Email Marketing ROI Benchmark: B2B Outbound vs. Inbound Marketing

Introduction

Is email still the king of marketing ROI in 2025? For B2B marketing and sales leaders, this report tackles that question head-on by comparing email marketing ROI across outbound (cold email outreach) and inbound (nurturing opted-in leads) campaigns. 

Email consistently ranks as one of the highest-ROI channels in digital marketing, delivering an average return of around $36–$40 for every $1 spent (1). But how does the performance differ when you’re emailing warm inbound leads versus cold outbound prospects? 

Below, we’ll explore the latest email ROI statistics, key differences between inbound and outbound email ROI, how to calculate ROI for your campaigns, and benchmarks (opens, clicks, conversions) for cold email funnels. 

By the end, you’ll have a data-driven view of where email stands in 2025 – and how to maximize ROI whether you’re focused on demand gen marketing or outbound sales. Let’s dive in.

What Does Email Marketing ROI Look Like in 2025?

Email marketing continues to be a ROI powerhouse in 2025. Industry surveys show for every $1 spent on email, the average business sees roughly $36–$40 in return (1). 

In other words, email marketing can boast a 3600%–4000% ROI on average – an astounding figure that outperforms most other marketing channels by a wide margin. Why is email’s ROI so high? Email has minimal distribution cost, scales easily, and reaches customers directly in their inbox (which 99% of consumers check daily) (2). Even as new channels emerge, email’s combination of low cost and high engagement continues to drive exceptional ROI results.

Email marketing delivers a dramatically higher return on investment than other common marketing channels. 

Source: PGM Solutions

As shown, the average ROI of email is around $40 per $1 spent, far exceeding the returns of SEO (~$22 per $1), keyword ads (~$17), or banner ads (~$2) (1) (2). 

In fact, one study found the median ROI for email is 122%, about four times higher than any other digital channel (2). These benchmarks underscore why email remains a go-to strategy for budget-conscious marketers.

Not only is average email ROI impressive, but top-performing programs see even greater returns. According to recent data, 18% of companies achieve email ROIs above $70 per $1 invested (2) – essentially a 7000%+ ROI for the most effective email marketers! 

Even “typical” programs do well: Constant Contact finds an average of ~$38 revenue per $1 spent (2), aligning with the general $36–$40 range. Email’s outsized ROI also shows up in marketer opinion surveys: roughly three-quarters of companies rate email as an “excellent” channel for ROI (2). The consensus is clear that email, when done right, delivers more bang for your buck than virtually any other tactic.

However, it’s important to note that your mileage may vary. ROI can differ by industry, audience, campaign type, and how you run your email program. That’s why this report also breaks down ROI by inbound vs. outbound approaches – since emailing a list of hand-raising webinar leads is a very different game from cold-emailing VP-level prospects. First, let’s clarify what we mean by inbound vs. outbound email marketing in a B2B context.

Inbound vs. Outbound Email Marketing: Definitions

Inbound email marketing refers to campaigns sent to an audience that has willingly engaged with your brand. These are your opt-in leads and customers: for example, people who subscribed to your newsletter, downloaded a whitepaper, or requested a demo. Inbound email tactics include things like lead nurturing sequences, product newsletters, customer onboarding drips, and promotional emails to your house list. The key is that recipients have a prior relationship or familiarity – they expect to hear from you. Inbound email is often part of a broader content marketing or lead nurturing strategy managed by marketing teams.

Outbound email marketing, on the other hand, involves cold outreach to prospects who haven’t explicitly signed up to receive your messages. This is typically the realm of sales development representatives (SDRs) or outbound sales teams. Outbound emails (often called cold emails) target carefully selected prospects – e.g. a list of decision-makers at companies in your ICP – with the goal of generating new interest, appointments, or opportunities. These recipients may not know your company yet. Outbound campaigns rely on tactics like personalized cold email sequences, often complemented by LinkedIn touches or calls, to initiate a conversation from scratch. In short, inbound is about nurturing warm leads; outbound is about prospecting for new ones.

