffing and Recruiting 2.8%

Two-thirds of respondents agree that email prospecting
allows you to contact decision-makers that other
How does market saturation impact effectiveness? Logic suggests
methods struggle to reach.
the most prospected industries would have lower lead rates, due
In fact, contacting decision-makers directly is cited as the main advantage of to increased competition in the inbox. However, four of the ten
email prospecting by our panel, with “identifying prospects not currently in most prospected industries have above-average lead rates.
your network” coming second.

Sopro.io 20
Highest and lowest
industry lead rates
Job titles
So, which industries do have the highest and lowest lead rates?
The highest and lowest lead rates.
Impact on lead rate of different job titles.
Top ten industry lead rates Bottom ten industry lead rates

INDUSTRY LEAD RATE INDUSTRY LEAD RATE TITLE LEAD RATE

Nonprofit Organisation Computer Software 1.28% Key account manager 9.82%
3.77%
Management
Investment Banking 1.30% R&D manager 9.02%
Architecture and Planning 3.61%
Banking 1.32% Legal manager 8.39%
Education Management 3.30%
Internet 1.33% Head of marketing 8.11%
Government Administration 3.29%
Venture Capital and Group purchasing manager 7.95%
Mining and Metals 3.24% 1.34%
Private Equity

Packaging and Containers 3.11% Wine and Spirits 1.37% TITLE LEAD RATE
Logistics and Supply Chain 3.04% Insurance 1.39% Executive vice president 0.16%

Management Consulting 3.02% Telecommunications 1.41% President and

0.19%
chief executive officer
Professional Training Accounting 1.47%
2.89%
and Coaching Franchise owner 0.19%
Luxury Goods
Renewables and Environment 2.89% 1.49% Head of marketing
and Jewellery 0.23%
operations

Director of human resources 0.25%

There’s definitely a finance and wealth theme running through those industries with the lowest lead
rates, whereas the highest lead rate comes from the nonprofit sector.

The State of Prospecting 2024 21

 Company size Names
Looking at company size, there’s not a huge amount of Now, we’re not suggesting you change your targeting because you don’t like
difference in lead rates, until you’re at either end of the scale. the name ‘Mark’. But we thought it would be interesting to analyse how the
different names of prospects impact lead rates.
While the largest companies might be less receptive to
prospecting, the larger deal sizes of many deals here make it We looked at a list of the most popular traditional male and female names in
more than worthwhile to continue targeting them. English-speaking countries. It’s clear straight away that female prospects are
generally much more receptive to prospecting than their male counterparts.

NAMES LEAD RATE NAMES LEAD RATE

Jane 3.50% Peter 2.82%
Impact of company size on Linda 3.27% Paul 2.75%
email lead rates
Helen 3.13% Ian 2.71%

Janet 3.08% Thomas 2.68%

Karen 3.07% Richard 2.65%

Julie 2.89% Mark 2.64%

Lead rate

Emma 2.88% Stephen 2.62%

Patricia 2.87% James 2.54%

Susan 2.86% David 2.48%

Sarah 2.70% Robert 2.46%

Christine 2.69% Michael 2.45%

1-10 11-50 51-200 201-500 501- 1,001- 5,001- 5,001-
1,000 5,000 10,000 10,000
Mary 2.60% Andrew 2.44%
Company employees

Jean 2.51% Steven 2.44%

Elizabeth 2.26% John 2.43%

Margaret 2.21% Christopher 2.31%

The male names have an average of 178,179 individual prospects per name,
whereas the female names have 40,965 prospects per name.

Sopro.io 22
Places While there’s quite a bit of variety in
the lead rates for different countries,
Next, we thought we’d have a look at the
the top five countries have really high
world map according to prospecting. We’ve
email lead rates:
only shown countries where we have a decent
number of campaigns running. COUNTRY LEAD RATE

South Africa 6.27%

Turkey 6.11%

Oman 6.08%

Bahrain 5.63%

Malta 5.58%

Lead rate

6.5%

0%

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 23
23
 “Great data and pinpoint
targeting make sure you’re
talking to the right person. It
keeps your audience engaged,
your lead rates high, your
outreach compliant, and
your sales team focused on
meaningful conversations.”
Kristijan Todorov,
Head of Operations, Sopro

Sopro.io 24
Chapter
four:
Getting eyes on
your emails
This chapter looks at how you can
get more people to read your emails,
looking at email deliverability, open
rate benchmarks, and optimising
your subject lines.

The State of Prospecting 2024 25

 2024 SPAM UPDATE
Email Google and Yahoo are now teaming up to

deliverability
stop even more spam. The changes, new for
February 2024, target anyone who sends over
5000 emails per day.
If you can’t reach your prospect’s inbox, you can’t get their attention.
Having taken the time to find the perfect prospect and write the perfect The existing guidelines recommended senders “aim”
message, falling at this first hurdle is painful. for spam rates below 0.1%, and “avoid” anything
over 0.3%. Google now says it will begin enforcing
If you manually send out five or ten emails a week, you won’t have a
this as a “clear spam rate threshold”.
problem. But larger campaigns have always been held to a higher level
Check out our guide to the changes and how
of scrutiny.
they affect B2B businesses.
Sopro’s email deliverability rate in 2023 was 96.7% - up 1.5 percentage
points on last year - thanks to our best practice emails and very clever
technical email experts. Here are some of the many factors they consider to
get an email to an inbox:

Deliverability checklist
One-click unsubscribe: Ensure recipients can unsubscribe with a List quality: Deliverability is affected by your email list's quality.
single click. This not only complies with Google's requirements but also Outdated or non-consensual addresses increase bounces and spam
enhances user experience and targets engaged prospects. complaints. A well-maintained list is key.
Spam rate threshold: Keep your spam rate below 0.3% to maintain a Authentication protocols: Use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify your
good sender reputation and ensure effective delivery. sender identity and prevent spoofing, boosting ISP credibility.
Sender reputation: ISPs evaluate your email habits (volume, frequency, IP address reputation: Shared IP users impact each other's
user interaction). Poor habits, like many invalid addresses, can lead to deliverability. High-volume senders should consider dedicated IPs.
blocks or spam labelling. Frequency and volume: Balance your email frequency and volume to
Email content: Spam filters can be triggered by certain email elements: avoid spam filters, while maintaining engagement.
aggressive sales language, too much capitalisation, excessive Email infrastructure: Your mail server setup and domain health play a
exclamation marks, or large attachments. role in deliverability.
Engagement rates: ISPs track recipient actions. High engagement User engagement with similar emails: If similar emails are often
improves deliverability, while low engagement or frequent deletions can ignored or marked as spam, ISPs might filter similar content, affecting
hurt your reputation. your emails.

Sopro.io 26
 Industry winners and losers
The above benchmarks look at emails across all industries. But open rates change
depending on your audience. The top and bottom five industry open rates from 2023
are listed below, with many of the same faces appearing. So don’t worry if NASA
doesn’t open your message: it’s probably not just you.

Open rates
INDUSTRY OPEN RATE
Subject lines are fertile ground for AB testing, with easy
Media production 57.1%
implementation and quick results.
Venture capital & private equity 53.0%
Before you dive into your testing, benchmarks can give
you some context. So we sourced the latest benchmarks Internet 52.1%

available from four highly reputable sources, along with Design 51.9%
Sopro’s own results (a stunning 39.9%). E-learning 51.4%

Open rate benchmarks

45% INDUSTRY OPEN RATE
40% Defence & space 28.5%
35% Banking 31.1%
30% Government administration 32.7%
25% Electrical/electronic manufacturing 33.0%
20% Pharmaceuticals 33.5%
15%

10%

5%

0%
MailChimp Campaign Constant HubSpot Sopro
monitor contact

The State of Prospecting 2024 27

Subject lines Subject line categories
We asked our panel what category of subject line
would make them more or less likely to open an email.
Your subject line is the next challenge. Assuming your
plucky little email has scaled the technical castle walls SUBJECT LINE CATEGORY % WOULD OPEN
and arrived safely in the inbox, it now has to be enticing
enough to be opened. If it makes a bad first impression, Personalised (name/company name) 73%

it’s game over. An offer 66%

So to bring some science to the art of email content, Topical/trend/current affairs 59%
we’ve analysed four areas: the different types of subject
A question 56%
line, their length, personalisation, and different words
and phrases. Time-sensitive/urgent 55%

Humorous 53%
Word count Intriguing/mystery/clickbait 35%
There’s no big secret here: make your subject line too
Shocking/alarmist 34%
short, and it doesn’t work. Make it too long, and results
suffer. Four to seven words is the sweet spot, but the
Relevant and personalised emails or those with offers
difference is small. Perhaps it’s more about the type of
do well. At the other end of the spectrum, alarmist or
subject line?
clickbait subject lines are ones to avoid.
Open rate by subject line word count
48%

46%

44%

42%

40%

38%

36%

34%

32%

30%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Sopro.io 28
 Words and phrases
Next, we analysed the impact on open rates when certain words
Personalisation
appear in the subject lines.
With personalised subject lines doing well in our
survey, we looked at our data to see if we could see a
IMPACT ON APPEARANCE
corresponding uptake in results. Good news! They were WORDS
OPEN RATE RATE
telling the truth!
new 14.50% 8.7%

IMPACT ON APPEARANCE opportunity OR opportunities 14.50% 8.6%

PERSONALISATION
OPEN RATE RATE short 13.80% 8.8%
Day, date and time 8.10% 12.8% mins 13.70% 8.8%

Prospect name 2.40% 51.1% discussion 11.40% 10.0%

call 8.50% 15.6%

Target company name 0.06% 45.0%
catch-up 8.40% 12.2%

presentation 7.30% 0.1%

Time-related personalisation sees
the best results. Possibly because coffee 6.50% 0.8%
personalised names are now brief chat OR quick chat 4.90% 19.9%
common in emails, maybe because
meet 4.30% 20.2%
it adds some urgency and intrigue to
the message. meeting 4.30% 20.1%

intro 3.10% 35.8%

partner OR partnership 2.50% 3.4%

you OR your OR yours -2.10% 1.4%

demo -4.20% 0.1%

invite -7.70% 0.8%

The possibilities that lie within emails that reference “new

opportunities” seems too good to go unopened, and a focus on not
taking up much of the prospect’s time does well too.
As we saw last year, people are far more open to a discussion rather
than a demo: a collaboration is welcome; a lecture is not.

