Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing in 2025: The Ultimate Sales Showdown

Major Takeaways

• Cold calling is far from dead: 78% of decision-makers have taken a meeting after a well-executed cold call, proving its continued effectiveness for high-value B2B sales (6).
• Cold emails are the first touchpoint of choice: 80% of buyers prefer email communication with sales reps, making it the most scalable outreach channel for lead generation (2).
• Personalization is key: Cold emailing response rates average just 8-9%, but personalized, well-researched emails can dramatically increase open and reply rates (4).
• Phone calls build trust faster: Cold calling allows real-time objection handling, immediate rapport building, and quicker lead qualification—factors that emails lack.
• A hybrid strategy drives the best results: Combining cold calls and emails increases prospect engagement by 4.7×, ensuring no lead falls through the cracks (1).
• Time efficiency matters: While cold calls require more effort, they yield richer conversations. Cold emails, on the other hand, let sales reps scale their outreach rapidly with automation.
• Persistence is crucial: It takes an average of 6–8 call attempts to reach a prospect, while multi-touch email sequences see the best engagement rates over time (6).
• Cold calling still outperforms in response rates: Studies show cold calling has a 5% higher response rate than cold emailing, making it a valuable strategy for highly targeted outreach (6).
• Multi-channel outreach boosts revenue: Companies that mix calls and emails in a coordinated sales sequence see up to 50% higher revenue growth than those using a single-channel approach (2).
• Need help with your outreach? Martal’s expert outsourced lead generation team combines cold calling and cold emailing to deliver warm leads directly to your sales team. Book a free consultation today to optimize your sales pipeline.

Introduction

82% of buyers agree to meet with a salesperson after a series of value-driven cold calls (1). Yet nearly 80% of prospects say they prefer to be contacted via email (2). These seemingly conflicting stats capture the dilemma facing sales teams in 2025: cold calling vs cold emailing – which approach yields better results? In a world where inboxes overflow and phone calls often go to voicemail, finding the right outreach method is critical.

In this guide, we’ll pit cold email vs cold call in an ultimate sales showdown. You’ll learn what’s changed in 2025, where each method shines, real case studies of cold outreach success, and why a hybrid strategy might just outperform picking one side. By the end, you’ll have a data-driven framework to decide how to allocate your prospecting efforts – and a clear path to supercharging your outreach strategy.

Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing: What Has Changed in 2025?

The landscape of cold calling and cold emailing in 2025 is very different from years past. Buyers are more digitally empowered, and outreach tactics have evolved with new technologies. Understanding these changes is key to using either method effectively today.

Digital Overload & Response Rates: Prospects are inundated with automated communications. One study found sales development reps now average only 4.4 quality phone conversations per day – a 45% drop since 2014 as buyers become harder to reach (3). Email inboxes are similarly crowded; the average cold email response rate is just 8–9% at best (4). In other words, it’s tougher than ever to get a reaction from a cold outreach, whether by phone or email. Buyers have more filters (literally and figuratively), making each touchpoint count.

Shifting Buyer Preferences: Buyer communication preferences have polarized. Many customers find unsolicited calls intrusive and screen them out. At the same time, studies show a majority still favor the convenience of email for initial contact. For example, HubSpot research reveals that 80% of prospects tend to prefer email communication with sales reps (2). On the flip side, certain decision-makers remain receptive to calls when done right – especially for high-value B2B deals. (We’ll see later that a significant segment of C-level executives actually prefer phone outreach over email, highlighting the nuanced preferences by role.)

Technology and Tools: In 2025, both cold calling and cold emailing are augmented by advanced tools. Sales automation and AI have become commonplace. Nearly 49% of marketers now generate email content with the help of AI (5), enabling personalized touches at scale. Dialing systems and VoIP integrations help sales reps make more calls faster, and some even use AI-driven voicemails and call analytics. The result: outreach volume has skyrocketed. Companies can send hundreds of cold emails in minutes or make dozens of calls aided by power dialers. This tech boost is a double-edged sword – it increases capacity, but also contributes to prospects feeling bombarded by impersonal outreach. The winners are those who use technology to personalize and add relevance, rather than simply increase spam.