So why does this distinction matter for ROI? Mainly because the costs, conversion rates, and time-to-payoff can differ significantly:

• Inbound email typically has lower marginal costs – you’re emailing people you already attracted through other means (SEO, ads, events, etc.). The conversion rates on inbound emails (e.g. a upsell offer to current customers) also tend to be higher because trust is established. So inbound campaigns can yield higher immediate ROI and are easier to attribute to revenue (e.g. an email promoting a demo might directly lead to a sale).
  
• Outbound email involves more upfront work and cost per lead – list building, data research, copy personalization, deliverability management – with no guarantee of response. Outbound conversion rates are much lower on average (as we’ll see, only a few percent of cold emails turn into replies or meetings). However, outbound can generate net-new revenue from sources you wouldn’t reach otherwise, which has its own strategic ROI. It’s a longer game of outbound prospecting and pipeline building, where payback might come after multiple touches.
  

In essence, inbound marketing is often more cost-efficient, while outbound can help scale your reach despite higher effort per conversion. 

Industry stats back this up: One study found sales leads generated through inbound marketing cost 62% less than outbound leads on average (12). 

Additionally, companies are 3X more likely to see higher ROI from inbound campaigns than outbound lead generation campaigns (5). That doesn’t mean outbound email “doesn’t work” – but it highlights that when measuring ROI, inbound email tends to show a faster, higher return on dollars invested (since the audience is already primed).

On the flip side, outbound’s ROI may appear lower in the short term because the denominator (investment) is high (time-intensive prospecting, tools, data) and the numerator (immediate revenue) is low (only a small fraction convert quickly). But outbound can yield substantial ROI over a longer horizon by filling the top of the funnel with new qualified, sales ready leads that eventually close. Many organizations find a balanced strategy works best: using inbound email to efficiently nurture known leads and outbound email to feed fresh opportunities into the pipeline (6).

Next, we’ll quantify some ROI benchmarks and performance metrics for both approaches – starting with how to actually calculate ROI for an email campaign.

How to Calculate Email ROI (and What to Include)

Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) of an email campaign is straightforward in formula terms:

Email marketing ROI is typically expressed as a percentage using the classic ROI formula: (Gain − Cost) / Cost × 100. “Gain” represents the revenue or value generated from your email campaign, and “Cost” represents all the expenses incurred to run that campaign (7). 

For example, if an outbound email campaign brought in $50,000 of new deals and it cost $10,000 to execute, the ROI would be (($50,000 – $10,000) / $10,000) × 100 = 400%.

In applying this formula, it’s important to be clear on what counts as campaign cost and revenue:

• Revenue (Gain): For ROI, use the incremental revenue attributable to the emails. In an e-commerce or B2C setting, this might be straightforward (e.g. $5,000 in sales from an email promo code). In B2B, you may look at the pipeline value or closed deals generated from an email campaign. For inbound, you might attribute a portion of a sale to an email nurture touch. For outbound, you might value a successfully booked meeting or use the eventual deal size from leads first contacted by cold email. Choose a consistent method that captures the economic benefit from the campaign.
  
• Cost: Include all direct costs of the campaign. That can include your email software or automation platform fees (pro-rated), any paid list or data acquisition costs, freelancer or copywriting costs, and the value of internal time spent (salaries). For example, an outbound campaign’s costs might involve your SDR’s time (you could use an hourly rate) plus tools for email sequencing and data. An inbound newsletter’s cost might just be the ESP fee and an hour of a marketer’s time. Don’t forget indirect costs if significant – e.g. if you had to purchase a contact list or invest in deliverability consulting.
  

Once you have those, compute ROI percentage. Let’s do a quick example: say last quarter your team spent $5,000 on an outbound cold email initiative (including tools and labor). It yielded 4 sales demos, of which 1 turned into a $20,000 deal. You might attribute that entire $20k to the campaign (if it was truly sourced from cold email). Then ROI = (20,000 – 5,000) / 5,000 × 100 = 300% ROI. A 300% ROI means you gained 3 times what you spent, which is quite good – though, as we’ve seen, email often yields much higher numbers in aggregate statistics.