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 29
29
 “The barrier for sending
emails is lower than ever, but
the barrier for writing great
emails is unchanged. The right
message can help you stand out from
the crowd. Never forget that behind
your ICPs, targeting and data is a real
person: so be natural and connect
with them.”
Shayna Wu,
Customer Success Team
Lead, Sopro

Sopro.io 30
Chapter five:
Sending at the ideal time
This chapter explores when you should send your messages. But really, there’s no magical time of day that
guarantees a good result. If you add together every advantage you can find - from deliverability to better
targeting and great content - timing (and testing!) can play a part in that optimisation.

The State of Prospecting 2024 31

The best time to The best time
send sales emails Looking at the hourly data, it's clear that mornings are golden for
B2B emails.

Email lead rate: time of day

To find out the best times to send emails, we’ve looked at the
time the email was sent (not opened) and the lead rates that 3.5%

result from those messages. 3%

The best day 2.5%

2%
It's interesting that Friday, often cited as the least productive day,
actually emerges as the prime time for B2B email outreach. 1.5%

1%
Email lead rate: Day of the week
0.5%
2.20%
0%
2.15% 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

2.10% The lead rate of outbound emails, according to the time the email was sent. Based on 22.1m emails sent in 2023.

2.05%
The lead rates climb steadily, peaking at 11 am. This is clearly
2.00%
when people are in the right space for checking their emails.
1.95% They've had a coffee or two, got some pressing tasks done,
1.90% and are ready to hit the inbox.

1.85% After lunch, things slow down a bit – maybe it's

the post-lunch slump or just getting stuck into work.
1.80%
Interestingly, there's a little bump in responses
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
around 4 pm.

This counterintuitive trend may be due to people wrapping up their

weekly tasks and planning for the week ahead, making them more
receptive to new opportunities. Or maybe they are just in a better
mood thinking about the weekend ahead, working with a drink from
the office fridge in hand.

Sopro.io 32
 The golden hour
OK, we’ve seen the averages for days of the week and hours of the
day. But breaking it down further, which one-hour slot across the
week has the highest lead rate?

A warning on
MON TUES WED THUR FRI

8 1.92% 1.91% 1.99% 2.04% 1.97%

emails timings! 9

10
2.71%

3.64%
2.62%

3.52%
2.67%

3.56%
2.77%

3.64%
2.77%

3.67%

11 4.09% 3.95% 4.04% 4.19% 4.15%

This data is hopefully interesting. It can also be
12 3.69% 3.61% 3.66% 3.68% 3.71%
a useful starting point for you to test timings,
13 3.27% 3.05% 2.96% 3.14% 2.98%
so long as your campaign is small. But if you’re
14 2.25% 2.21% 2.21% 2.18% 2.08%
reaching out to a larger audience, a higher
15 1.80% 1.66% 1.77% 1.74% 1.67%
volume of messages sent at the same time can
16 1.65% 1.55% 1.62% 1.67% 1.67%
cause a disaster.
17 1.95% 1.95% 1.92% 2.00% 1.94%
A blast of emails going out at the same time is
18 2.39% 2.06% 2.15% 2.14% 2.11%
a big flashing signal that you are a spammer.
Not only will your campaign fall flat, but you
may end up damaging your domain reputation.
A natural flow of emails not only protects you The best time to send The worst time to send
from that, but it also means a manageable a prospecting email: a prospecting email:
flow of replies comes back.
Thursday Tuesday
at 11 am at 4 pm

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 33
Out of office replies
The dreaded out of office. An unsuccessful attempt at
contact, right?
On the contrary, an OOO reply gives you an exact date to follow up.
In a Sopro campaign, we take note of their return date, give them a
couple of days to catch up, and then reach out again. It’s a simple
method that anyone can repeat, but one that helps to make sure your
prospecting results shouldn't be negatively impacted.
But when are people most likely to be away from their emails?

Out of office replies

2023 2022

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

It’s no surprise that August is the peak, with school holidays and
beach holidays to factor in. Interestingly, 2023 saw a higher peak
and a higher baseline than 2022.
The adoption of hybrid and remote work models, a growing
emphasis on work-life balance, flexible working patterns,
and innovations like four-day work weeks have likely all
contributed to this increase.

Sopro.io 34
 Chapter six:
Writing the perfect message
This chapter delves into the intricate world of message composition, where every word counts. But what's the
secret to a message that not only captures attention but also compels action? Through an in-depth exploration,
we'll uncover the keys to writing messages that resonate, engage, and inspire your prospects to act.

The State of Prospecting 2024 35

Word count
How long should your outreach message be? First impressions
Picking the right words
count, and you want to blow your prospects away. Does that mean
So, if you don’t have much space to work with, what should you say?
you should outline the many benefits of your offering?
We asked our data wizards to analyse the content in our client’s 2023
Turns out, less is more.
templates, bringing a new level of data-backed guidance to B2B
Lead rate by email word count outreach content.
Of course, there is no single magic word that will double your lead rate.
This section is definitely not telling you to “put the word inspiration in
every email!”. But it does provide clues on the approach and tone that
resonate with cold prospects.

26-50 51-100 101-150 151-200 201-250 251-300 300+

With 151-200 words, the best templates are long enough to include some
persuasive content, but short enough that people are happy to read them.
Here’s something to keep in mind: prospects don’t want to read your email
when it lands in their inbox. Why should they spend their valuable time
reading a message from someone they don’t know? People aren’t mean.
They’re just busy.
The first key to getting over this hurdle? Make sure that a quick glance at your
message reassures the prospect they don’t need to invest much time into it.
Think of the value exchange: this email might contain a way to make their job
easier, their results better, their business more successful. And in return, they
have to spend time reading it.
So reduce the amount of time they have to invest, and you increase the
likelihood they agree to that exchange.