Buyer Cynicism & Trust: After years of generic blast emails and robo-calls, buyers in 2025 are more skeptical of cold outreach. Response rates have evolved as buyers filter aggressively. Only highly relevant, credible messages break through. This has elevated the importance of research and personalization in both calling and emailing. A generic cold call script or templated email is far less effective than it once was. Modern buyers expect you to know their business pain points before engaging. The upside is that when you do manage to connect – say, by referencing a prospect’s specific challenge in a voicemail or tailoring an email to their industry – you stand out amid the noise.

In summary, the cold outreach game has become one of quality over quantity. The tactics of 5–10 years ago (smiling and dialing from a phone book, or blasting a one-size-fits-all email to 1,000 contacts) yield diminishing returns today. But by adjusting to these 2025 realities – heavier volume, smarter filters, changing preferences, and new tech – both cold calls and cold emails can still be powerful tools. The next sections will explore the strengths of each approach in this new environment.

Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing: The Case for Cold Calling in 2025

Cold calling has been declared “dead” many times, yet it continues to generate results when done right. In fact, a recent study found that 78% of decision-makers have taken an appointment or attended an event thanks to a cold call in the past year (6). Clearly, dialing prospects can still open doors – especially for B2B sales – if you understand when and why to pick up the phone.

Why Cold Calling Still Works: The biggest advantage of cold calling is the human touch. A live phone conversation lets you convey tone, enthusiasm, and credibility in ways an email cannot. You can ask questions and handle objections on the spot. For complex or high-ticket offerings, this real-time interaction is often key to building trust. Cold calls also create a sense of urgency and personal connection – the prospect hears a real person, which can make your pitch more memorable. And importantly, you can qualify a lead much faster by phone. In a five-minute call, a skilled rep can determine interest level, decision authority, and next steps, whereas an email exchange might drag on for days or never elicit a response.

Real-World Example – “Nooks” Sales Team: Consider the experience of one B2B tech company’s sales team (described in an industry case study). Facing stalled results from impersonal email campaigns, the team doubled down on phone calls to reach prospects. The result? They crushed their quarterly goal. The most successful companies in that analysis built roughly 80% of their sales pipeline through direct conversations rather than automated emails (7). Prospects who received a thoughtful, problem-focused call were over twice as likely to engage compared to any other outreach method. Additionally, teams prioritizing calls generated 40% more sales opportunities than teams relying mostly on email automation (8). This story illustrates that in 2025’s era of digital overload, a genuine human conversation can be a refreshing differentiator that cuts through the noise.

Cold Calling Success Rates: It’s true that cold calling is tough – not every call will connect, and not every conversation will convert. On average, only about 2% of cold calls lead directly to a sale or meeting (6). This low immediate success rate causes some to dismiss calling outright. However, that 2% can be deceiving. Those few wins can be highly valuable deals, and the cumulative impact of calls goes beyond instant conversions. In fact, B2B cold calling campaigns can boost ROI by 40–50% compared to other lead methods (6). Why? Because a single productive conversation can advance the buying process significantly, and phone outreach often targets higher-quality prospects (e.g. decision-makers who don’t respond to emails). Also, the insights gathered in calls (objections, needs, etc.) can improve your approach in all channels.

When to Use Cold Calling: Cold calling excels in certain situations. If your target buyers are senior executives or in traditional industries, they may be more likely to answer a phone call than respond to an email. (For example, many C-suite executives actually favor phone calls for discussing business opportunities – we’ll note later that 57% of C-level buyers prefer phone outreach (2)). Calls are also ideal when a personal explanation is needed – such as selling a complex solution or high-priced service where a back-and-forth conversation adds clarity. Furthermore, cold calling is effective for quick feedback. If you’re testing interest in a new product or trying to gauge a prospect’s pain points, a call gives you immediate insight. This real-time aspect is why cold calls remain a cornerstone for SDRs in pipeline building, despite the rise of digital channels.