Tip: ROI can also be stated as a revenue multiple (e.g. “$40 back per $1 spent”). The calculation is similar, just without multiplying by 100. For instance, $20k on $5k spend is a 4x return (you got $4 for each $1). Many marketing teams report “email generates $XX per $1” because it’s intuitive. In fact, one oft-cited stat (from Litmus) is an average of $36–$42 per $1 in email marketing return (1). Just ensure you’re consistent in your method and timeframe when comparing campaigns.

Finally, remember ROI isn’t only about immediate dollars – especially for outbound efforts. You might run a campaign that loses money in the short run (negative ROI) but yields a huge enterprise client down the road. Still, ROI as defined above is a handy benchmarking metric to evaluate and compare the efficiency of your email programs.

Email Marketing ROI Benchmarks by Channel and Industry

Email marketing doesn’t exist in a vacuum – budget owners often compare its ROI to other channels like social media, paid ads, events, etc. Year after year, email comes out on top as the highest-ROI digital channel for most businesses. To put this in perspective, consider data compiled from various industry surveys:

• Email Marketing: ~$40 revenue per $1 spent (≈ 3800% ROI) (1). Median ROI ~122% (4x higher than others) (2).
  
• SEO (Organic Search): ~$22 per $1 spent (1). SEO has great long-term payoff but often requires upfront investment, so its ROI is solid but about half that of email on average.
  
• Paid Search (Keyword Ads): ~$17 per $1 (1). Pay-per-click search campaigns can drive immediate traffic, but costs eat into margins, yielding lower ROI.
  
• Mobile/SMS Marketing: ~$10–$11 per $1 in some analyses. Mobile marketing can be effective but typically requires more spend per conversion than email.
  
• Social Media Advertising: Often cited in the single digits of dollars per $1 (or a few hundred percent ROI). Social media is valuable for engagement and awareness, but converting to revenue is less direct than email.
  
• Display/Banner Ads: Around $2 per $1 spent, making it one of the lowest ROI channels. Banner ads have broad reach but extremely low click and conversion rates.
  

In the chart above, you saw these comparisons visualized – email towering over other tactics in ROI generated (1). It’s worth noting that SEO and content marketing can rival email in cost-effectiveness for some companies, especially if you have strong organic traffic (since clicks are “free”). But even then, email often synergizes with content: for example, sending blog content via email to nurture leads (inbound) or using content in cold outreach sequences (outbound).

By industry, ROI benchmarks can vary. For instance, B2C e-commerce brands often report exceptionally high email ROI (they might have $60-$70 per $1 in some cases) because a single promotional email to a million subscribers can generate huge sales at virtually no cost. B2B companies may see slightly lower numeric ROI because deal cycles are longer – but email is frequently cited as the #1 channel for B2B lead generation ROI. In fact, 30% of marketers say email has the highest ROI of all their channels (more than any other tactic), and another ~43% say it’s among the top mediums for ROI performance (8). No other channel achieved that level of confidence in the same survey.

The key takeaway is that email marketing’s ROI is consistently superior when measured against comparable investments. This explains why 87% of marketers plan to increase or maintain email spend – they see the payoff (8) (3). It also underscores why optimizing your email strategy can be such a high-leverage move for budget-conscious teams.

ROI of Inbound vs. Outbound Email: Which Performs Better?

Now, to our central comparison: inbound vs. outbound email ROI. We’ve established that email in general has great ROI, but when we slice it by inbound/outbound, what differences emerge?

First, consider the nature of the audience:

• In inbound email marketing, your recipients are leads or customers who opted in. They likely already trust your brand or at least are familiar with it. This usually translates to higher engagement rates (opens, clicks) and higher conversion rates (e.g. a lead progressing to an opportunity or a customer making a repeat purchase) compared to cold outreach. The cost per email sent is negligible, and because these contacts often come from organic channels, the attributable cost per lead might be low. As a result, inbound email campaigns often show a high ROI on a per-campaign basis. For example, a simple 5-email drip campaign to nurture trial users could convert 10% of them to paying clients, yielding tens of thousands in revenue for almost no cost – an astronomical ROI.
  