Sopro.io 36
Message content: the good Exclusivity
Exclusivity increases the perceived value of
your offering, making it more desirable, and
increases FOMO. Some of these words can
Prior contact
28%
IMPACT ON LEAD RATE + also be associated with a tailored approach,
Words that infer this isn’t the first attempt making the recipient feel your solution is more
at contact, imply you have researched them, called +268% likely to get results.
know you can help them and are determined your colleague +35%
to make contact. This taps into reciprocity
(the urge to repay the effort), perceived
referred +34% +
7% IMPACT ON LEAD RATE

spoke OR spoken +4%

importance (there must be a reason for the rare +33%
repeated contact), and curiosity. premier +24%
exclusive +11%
unique +9%
Assurance IMPACT ON LEAD RATE
Words that provide assurance are strong
+
19% bespoke
elite
+6%
-63%
performers, building trust, authority and approved +108%
credibility. They instantly reduce the accredited +30%
uncertainty that may come from a cold trusted +11%
certified +8% The personal touch
approach: possibly from a brand the
verified -63% A surprising entry, given the established sales practice
prospect was previously unaware of.
of focusing on your prospect. And while your overall
email should indeed focus on them and the benefits they
can enjoy, personal pronouns can make messages feel
less generic, and increase accountability and personal
Empathy
Empathy words demonstrate an
IMPACT ON LEAD RATE +
11% involvement, which enhances trust.

understanding of the prospect’s needs, listen +174%

building rapport and trust. This makes care +33%
+
6% IMPACT ON LEAD RATE

the recipient feel valued and heard, respect +19%

my +7%
appreciate +2%
helping to create a personal connection. myself +5%
understand -11%
This can often be in contrast to other personally +3%
sales emails, which may go straight too mine +3%
hard on the selling.

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 37
 Collaboration
These words suggest a collaborative approach,
A bright future
Optimistic language positively frames the
IMPACT ON LEAD RATE +
6% appealing to the desire for partnership rather than
a one-sided relationship, or that you will give them
potential relationship and its outcomes, inspiration +249%
the hard sell. They imply inclusivity and teamwork,
encouraging a more favourable response. optimistic +53%
making the prospect feel like an active participant.
opportunity +25%
It appeals to people’s aspirations and hopes hoping +14%
for the future, creating a positive association future +5%
+
5% IMPACT ON LEAD RATE
with the product or service. imagine +1%
joint +55%
hope -1%
collaboration +20%
consultation +17%
cooperation +15%
Action IMPACT ON LEAD RATE
These words reduce the “time to success”,
+
6% together
partnership
+6%
-2%
and play on psychology: The more immediate +23%
immediate a reward, the more value people launch +16%
place on it. The energy and dynamism fast +5%
act +3%
Manners
implied by these words can be motivating,
helping prospects to imagine success and execute -40% Most of us were told when we were young
reduce the perceived period before the that manners cost nothing, which makes the
results come through. ROI phenomenal.
Always be polite, remember they don’t
Social proof know you, and you are a guest in their inbox.

A very common tactic to enhance trust

IMPACT ON LEAD RATE +
5%
and credibility, showing that others have awards +132% +
3% IMPACT ON LEAD RATE

had positive experiences. It leverages the accredited +30%

weather +34%
principle of conformity, where people tend reviews +30%
finds you well +11%
to follow the actions of the masses. In a trusted +11%
many thanks +8%
cold email, it can lower the perceived risk of endorsements +3%
hope all is well +8%
taking action. testimonials +2%
thank you +4%
trust +2%
please +4%
expert -8%
thanks +3%

Sopro.io 38
Message content: the bad Results focus
This one might be a surprise - after all,
who doesn’t want to improve performance
and boost ROI?
Urgency IMPACT ON LEAD RATE – 5%
However, these words sail close to business-
These words can create a sense of
closing +1% speak and jargon rather than natural
pressure or anxiety, which might backfire
now -2% conversations. Prospects might feel you are
by making the recipient feel rushed
deadline -14% making promises you don’t yet know if you can
or manipulated rather than genuinely
limited -15% deliver. So never jump to the end - instead,
interested. This approach can be perceived
pressing -58% aim to kick-off a conversation about how you
as aggressive or pushy.
might work together.

Solutions IMPACT ON LEAD RATE

– 17%
IMPACT ON LEAD RATE
– 20%
At some point, you will want to explain
your solution, but a cold email is too early resolve -9% boost -13%
to go into detail or make bold claims. These cure -12% guaranteed -15%
words can come across as presumptuous: solution -18%
valuable -15%
correct -21%
people don’t want you to assume you can ROI -18%
fix -25%
solve their problems before you’ve actually returns -19%
spoken to them and understood their profitability -21%
unique situation. advantage -21%
performance -26%
profitable -29%
Comparison IMPACT ON LEAD RATE
– 27% yield -32%
Charging into an inbox, claiming to return on investment -41%
be better than existing solutions, is a tops +9% payback -52%
confrontational tactic. It will naturally foster better -27%
scepticism: remember the reader doesn’t outperforms -34%
know you yet, so has nothing to go on but superior -72%
your words. And these words can paint you
as overly competitive and boastful.