Tips for Modern Cold Calling: Success in 2025 with cold calls means modernizing your approach. Top performers don’t “smile and dial” blindly; they plan and personalize. Brief research on a prospect’s company and role can go a long way – for instance, referencing a recent company news item or industry trend on the call to grab attention. Successful cold calls today often start by asking permission (“Is now a good time? I promise to be brief.”) which has been shown to yield 2.4x higher meeting rates than bulldozing through a pitch. They focus on the prospect’s challenges (“I work with CFOs like you to solve X”) rather than a monologue about the product. And they embrace rejection as part of the process – persistence is key. It takes an average of 6–8 call attempts to reach a prospect in 2025 (6), so effective cold calling means not giving up after one or two tries.

In short, cold calling is alive and well as a sales tactic. While it’s no longer about dialing hundreds of random numbers, it still shines when targeting high-value prospects and fostering human connection. The data and examples show that if you do your homework and approach calls with empathy and relevance, you can engage prospects in ways that cold emails alone often can’t. Cold calls remain a powerful arrow in the quiver for many sales professionals – one that can yield rich rewards disproportionate to its hit rate, as long as you’re strategic.

Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing: The Case for Cold Emailing in 2025

On the other side of the ring, we have cold emailing – the preferred outreach method for many modern sales teams and startups. It’s easy to see why: cold emails are scalable, cost-efficient, and can be highly targeted when done right. In 2025, cold emailing remains a cornerstone of outbound lead generation, and for certain scenarios, it clearly outperforms cold calling. Here’s the case for cold emailing, backed by data and a success story.

Advantages of Cold Emailing: First and foremost, cold emailing allows you to reach vastly more prospects with far less effort. A single sales rep can only call so many people in a day – perhaps 30-50 dials if they’re focused. But with email automation tools, that same rep can send hundreds of personalized emails in that time. This efficiency and scalability mean cold emailing is ideal for casting a wide net. It’s also asynchronous; recipients can read and respond on their own schedule, which many find convenient. Unlike an unexpected call that might interrupt someone, an email sits in the inbox until the prospect has a free moment to consider it. This flexibility often leads to a better initial reaction. In fact, most buyers (around 80%) say they prefer to get an introductory sales message via email rather than a phone call (2). Cold emails also leave a paper trail – prospects can forward your email or refer back to it, and you as a sender can track opens, link clicks, and responses easily with modern tools.

Email Performance Metrics: How effective are cold emails in 2025? The metrics show both the challenge and potential. The average open rate for a cold email is only about 23.9% (11), meaning roughly one in four prospects will even open your message. The rest may ignore or delete it. Out of those opened, a smaller fraction will reply or click through. Overall, cold outreach emails see response (reply) rates in the single digits. One large study found only 8.5% of cold emails receive any response at all (backlinko, via Mailmodo) – which aligns with the 8-9% figure we noted earlier. And ultimately, the conversion rate – prospects who become qualified leads or customers – hovers around just 1–5%, roughly 3% on average in many cases (5). On the surface, those numbers seem low. But remember, because you can send cold emails in volume, you don’t need every email to succeed for the campaign to be worthwhile. For instance, if you email 1,000 prospects and get a 2% conversion, that’s 20 new leads in your funnel from one campaign – something that would require an enormous amount of calling to achieve. Cold emailing is very much a “numbers game” balanced by personalization: you leverage volume, but you must personalize enough to avoid the spam trap and connect with the reader.

Why Use Cold Emails: Cold emailing tends to work best in scenarios where you need to scale outreach quickly or reach people who are difficult to catch live on the phone. Startups love cold email because it’s cost-effective – you can contact 1,000 prospects via email for basically free (aside from software costs), whereas calling 1,000 people would require significant manpower. Emails are also great for introducing a value proposition with visuals or links. You can attach a one-pager, include a case study link, or share a calendly link for booking a meeting seamlessly. This is something a cold call can’t do on the spot. Additionally, emails give prospects time to think. A busy manager who gets your email can mull it over, check out your website, and reply when ready – rather than being put on the spot by a call. For global sales, email is often the only practical way to reach prospects across time zones without waking them up at odd hours. All these advantages make cold emailing an indispensable tool, especially in tech and SaaS sales or any scenario where one-to-many communication trumps one-to-one.