• In outbound email marketing, you’re emailing prospects who didn’t ask to hear from you. Naturally, the engagement rates are much lower and many prospects will ignore or delete the emails. The win is that if even a small percentage respond and turn into deals, you tap into completely new revenue that inbound channels might not capture. However, the costs of outbound (team bandwidth for personalization, purchasing contact data, etc.) are front-loaded and success rates are modest. So, the short-term ROI per campaign is usually lower for outbound. It’s not uncommon for an SDR team’s email outreach to have an ROI that looks poor if measured monthly – but improves over a year as those touched leads enter the sales pipeline.
  

Let’s illustrate with some data benchmarks:

• Inbound Email ROI Example: A B2B SaaS company sends a webinar email follow-up to 1,000 leads who signed up (inbound). 200 of them request a demo (20% conversion) and eventually 30 become customers worth $300k total. The campaign cost was maybe $200 of marketer time. That’s $300k gain on $0.2k cost – an extreme case, but a 150,000% ROI. Inbound can produce such outcomes because the audience was already highly qualified and the email simply nudged them along.
  
• Outbound Email ROI Example: The same company has its SDR send cold emails to 1,000 targeted prospects. 50 of them reply (5%), 10 take sales calls, and 2 become customers worth $20k total. The cost to run this (list building, SDR salary time, tools) might be $5k. That’s $20k on $5k – a 400% ROI. Still very positive! But far lower than the inbound scenario above. This reflects both the lower conversion and higher effort.
  

Of course, both scenarios are simplified. But they align with broader trends. According to HubSpot’s data, 41% of marketers said inbound marketing yields measurable ROI, versus only 18% saying the same for outbound efforts (3). And as mentioned earlier, companies report inbound is 3X more likely to produce higher ROI than outbound (5). Inbound leads also tend to cost significantly less – less cost means easier to get a high ROI.

It’s also about quality vs. quantity. Inbound emails often target folks further down the funnel (hence higher immediate ROI). Outbound targets top-of-funnel, where most won’t convert, but a few will turn into big wins later. In fact, marketing studies show inbound tactics generate 54% more leads than traditional outbound and double the average website conversion rate (4). Moreover, inbound leads close at a higher rate (e.g. SEO leads have ~14% close rate vs <2% for outbound leads) (3). That higher close rate boosts the realized ROI on inbound campaigns.

Bottom line: If you’re measuring direct ROI per email send, inbound campaigns will nearly always look superior to outbound in the short term. However, outbound’s ROI should be evaluated in context of customer lifetime value and pipeline development. Many B2B organizations find outbound email invaluable despite a lower immediate ROI, because it drives growth beyond the limits of inbound lead flow. Ideally, you invest in both: maximize cost-effective inbound emails and use targeted outbound emails to reach high-value accounts (accepting a lower ROI per campaign for a larger payoff on a few wins).

In summary, inbound email marketing delivers higher ROI on average, thanks to lower costs and warmer recipients, while outbound email marketing delivers a lower but still positive ROI and can unlock new revenue streams albeit at a higher cost per acquisition. Next, let’s examine how outbound cold emails are performing by the numbers in 2025 – which will shed light on why outbound ROI is more challenging and how to improve it.

Cold Email Funnel Benchmarks (2025 Outbound Stats)

What kind of conversion rates can you expect from a cold B2B email sequence in 2025? Understanding the funnel metrics – from send, to open, to reply, to conversion – is crucial for setting realistic ROI expectations for outbound email.

Broad industry data and recent research show that cold outreach is a tough game with significant drop-off at each stage. Here are the key benchmarks:

• Delivery Rate: About 17% of cold emails never even reach the inbox (they bounce or get filtered out) (9). In other words, you might only achieve ~83% deliverability if your domain setup and list quality aren’t top-notch. This is a reminder that email deliverability is critical – spam filters and bad addresses can kill ROI before the campaign even starts.
  
• Open Rate: The average open rate for cold B2B emails is hovering in the 15–25% range as of 2025 (9). One large analysis found it dropped from ~36% a couple years ago to 27.7% in 2024 (9), likely due to email security changes and overloaded inboxes. So if roughly only 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 prospects open your message, you’re doing about average. An open rate below ~20% may signal issues (subject line, sender reputation, or targeting). Experts often say ~30% is a good target for cold outreach, but that’s increasingly hard to achieve today.
  