The State of Prospecting 2024 39

 Message content: the ugly
Buzzwords and IMPACT ON LEAD RATE – 19%
Pain points jargon
Overuse of buzzwords and jargon can pivot -1%
At some point, you definitely want to talk
make the message sound impersonal reaching out
about their pain points and how you can
and clichéd. OR reach out -9%
address them. But this isn’t a consultation
proactive -14%
where you can discuss, it’s a one-way email. It may also alienate recipients
thought leadership -15%
Again it’s too early to talk problems: they unfamiliar with these terms, making
disruption OR disrupt -16%
haven’t had the chance to explain their the message less accessible and
transparency -26%
situation yet. Highlighting problems up front potentially confusing.
next steps -27%
can make the recipient feel defensive. takeaway -29%
onboarding -30%
IMPACT ON LEAD RATE
– 28% empower -30%
supercharge -38%
obstacle -12% actionable insight -45%
issue -26% accelerate -47%
challenge -26% All of this analysis paints a picture of
synergy -50%
struggle -31% the type of approach that works in an scalable -56%
burden -46% outreach email, rather than the specific take ownership -73%
pain point -50%
words used. Many of the points that value-added OR
value add -89%
emerge echo the golden rules Sopro
have used since the early days. But
we’ve given them an update

Sopro.io 40
The ALL NEW golden rules
of writing prospecting emails

1 5
“I’m on the train!” Drop the pressure
Prospecting emails should, above all, sound natural. Imagine Avoid creating a sense of false urgency or pressure in your
you are on a train. You are about to arrive at your destination messaging. Refrain from using language that might be
when you stumble upon the perfect prospect. So you fire off perceived as aggressive or pushy, which can lead to discomfort
a quick message - a natural-sounding couple of paragraphs. and distrust.

6
Pro tip: don’t actually mention the train!
Don’t over-promise

2
A collaborative approach Resist talk of pain points, solutions and how you can guarantee
Craft each message with a personal touch that highlights results. Don’t assume you know the prospect’s needs or that
your possible collaboration. Use words that hint at the your services are a better fit than your competitors. The point
research you’ve done - it implies that you have already of the email is to establish a meaningful dialogue so you can
established that this could be a fruitful partnership. It's better understand this.

7
essential they know this isn’t a random approach but one
with purpose. Clarity over complexity

3
Stay clear of technical jargon and industry buzzwords that
Build trust and authority might confuse (or frankly, annoy) your audience. Strive for
Choose words that build trust and authority, reducing the clarity: use straightforward, concise and accessible language to
uncertainty of a cold approach. Bolster this trust with social ensure your message is human. It should be easily understood
proof to demonstrate your previous success. and relatable.

4 8
Focus on the future Short and sweet
Frame your message with a positive and optimistic tone, 150 - 200 words. Use short paragraphs so it’s easy to scan. Make
focusing on the potential of the future. Action-oriented it easy to understand. If it’s hard to read and takes too long, your
words can highlight the immediate possibilities of your email is heading for the bin before they get to the end.
offering, allowing them to move forward with confidence
and excitement.

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 41
 9
Value exchange
Your prospect needs to understand
the potential value you can offer: a
problem fixed or more sales made.
If they agree to a call, what do
they stand to gain from giving their
precious time to a stranger?

10
The CTA
Always ask for a call to discuss
further - it’s then you can get to
know their specific situation and
outline more detail on how you
can help them. Make sure there
is one clear action for them to
take: don’t confuse things with a
secondary call to action.

Sopro.io 42
Chapter
seven:
Multi-channel prospecting:
Reaching prospects where they are
This chapter explores the world of multi-channel prospecting, a vital
strategy in today's prospecting environment. We'll uncover the power
of a coordinated, multi-faceted approach that resonates with your
prospects, providing actionable insights and strategies to effectively
reach and engage your target audience, ensuring your message is not
only heard, but remembered.

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 43
“Right person, right message,
right place, right time”
We’ve already discussed the importance of targeting and analysed
the content that gets results. What about where you contact your
prospects? And how do we evolve outreach to connect with prospects
at the perfect time?

Increased competition and declining results

So we discovered earlier that 88% of buyers want to hear from suppliers,
and email remains the channel most buyers want to be contacted on.
However, we’ve also seen that the email prospecting landscape is more
crowded than ever, something you may have noticed in your own inbox.
Buyers might be receptive to email outreach, but it’s harder and harder to And this can be seen in the number of leads. After hovering around 3.5%
make yourself heard. for four years, it hit 2.7% in 2022 and 2.1% in 2023, a drop of 22% year
on year.
Email prospecting lead rates
So what can we do about it? Abandoning email is clearly not the answer
4.0%
when prospects tell us it’s how they want us to contact them. Not only
3.5% that, but email prospecting was again rated as the biggest driver of leads,
and 86% of companies say it delivers “good to excellent” ROI. It’s safe to
3.0%
say email has to remain a key component.
2.5%
The answer is to make email the foundation of your prospecting, building
2.0% a more complex campaign on top. Layering multiple channels can help
1.5% you cut through the noise and make your business memorable.

1.0% Adding in buyer intent signals gets you in front of the right people just at
the point they are in-market and researching.
0.5%

0.0%
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Sopro.io 44
 Current muti-channel uptake
We asked our panel of 377 B2B buyers which channels
they currently use, and it’s clear that multi-channel Why multi-channel?
outreach is increasingly common. Even if you only use email for your prospecting, it doesn’t exist in
isolation. Interested prospects are likely to check out your website. Others
Which channels do you use for prospecting? might have recently seen a social post before receiving your email.