Making Cold Emails Work in 2025: However, success with cold emailing requires finesse. Gone are the days when you could blast a generic template and get results. Modern inboxes have spam filters that punish irrelevant senders, and buyers have sharp BS detectors. To win with cold email, personalization is your best friend. This can be as simple as using the prospect’s name and company, or as advanced as referencing a recent accomplishment or common connection. Even using personalized subject lines can boost open rates significantly (studies show by 50% or more). Keep your emails short and focused on the prospect’s problem – not a lengthy pitch about your product. A good rule is the 3×3 formula: spend 3 minutes researching the prospect and try to personalize at least 3 items in your email (their industry, a possible pain point, a recent news mention, etc.). And always end with a clear call-to-action, like a question or invite for a call, so the prospect knows how to respond. Finally, be prepared to follow up. Many prospects won’t reply to the first cold email, but a polite follow-up or two can dramatically increase response rates. (Just like with calls, persistence pays off – about 70% of reps give up after one email, which means opportunities are missed by not sending that second or third follow-up.)

In summary, cold emailing remains a powerhouse tactic in 2025 for its reach, efficiency, and buyer-friendly nature. It works around the clock, scales massively, and can warm up leads at the top of the funnel with minimal human effort. The trade-off is the lower personal touch – but for many products and markets, that’s a fair exchange. By crafting thoughtful, targeted emails and leveraging automation wisely, you can connect with prospects at scale and feed your pipeline effectively.

Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing: Side-by-Side Comparison

Now that we’ve explored each method on its own, let’s compare cold calling vs cold emailing directly. Each has pros and cons across various factors like cost, effort, scalability, and effectiveness. Below is an “infographic-style” side-by-side comparison to highlight key differences:

• Reach & Response Rates: Cold calls can create immediate engagement with a prospect, but getting someone to pick up is a challenge. Roughly 1-3 out of 10 cold calls reach a live person, and only about 2% convert to a lead on average. Cold emails reach more people (every email lands in an inbox), yet they often get ignored – average open rates hover around 24%, and response rates around 5-10% at best. Interestingly, when comparing directly, studies show cold calling achieves about a 5% higher response rate than cold emailing on average (6). In other words, a well-executed call might be slightly more likely to get a reply or positive outcome than a single email, but both are notoriously low-yield without volume and persistence. Importantly, cold calls provide qualitatively richer responses (a conversation), whereas an email response might be just a one-liner.
• Time & Effort Investment: Cold calling is labor-intensive. Sales reps may need to make 6-8 call attempts to connect with one prospect (6), and each conversation can last several minutes including prep and follow-up notes. This means reaching, say, 50 prospects could take days of calling. Cold emailing, on the other hand, has a huge advantage in efficiency. With automation, a rep can queue up emails to hundreds of prospects in a morning. Writing a good personalized email does take effort, but that effort scales – one crafted template (with personalization fields) can be sent to many contacts. Follow-ups can even be automated to send if no reply. In terms of sheer effort per contact, email wins hands down. However, the flip side is that calls, while fewer, often yield more information per contact. One phone conversation can replace a chain of 5 back-and-forth emails. So, the choice can depend on whether you value quantity of touches vs. quality of interaction.
• Cost per Outreach: Both methods are relatively low cost compared to in-person meetings, but cold emailing is generally cheaper. Cold calls require manpower – a salesperson’s time (or an outsourced call service). If you have a team of SDRs, their salaries are a significant investment towards making calls. There are also costs for phone software or VoIP, though minor. Cold emails can be sent virtually for free; you might pay for an email platform or data provider, but the incremental cost of sending each email is negligible. One person can manage a huge cold email campaign, whereas scaling call outreach typically means hiring more callers. Thus, for organizations on a tight budget, cold emailing provides a more cost-effective outreach channel. On the other hand, if one phone call can land a $100,000 deal, the cost of a few hours of calling is trivial – it’s all about context.
• Scalability: Cold emailing is highly scalable. You can increase volume by adding prospect lists and letting automation fly, as long as you keep an eye on email deliverability limits. There are even techniques to send from multiple domains to expand scale (though one must be careful not to spam). Cold calling is much harder to scale. Even with auto-dialers, each call ties up a rep for a certain duration and you cannot realistically have one rep calling thousands of people in a week. To scale phone outreach, you need to grow the team or outsource to a call center, which has its own management challenges. For this reason, many companies use email as their primary outreach when targeting large audiences, reserving calls for a smaller, high-value subset of prospects or as a second step after email. In summary: for broad top-of-funnel prospecting, email wins; for focused, deep engagement with select targets, calling is more scalable (because you wouldn’t need to call everyone, just the important few).
• Personal Touch & Quality of Interaction: This is where cold calling shines. A phone call is inherently more personal than an email. The prospect hears your voice, and there’s an opportunity to build rapport or inject humor and personality. It’s a two-way street – you can clarify misunderstandings in real time. Cold emailing, while you can personalize the text, is still a one-way message that might feel impersonal if not crafted carefully. There’s no immediate feedback. If a prospect has a question or objection when reading your email, they might simply not respond, whereas on a call you could address it and potentially salvage the opportunity. For complex sales that rely on consultative selling, calls provide a richer medium to convey value. However, not every buyer values personal interaction early on; some prefer an email they can read and consider without pressure. So the “human touch” advantage only helps if the prospect is open to a conversation. That said, when trying to build a relationship or differentiate your outreach, a voice conversation is a powerful tool. Many salespeople use emails to get the appointment, but use calls (or Zoom meetings) to actually build the relationship needed to close the deal.
• Effectiveness (Conversion Rate): When all is said and done, which method leads to more sales or qualified leads? The truth is, both cold calls and cold emails have relatively low conversion rates in isolation. As noted, industry averages put conversions in the low-single digits for both (around 2–3% typical). Cold calls might edge out slightly in immediate conversion for some studies, while cold emails can nurture a broader pipeline that converts over a longer term. It’s often not an apples-to-apples comparison: a sequence of cold call attempts vs. an email drip sequence might each eventually produce a 5-10% meeting rate when done well. What really boosts conversion is combining the two in a coordinated way – which we’ll explore next. But if you had to choose one method in a vacuum, you’d base it on your specific situation. For straightforward, lower-priced offerings or very large prospect lists, email can yield more total leads simply by volume. For high-value deals or niches where you can’t afford to be ignored, calling may yield a higher percentage of engaged prospects. Many sales orgs report that prospects contacted by phone tend to progress further down the funnel – possibly because the human interaction pre-qualifies them better. On the other hand, email allows you to attract those who are genuinely interested (they reply) and you don’t waste time on completely cold leads. So effectiveness also ties into efficiency: email can filter “low-hanging fruit” leads, while calls can push more opportunities to fruition.