• Reply/Response Rate: Out of those opens, how many reply? Only around 1–5% of cold emails get a response on average (9). 

That aligns with multiple studies: one found a 5.1% reply rate average in 2024 (down from 7% prior year), another showed ~8.5% of cold outreach emails elicit any response (13). 

In practical terms, that means about 95% of cold emails fail to generate a reply (9). This is why outbound is a volume and persistence game. If you email 100 new prospects, you might only get ~5 replies – and remember, a “reply” isn’t always positive; it could be a brush-off. A good cold campaign might boost replies into the 8-10% range with great personalization, but hitting double-digit reply rates is considered excellent these days.

• Conversion Rate (Lead to Opportunity/Sale): Of those few who reply, an even smaller subset converts into a meaningful outcome (like a booked meeting or closed deal). Cold outreach conversion rates (to customer) remain around 0.2%–2% (9). Yes, that’s a wide range – it depends on how you define conversion. If we define “conversion” as secured a sales meeting, you might see 1–2% of total emails sent result in a meeting. If we define it as actual closed sales, it could be 0.2–0.5% of the emails. For example, sending 1,000 cold emails might yield ~10 meetings and 1–2 new clients. That might sound disheartening, but if those 1–2 clients are worth six figures, the ROI can still be fantastic.

Source: GMass

Typical cold email funnel metrics for B2B outreach.

Out of 100% of prospects emailed, only around 15–25% open the email, about 5% reply, and ultimately perhaps 1% convert into a customer or qualified opportunity (11). 

This illustrates the steep drop-off at each stage of cold outreach. Improving any stage (e.g. boosting open rates or reply rates) can meaningfully lift the final conversion yield of the campaign.

Given these benchmarks, it’s easier to see why outbound email ROI tends to be lower – you must invest in a large volume of prospects to yield a handful of successes. However, small percentage improvements can have a big impact. For instance, if you raise your reply rate from 5% to 10% through better targeting or personalization, you’ve essentially doubled the ROI potential (because you’ll have twice as many leads for the same spend).

Ways to Improve Outbound Email Performance:

• Personalization: This is huge. Campaigns with advanced personalization (beyond just first name) saw reply rates up to 15–18%, roughly 2–3× higher than generic emails (9). Tailoring the message to each prospect’s context significantly boosts engagement and, thus, ROI. Yet only a small fraction of senders truly personalize every message, so it’s a competitive advantage if you do.
  
• Follow-Ups: Don’t give up after one email. Studies show sending a sequence of follow-ups can increase reply rates by over 50% compared to a single email (9). Many prospects respond only after the 2nd or 3rd touch. Surprisingly, nearly half of reps never send a second email (9) – meaning they leave ROI on the table. A well-crafted email cadence (e.g. 4-6 emails over a few weeks) can dramatically improve the chances of conversion, thereby improving overall ROI of the outreach effort.
  
• Deliverability & Timing: As noted, ensure your technical email setup is solid (warm up new domains, use proper authentication) so you maximize inbox placement. Also, some times are better than others – for example, sending on Monday or Tuesday around mid-day can outperform other times (9). Hitting the right timing and frequency can lift both open and reply rates.
  
• Multichannel Touches: The best outbound strategies don’t rely on email alone. High-performing outbound teams often combine cold emails with LinkedIn messages, phone calls, or even direct mail in a coordinated way. In fact, outreach that mixes email + LinkedIn + calls can boost engagement by over 280% vs. email alone (9). While that stat encompasses more than just email, it underscores that email ROI improves when supported by other channels (since more prospects eventually convert). Essentially, a prospect might ignore your first two emails but respond after seeing a LinkedIn note referencing those emails – thus the email effort wasn’t wasted.
  

In summary, outbound email is a low-yield, high-effort endeavor – but when it hits, it can generate big wins that feed your sales pipeline. Knowing the funnel stats above helps set expectations (e.g. don’t declare an SDR campaign a failure if it “only” got a 3% reply rate – that might be normal for your industry, and you may need to iterate on copy, targeting, or volume). By applying best practices to nudge each metric upward, you improve the overall ROI of outbound email over time.