Email
68% of B2B companies agree email prospecting
Warm calling
complements inbound marketing channels well
Paid targeted advertising But while inbound channels support prospecting, combining multiple
LinkedIn inMail outbound marketing channels can really make an impact, and it’s here the
Direct mail
trend for complex campaigns is emerging.
SMS messaging 75% of B2B companies say prospecting results are
Cold calling
better when email is combined with other outbound
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
marketing channels
The theory behind multi-channel prospecting takes in decades-old
When asked which channels they wanted to be wisdom and cutting-edge research.
contacted on, they picked an average of 2.8
The rule of seven
channels - up from 2.3 channels in 2023.
The marketing rule of seven is a principle dating back to the 1930s. It
So the multi-channel approach also seems to be well states that a prospective customer needs to come into contact with a
received and increasingly established, with buyers brand’s message at least seven times before they make a purchase.
happy to be contacted on more channels than they
Its origins are murky, and the science behind it is unknown. But don’t
were last year.
focus too much on the number seven. Instead, the key lesson is the need
for repeated and consistent messaging to cut through the noise and
create familiarity and trust with your business.

The
The State
State of
of Prospecting
Prospecting 2024
2024 45
 The impact of brand marketing efforts on outbound sales

InMail acceptance rates Accepted connection requests

for sales teams for sales teams
when prospects were previously when prospects were previously
exposed to brand marketing exposed to brand marketing

+
36% 6.02%
+
24% 38.52%
The encoding variability hypothesis
The encoding variability hypothesis states that when people 4.44% 31.09%
are exposed to information more than once, they are more likely
to remember the information if they have encountered it in
different contexts.
This means delivering outreach messages through various
mediums allows for different “encoding” experiences, which Cold Warm Cold Warm
prospects prospects prospects prospects
increases the chances that information will be recalled. In short,
multi-channel prospecting makes your brand more memorable.
Data taken from The CMO Scorecard, a report by LinkedIn's B2B Institute. Data Left:

Mental availability Sales Navigator InMail outreach to saved prospects and leads. Data Right:
Sales Navigator connection requests to prospects and leads.
Byron Sharp’s “How Brands Grow” and subsequent research
from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, state there is no room for
brand love, loyalty, or hyper-targeting. There is only “mental
availability” and “physical availability,”: buyers choose brands that
are “easy to mind” and “easy to find.”
Marketing works by building and refreshing the memory of Mental availability in action
buyers. These small nudges add up to big sales effects when Research carried out by the B2B institute at LinkedIn (see graph above)
done at scale through sophisticated mass marketing. shows the results this can have in practice.
Not only does multi-channel prospecting make your brand “easy Buyers who were previously exposed to brand messages were 36%
to mind”, but messages triggered by buyer intent signals ensure more likely to accept an InMail from a salesperson and 24% more
you are “easy to find” when a prospect is in purchase mode. likely to connect with them.

Sopro.io 46
 “Meet prospects across the
channels they already use. With
more touchpoints in different
contexts, you become more
memorable. It might seem too
simple, but that really makes a
difference when the time comes
to buy.”
Jade Paris, Customer
Success Team Lead, Sopro

Sopro.io 47
The rise of the DMU
Decision-making units (DMUs) are now commonplace
in the B2B world. While the average is four buyers,
many companies have even more stakeholders involved
in the process.

11% of the companies have 6 to 9

stakeholders involved in the decision-
making process
With good data, every relevant prospect from each target
company can be added to your outreach campaigns.
This increases mental availability for each prospect. So
when the primary buyer brings other stakeholders into the
process, there is an increased likelihood that your brand is
top of mind for more than one decision-maker.

Buyer intent
We believe buyer intent (also known as purchase intent)
is a key part of multi-channel campaigns, even though it’s
not in itself a separate channel.

What is buyer intent?

You can think of buyer intent data as the digital footprints
users leave as they navigate online, offering insights into
their activities. This data can be instrumental in identifying
when a buyer is actively engaged in your industry,
researching and evaluating options, or even nearing a
purchasing decision.

The State of Prospecting 2024 48

Intent tracking and IP matching
There are two ways we’ve been bringing intent data into Sopro
campaigns. The first is to ensure that prospects can be fully tracked
from the email onto a client’s website. That includes who they are,
which pages they are visiting, and when.

70% of companies say they can track the website

activity of a cold prospect if they engage with their
campaign.
The second way is IP matching. Our web plugin monitors traffic to
our clients’ websites. When they get visited by a company that isn’t
in their campaign but matches their customer profile, we’ll add any
relevant people into an engagement campaign.

62% of companies say they are able to identify

the companies that visit their website using IP
matching.
IP matching
We looked at some of the biggest campaigns using our IP Match
and Engage feature. In 90 days, IP match increased their total lead
numbers by 14.7% compared to if they were using email alone.
Not only that, but the quality of those leads was higher. In addition
to a positive response (where the prospect wants book a sales call),
leads can be an expression of interest at a later date, or a referral to a
more relevant stakeholder.
The IP match leads were 37.6% more likely to be a positive response,
demonstrating again that reaching people while they are researching
drives better results.