In summary, cold calling vs cold emailing isn’t a simple case of one being universally better. They excel in different areas. Cold emailing wins on scale, cost, and often initial preference; cold calling wins on depth, personalization, and handling complexity. Many successful sales teams use cold emails to warm up a prospect and cold calls to clinch the meeting – leveraging the strengths of each. Let’s look at how a hybrid approach can maximize results.

Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing: Hybrid Strategy – Why Combining Both Works Best

Rather than choosing cold calling or cold emailing, many of the savviest sales professionals in 2025 are choosing both. A hybrid multi-channel outreach strategy often outperforms relying on a single method. By integrating phone calls and emails (and possibly other touches like LinkedIn messages), you can significantly boost your contact and conversion rates. How and why does this work? Let’s break it down.

Multi-Channel Outreach = Greater Impact: Buyers are multi-channel themselves – they check email, they have phones, they browse social media. Hitting a prospect through multiple channels increases the chances of a connection. In fact, LinkedIn’s sales data shows that combining calls with other touchpoints can increase prospect engagement by 4.7×compared to a single-channel approach (1). Think of it this way: an email might warm the prospect up with valuable info, and a follow-up call can then leverage that familiarity (“I emailed you yesterday about how we can reduce your shipping costs – wanted to quickly follow up by phone”). Or conversely, a voicemail might make a prospect curious enough to look for your email in their inbox. Each channel reinforces the other. A study by RAIN Group found that an overwhelming 82% of buyers will agree to a meeting after a sequence of varied contacts that demonstrate value (1). Using both calls and emails in tandem helps you deliver that value consistently without seeming too pushy on one channel alone.

Best Practices for Combining Cold Calls & Emails: The key to an effective hybrid strategy is coordination – making sure your messages on each channel complement each other. Here’s an example of a proven outreach cadence blending cold calling & cold emailing:

1. Initial Cold Email: Send a brief, personalized email introducing yourself, your company, and a key insight or offering for the prospect. This email serves as an ice-breaker without demanding immediate attention like a call would. (E.g. “Hi [Name], I researched [Prospect Company] and noticed [pain point]. We’ve helped similar companies achieve [benefit]. Would love to share a quick idea…”)
2. Follow-Up Cold Call: A day or two later, call the prospect. If they saw your email, they’ll have context; if not, your call can prompt them to check it. Reference the email in your call: “Hi [Name], I sent an email earlier this week and wanted to follow up personally.” This shows you’re serious and adds a human touch to the information you already provided. Even if you reach voicemail, leave a friendly message mentioning your email.
3. Second Email (Content or Value Add): Send another email, ideally containing something of value – for example, a case study, whitepaper, or a tailored insight. This isn’t just “checking if you saw my last email,” but rather providing additional reason for them to engage. (“Thought you might be interested in this brief case study showing how we helped another tech firm increase ROI by 30%.”)
4. Second Call: Attempt another call after the second email, referencing any new information you sent. At this point, the prospect has heard from you multiple times in a helpful, non-harassing way. By now they likely recognize your name or company, which makes them more likely to pick up. Use this call to directly ask for a meeting or demo if you get them live. If voicemail again, mention that you’ll send one more email and would be happy to talk at their convenience.
5. Final Email or Call: Depending on the scenario, you might send a third (final) email – a brief “breakup email” that politely lets them know you’ll stop reaching out if there’s no interest, but you’re open to connect in the future. Or, some reps prefer one more call attempt before pausing. Either way, this last touch often prompts a response out of courtesy if the prospect has been meaning to reply. Sometimes prospects will reply to that last email saying, “Sorry for the delay, let’s set up a call next week.”

This integrated sequence leverages the strengths of each channel. The emails build familiarity and lay out the basics of your value proposition; the calls provide the human element and urgency. Importantly, none of the touches are completely cold because each references the other (“as I mentioned in my email…” or “as we discussed on the phone…”). It feels like a cohesive campaign rather than disconnected attempts.

Case Study – Multi-Touch Outreach in Action: A real example of the power of hybrid strategy comes from a software company targeting mid-level IT managers. They combined targeted emails with timely phone follow-ups. First, they sent a personalized email highlighting a specific pain point (lack of data backup solutions). Then, within 48 hours, a sales rep called those who had opened the email. The rep opened with, “I’m following up on the email I sent about backup solutions – do you have a minute to chat?” Because the prospect was already primed by the email, the calls were warmer. The result was a 30% increase in booked demos compared to running an email-only campaign (1). In another metric, simply sending an email before a cold call was found to boost the call’s success rate by about 40% (6). These stats reinforce that neither method is as effective alone as they are together.

Why It Works – Psychology of Multi-Channel: Multi-channel outreach works because it respects prospects’ autonomy while also demonstrating your persistence. An email says, “Here’s some info – consider it on your time.” A phone call says, “This is important, I’m taking initiative to talk to you.” When a prospect sees you in their inbox and hears you in their voicemail, you move from an abstract name to a real person. You’re creating multiple touchpoints, and marketing research shows it often takes 6-8 touches to generate a viable sales lead. By varying the medium, you avoid annoying the prospect with the same touch over and over. Instead, you appear everywhere – not in a creepy way, but in a professional, solutions-oriented way. It subtly gives the impression that you are serious about helping them (because you’ve taken the time to reach out through different avenues). Moreover, some points are better made in writing (e.g. a detailed value prop or technical info), while others are better made in speech (e.g. conveying enthusiasm or handling concerns). Multi-channel lets you check all the boxes.