IP match increased lead volumes by 14.7%, and

lead quality by 37.6%

Sopro.io 49
 “You can find the right person,
send the right message, and be
in the right places, but if you are
not there at the moment they
start searching for solutions,
it all comes to nothing. Buyer
intent ensures you engage them
at the right time.”
James Weller,
Client Director, Sopro

Sopro.io 50
Phone numbers
There’s a reason Sopro was built on cold emails and not cold Gifts
calls. The low success and limited possibility for optimisation Redeemable gifts can be added to email outreach, with
can make cold calling tough to get results. And for most everything from a cup of coffee to a bottle of champagne helping
salespeople, it’s not a fun day in the office. you stand out. Gifts leverage the reciprocity principle, often
inspiring recipients to engage or respond more positively. It also adds
But intent-based warm calling is a different beast. Imagine
a perceived value to the interaction and fosters a positive emotional
your prospect is doing their research, visiting lots of websites
association with your brand.
in your industry to assess their options.
According to our survey panel, the top three most successful gift
types are gift cards or vouchers (58% of respondents saw success),
branded merchandise (49%), and beers, wines, or spirits (44%). For
those who want to stand out, the least used gift option is planting a
From their side tree (45% of survey responders have never used it).
From your side
They have recently researched
They have a look around you. They might have a couple
Gifting increased lead quality by 36.1%, despite
your website. You get of outstanding questions. few people actually claiming their gifts.
pinged - Elizabeth And crucially, they have the Monitoring the impact of adding gifts requires a nuanced approach.
Shaw from Unit Inc. has mental availability to talk. Isn’t
visited your pricing page! Gifts are best used in a targeted manner as a way to stand out and
it a stroke of luck you should
- and give them a call. entice high-value accounts. As these large contracts nearly always
call now, and not one of your
have lower lead rates, comparing like-for-like lead rates with non-
competitors?
gifting campaigns doesn’t work.
But looking at the leads generated from gifting campaigns, there was
an increase of 36.1% of positive responses wanting a call, compared
To check the real-world results, we examined all client to campaigns without gifts (as we saw with IP match earlier).
campaigns with more than 100 calls logged.
Interestingly, these successful campaigns had a gift redemption
8% of intent-based warm calls resulted in a rate of only 0.15%, but prospects still responded to the emails and
scheduled meetings. This suggests prospects value the gesture of a
booked sales meeting.
gift and often agree to meet without actually claiming it, saving any
When you consider cold calling has a reported 2% success additional costs of actually sending a gift.
rate, that makes warm calls four times more effective.

The State of Prospecting 2024 51

LinkedIn Outreach
Although the cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) can rise
due to the more specific targeting, the results are clearly
worth it. Based on 8,558,947 ad impressions, the early
results are impressive.
Our panel rated social media second only to email as the channel they
would most like to be contacted on. And yet when we asked which Our highly targeted paid social ads saw a
channels were the most effective for driving leads, LinkedIn InMail 211% increase in direct leads compared
performed poorly, in 7th place.
to standard targeting, and an increase of
The low success rate of standalone InMails is partly due to the high volume of 53% in deals signed.
outreach on LinkedIn. The absence of a prior relationship or relevant context,
and the perceived impersonal nature, lead standalone messages to be Their impact also goes beyond directly attributable
associated with spam. outcomes. The beauty of this feature is the increase of
mental availability of your brand in the mind of your
So Sopro uses buyer intent as a trigger to send InMail messages and
exact target audience - making them more receptive to
connection requests. And a whopping 4.8% of the trigger events ended in a
subsequent outreach.
meeting booked.
In addition, 55% of the InMail responses progressed into an active dialogue, Sopro letters
where the client continued to nurture the lead. Direct mail, particularly a personalised letter, offers
4.8% of intent-based InMail messages ended in a a tangible, human touch in an increasingly digital
world. This rare physical contact method can create
booked sales call. a memorable first impression, setting the stage for
subsequent digital interactions.
Paid social ads
Social display ads act like targeted digital billboards. The problem is B2B 18% of companies said they are happy to
targeting is limited on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram networks, which forces be contacted by post - more than double
ads to be served to a much wider audience than you want to target. This make the 7% we saw in 2023.
them highly inefficient and decreases the qualification rate of any enquiries
directly from paid social. Sopro ran an internal campaign that sent highly
personalised introductory letters to our audience before
So, in partnership with Clearbit, Sopro has added a new feature to
we sent them emails.
our internal campaigns. This feature directly matches your prospecting
audience onto social platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Buyers that received letters were 23%
Google Display Network. more likely to open that email than those
that hadn’t.

Sopro.io 52
 “Expanding beyond email, and
embracing a diverse mix of channels
is becoming more and more important. It’s also
vital that brands focus on creating narratives
through their content that resonate seamlessly
across platforms and remain consistent.
“Ultimately, each channel you choose should play
a supporting role, coming together to create a
journey that's both cohesive and engaging for
your audience. In 2024, effective use of the entire
spectrum is going to be key to
making a lasting impact!”

Kathryn Strachan,
CEO CopyHouse

The State of Prospecting 2024 53

Chapter
eight:
What next?

Sopro.io 54
As we wrap up this exploration into the state of prospecting
for 2024, it's clear that multi-channel prospecting is the future
of effective B2B outreach.

How to stay ahead in 2024

As the tactics outlined in this paper become more embedded
across the industry, there are plenty of exciting opportunities to
exploit and stay ahead of the competition in the year ahead.