Maximizing Results with a Hybrid Approach: If you decide to use a hybrid cold call + cold email strategy, keep these tips in mind:

• Stay Consistent in Messaging: Ensure your story is the same on both channels. Don’t pitch one thing in email and something different on the call. Consistency builds credibility.
• Use Data to Trigger Actions: Track email opens and link clicks. If a prospect opened your email multiple times or clicked your pricing page, that’s a great signal to prioritize a call to them.
• Don’t Overdo It: Multi-channel doesn’t mean doubling the outreach frequency. It means using varied touches within a normal cadence. Be mindful of not overwhelming the prospect (e.g. five calls and five emails in one week is too much). Space out your communications thoughtfully over a couple of weeks.
• Personalize Across Channels: Referencing prior interactions is a form of personalization. Also, if you learn something on a call (e.g. the prospect is interested in a certain product feature), mention that in your next email. It shows you’re listening and tailoring the conversation to them.
• Measure and Iterate: Pay attention to what combination of touches yields replies or meetings. Maybe you find two emails and one call work best, or that leaving voicemails increases callback rates. Use that data to refine your hybrid call and email cadence.

When executed well, a combined cold calling and cold emailing strategy can dramatically improve your overall outreach effectiveness. In fact, companies that embrace a hybrid sales model (mixing various outreach modes) see up to 50% higher revenue growth than those sticking to just one approach (2). The synergy of multiple channels ensures you meet the prospect where they are most comfortable, and it gives you more opportunities to make a connection. It’s truly a case of 1 + 1 = 3 in sales outreach.

Cold Calling vs Cold Emailing: Final Verdict – Which Should You Use?

So, which should you use: cold calling or cold emailing? The final verdict is that the best choice depends on your industry, audience, and goals – and in many cases, a mix will yield the best outcome. Here’s a simple decision framework and key takeaways to help you decide:

• Consider Your Target Audience: Start with who you’re reaching out to. Are they often sitting at a desk checking email, or on-the-go executives who might pick up the phone? If you’re targeting developers or lower-level professionals who live in their inbox, cold emailing might get more traction. If you’re targeting the C-suite or VP-level prospects, note that about 57% of senior executives prefer a phone call when being contacted about a business solution (2). For busy decision-makers, a well-timed call can be more effective, especially if you can get past gatekeepers. Also consider demographics – younger tech-savvy prospects might lean toward digital comms, while older-school clients might respond better to voice. Align your outreach with the prospect’s communication comfort zone.
• Consider the Complexity of Your Offering: Is your product or service simple to explain in a paragraph, or does it require a conversation to convey value? If it’s fairly straightforward and low-risk, an email with the key points and a CTA might be enough to generate interest. But if your sale involves a complex value proposition, multiple stakeholders, or likely objections, a phone call will let you address those nuances more effectively. For example, selling an enterprise software platform often demands a dialogue – cold calling (plus emailing materials) would be appropriate. Conversely, promoting a free trial for a simple SaaS tool can often be done entirely via email with links to sign up.
• Volume Goals vs. Conversion Goals: Determine what your immediate goal is. If you need to build a large pipeline quickly – say you have to generate 100 leads this quarter – cold emailing is the faster path to scale. It will cast a wide net and hopefully surface the handful of interested prospects. On the other hand, if your goal is to close a smaller number of high-value deals, cold calling might shorten the sales cycle and yield higher-quality engagements with each prospect. Many sales teams prioritize email for initial lead gen, and then switch to calls for nurturing hot leads or closing. If you’re a startup founder doing outreach personally, you might start with emails to gauge interest at scale, and then invest your time in calling only those who show some engagement (clicked or responded). That way you manage your limited time efficiently.
• Industry Norms and Regulations: Some industries have norms around communication. In certain traditional sectors (finance, manufacturing), phone calls are seen as more professional and trustworthy, whereas unsolicited emails might be ignored. In tech, cold emails and LinkedIn messages are extremely common, and an unexpected phone call might even be seen as intrusive if the culture favors digital comms. Also consider legal regulations: for example, cold calling to cell phones is restricted by laws in some countries unless consent is given, whereas B2B emails have their own compliance rules (CAN-SPAM, GDPR etc.). Ensure whichever method you use, you comply with applicable laws and etiquette for your region/industry.
• Your Team’s Strengths: Are you (or your sales team) stronger on the phone or in writing? Play to your strengths. Some sales reps are excellent writers who can craft persuasive emails but aren’t as comfortable cold calling – and vice versa. While it’s good to improve on all fronts, in a pinch, use the channel where you can put your best foot forward. That being said, developing a multi-skill approach is ideal in the long run. If you’re a founder or a small team, you might have to wear both hats. Try to template what you can for email and practice a basic cold call script to build confidence.

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Leverage Email to Open Doors, Use Calls to Close Them: A common winning formula is to begin relationships via email (cheaper and easier to scale), then introduce calls once interest is shown to accelerate the conversation. The email warms the lead; the call turns it into an appointment or sale.
2. Test and Measure: If unsure, run an experiment. Spend one week focused on cold emails and another focused on cold calls. Track lead gen KPI metrics like response rate, meetings set, and ultimately deals closed from each. This data will illuminate what works best for your specific situation. You may find one clearly outperforms the other, or that a combo is best.
3. Mind the Messaging: Whether calling or emailing, tailoring your message to the prospect is crucial in 2025. Generic “spray and pray” tactics underperform. Invest time in research and personalization to drastically improve both call and email outcomes.
4. Stay Persistent (in a polite way): Many sales require multiple touches. If your first email gets no reply, send a follow-up. If your first call is ignored, try calling at a different time or day. Persistence can increase success rates, as long as you remain respectful and provide value with each touch (not just “checking in” repeatedly).
5. Embrace a Multi-Touch Cadence: Ultimately, integrate both calls and emails in a coordinated outreach sequence whenever possible. As we saw, multi-channel outreach can multiply your success. Even if you prefer one channel, a light touch from the other can reinforce your efforts (for instance, a quick call message referencing your email can make your next email far more likely to be noticed).

In conclusion, the winner of cold calling vs cold emailing really depends on the context – but the real champions are those who master both. By understanding the strengths of each and deploying them tactically, you ensure no prospect slips through the cracks.

Conclusion

In the battle of cold calling vs cold emailing, 2025 doesn’t deliver a one-size-fits-all knockout punch. Instead, the “ultimate sales showdown” teaches us that both weapons have a place in your arsenal. Cold calls offer personalization, immediacy, and human connection; cold emails offer scale, efficiency, and a gentler first touch. The data and examples we’ve explored show that balancing storytelling with statistics is key – use the human element where it counts, and back it up with numbers and persistence.

Recap of Key Insights: Cold calling is far from dead – it’s evolving. It shines when you need to build trust quickly or handle complex discussions, and it still drives significant ROI when executed well. Cold emailing remains incredibly powerful for reaching large audiences at a low cost, and it can generate a steady flow of leads if your messaging resonates. The best approach for many is not choosing one over the other, but integrating both. A multi-channel outreach strategy can yield engagement rates several times higher than single-channel efforts, making your sales funnel wider and more robust. Always tailor your strategy to your audience: meet your prospects where they are, whether that’s in their inbox or on a call during their commute.

Armed with these insights, you can refine your sales outreach for 2025 and beyond. Experiment, track your results, and continuously improve your cadence. Whether you’re smiling and dialing or crafting the perfect email subject line, remember that the ultimate goal is the same – to start a conversation that leads to a valuable relationship.

Ready to level up your outreach? If you want to accelerate your sales pipeline with a proven multi-channel approach, consider partnering with an expert. Martal is a leading outsourced lead generation agency with extensive experience in blending cold calling and cold emailing strategies that get results. Our team of seasoned sales development reps knows how to engage prospects across channels, personalize outreach at scale, and deliver qualified leads to fuel your growth. We’ve helped startups and Fortune 500 companies alike dramatically increase their conversion rates using the very tactics discussed in this guide. Why go it alone and reinvent the wheel?

Martal can be your competitive advantage in 2025’s sales showdown. Let our experts craft and execute a tailored outreach campaign for your business, while you focus on closing deals. Interested in seeing what a difference a professional touch can make? Book a free consultation with Martal today and discover how our cold calling and cold emailing expertise can fill your calendar with high-quality appointments. We’ll analyze your current approach, share insights from our successful campaigns, and show you a clear plan to boost your lead generation. Don’t leave opportunities on the table – supercharge your sales outreach with Martal’s help and watch your revenue grow.

Ready to turn cold outreach into hot leads? Contact Martal now for your free consultation and let’s start building your pipeline together!

Sources

1. revnew.com
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6. jobera.com
7. salesprocentral.com
8. salesandmarketing.com
9. mailmodo.com
10. mailshake.com