Expanding channel diversity

Exploring additional channels to diversify outreach further.

AI-driven personalisation
Utilising artificial intelligence to refine targeting and message
personalisation across channels, offering more relevant and
individual interactions.

Personalised websites, webchat and forms

Creating more dynamic, personalised web experiences tailored to
individual prospects.

These advancements present exciting opportunities. As we

continue to innovate, multi-channel prospecting will undoubtedly
become even more integral to successful outreach strategies,
perfectly aligning with the evolving needs of modern B2B buyers.

Sopro.io 55
We’re Sopro
And we’re our best case study.
We launched in 2015, with a mission to revolutionise B2B outreach, using world class data and tech, and a team of experts.
We started with email, but innovation and an understanding of human behaviour has always been at the heart of our
service. Grounded in these fundamental beliefs, Sopro has evolved to offer a comprehensive, intent-based prospecting
service, fully synchronised across various channels, serving over 600 companies worldwide
We used nothing but our own service to grow our business for over four years, and even now, 60% of our new business
still comes from our own prospecting campaigns. We’ve grown a lot in that time, with over 300 employees and offices in
Brighton, Miami, Skopje, Dubai, and London.
Sopro helps you sell more by starting new sales conversations with the people that matter. We source your ideal prospects,
engage them with personalised messages, nurture them across multiple channels, and connect them directly to you when
they are ready to talk business.

Fully managed service Set up in three weeks

Leave prospecting to the experts. Get a new source of leads in as
Your dedicated team run and little as three weeks, synced to
optimise your campaigns. your CRM.

Intent-based multi-channel outreach 600+ clients

An intelligent and timely mix of Over 600 businesses currently
personalised messaging connects trust Sopro to deliver a reliable
with your ideal clients. sales pipeline.

Want to know if Sopro’s multi-channel prospecting service

can help your business sell more? Book your discovery call

4.8 4.9 4.6 4.9 4.9

The State of Prospecting 2024 56

56
Appendix:
Our data Types of subject lines
The data in this report is sourced from Sopro client campaigns. The panel of 377 B2B buyers were asked: “What kind of subject
In most cases, the analysis only looks at 2023 data to give insight into lines work to make you open a cold business email?” The
the latest trends. percentages listed are people who said they would “definitely open”
or would be “more likely to open” the email.
There was a total of 22.1 million outreach emails in 2023. Where it
makes sense, the analysis looks at all Sopro client data, March 2016 -
Chapter 5
22 November 2023, a total of 75.2 million outreach emails.
The best time to send is based on when the email is sent, not opened.
For our analysis of multi-channel campaigns, we looked at 760,295
datapoints, including phone numbers sourced, LinkedIn InMails sent, gift Chapter 6: The impact of particular words and
links sent, and companies identified via IP match. Paid social ads had phrases in emails
8,558,947 impressions on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.
We searched for instances of each word, and noted the impact
the appearance of that word had on the lead rate of those emails
Chapter 3 compared to the average of all emails sent. Words were only included
• 
Industry, job title, and company size data all relate to the industry where they had featured in at least 0.1% of the emails sent (at least
targeted, not the industry the email has come from. 20,000 emails), and in multiple different templates.
• 
For job titles, any job with under 100 prospects in our data is excluded This reduces the likelihood that a particularly successful template
from the report. could skew the results. However, it should be noted that this is still
possible. For the percentages of groups of words, the number of
Chapter 4 emails sent were taken into account, so that a word with a +50%
Open rate benchmarks impact but a 0.1% appearance rate would not materially change
the results if another word had a +0.1% impact but a 50%
appearance rate.
Campaign Constant This analysis is designed to provoke ideas for testing. Use
HubSpot: MailChimp:
Monitor: Contact:
experimentation and experience to discover what works best for you.
38.5% 21.3% 21.5% 34.5%

Sopro.io 57
Chapter 7: B2B institute report

The full report is available here

Full list of industries analysed

Accounting Cosmetics Entertainment Human Resources Manufacturing Real Estate

Airlines/Aviation Defence & Space Industrial Marketing and Advertising Renewables & Environment
Apparel & Fashion Design Information Services Market Research Research Civil Engineering
Architecture & Planning E-learning Insurance Information Media Production Restaurants Chemicals
Automation Environmental Services Internet Medical Devices Retail
Banking Events Services Investment Banking Mining & Metals Security and Investigations
Biotechnology Facilities Services Investment Management Nonprofit Organization Sports
Broadcast Media Financial Services Law Practice Oil & Energy Staffing and Recruiting
Building Materials Food & Beverages Legal Services Online Media Consumer Electronics
Business Supplies and Equipment Food Production Leisure, Travel & Tourism Packaging and Containers Technology and Services
Commercial Real Estate Furniture Logistics and Supply Chain Pharmaceuticals Telecommunications
Computer & Network Security Government Administration Luxury Goods & Jewellery Printing Transportation/Trucking/
Railroad
Computer Games Health, Wellness and Fitness Machinery Mechanical or Professional Training &
Industrial Engineering Coaching Utilities
Computer Software Higher Education
Management Public Relations and Venture Capital & Private
Construction Hospital & Health Care
Communications Equity
Consumer Goods Electrical/ Hospitality Management Consulting
Publishing Wholesale Automotive
Electronic Management Education
Wine and Spirits

The State of Prospecting 2024 58

The State of
Prospecting 2024 sopro.io