Maximizing ROI: Key Takeaways for B2B Email Marketers

Whether your focus is inbound or outbound, there are several actionable strategies B2B marketers can use to maximize email ROI:

• Continually Clean and Grow Your Lead Lists: For inbound email, a clean, engaged list means higher open rates and deliverability – directly boosting ROI. Remove inactive contacts regularly and use double opt-in to ensure quality subscribers. For outbound, invest in high-quality prospect data and email list cleaning (verify emails, eliminate bad fits) before sending. A targeted, fresh list yields better response and less waste.
  
• Invest in Content and Value: Especially for inbound, provide content that recipients want to receive. Useful newsletters, industry insights, and personalized recommendations increase engagement and conversion. The more value you deliver, the higher the ROI (because subscribers stay engaged and eventually purchase). Even in outbound, leading with value – e.g. sharing a brief insight or resource tailored to the prospect – can improve reply rates.
  
• Use Segmentation and Personalization: One-size-fits-all emails result in lower ROI. Segment your audience (by industry, persona, funnel stage) and tailor the messaging. Personalized subject lines and content dramatically lift open and click rates (emails with personalized subjects see 50% higher open rates on average) (1). Higher engagement means more conversions for the same cost – i.e. better ROI.
  
• Test, Test, Test: Continuous A/B testing of subject lines, email copy, CTAs, send times, and sequences is crucial. Small improvements in open or click rates compound. For example, A/B testing your email campaigns can significantly influence ROI – one study noted A/B-tested campaigns generated $42 per $1 vs. $21 per $1 for non-tested campaigns (10). Test and optimize to squeeze more results from each send.
  
• Automation and Drip Sequences: Use marketing automation for inbound to trigger emails based on behavior (e.g. a welcome series, abandoned cart emails, re-engagement campaigns). Automated emails are timely and relevant, often showing higher ROI than batch-and-blast emails. In outbound, use sequencing tools to automate follow-ups (but still personalize) – ensuring you don’t miss that boost in email response rates from multiple touches.
  
• Measure Beyond Immediate Sales: Particularly for outbound, track intermediate metrics that eventually lead to ROI. For example, measure lead-to-opportunity conversion, pipeline generated, and lifetime value of customers acquired by cold email. This will help build the business case that even if outbound ROI looks lower in the short run, the long-term ROI is strong when those leads close. Inbound email ROI can similarly be extended by considering customer lifetime value (emails that improve retention and upsells have massive ROI implications, even if not immediately attributed).
  
• Maintain Excellent Deliverability: All ROI talk is moot if your emails don’t reach inboxes. Both inbound and outbound senders should follow best practices: warm up new sending domains/IPs, use SPF/DKIM/DMARC, monitor spam rates, and avoid spammy language. A well-delivered email program protects your ROI – a poor sender reputation will tank open rates and thus ROI overnight.
  
• Leverage Analytics and Attribution: Use UTM codes and analytics to tie email efforts to revenue accurately. Many inbound marketers use attribution models to assign credit to email touches (e.g. an email contributing to a multi-touch deal). Outbound teams should track sourced pipeline and deal closure from their efforts. Clear data on ROI will help you optimize budget allocation (and justify more investment into high-performing email initiatives).
  

In essence, ROI is a function of efficiency – either getting more results (conversions, revenue) from each email or reducing the cost required to achieve those results. The tips above aim to do both (e.g. increase conversion rates with personalization, and reduce wasted spend with better targeting). By continually refining your approach, you can push your email ROI even higher than the impressive benchmarks noted in this report.

Martal’s Proven Expertise in Maximizing B2B Email ROI

At Martal Group, we’ve seen how the right outreach strategy can transform email from a cost center into a revenue engine. With over 15 years of experience executing omnichannel outbound campaigns across 50+ industries, our team specializes in helping B2B organizations extract meaningful ROI from every email sent.

We don’t just send emails, we build predictable sales pipelines using a proven mix of cold emailing, cold calling, and LinkedIn outreach. Our sales development executives personalize every touchpoint, guided by intent data, ICP targeting, and deliverability best practices that protect sender reputation and elevate response rates. Whether nurturing inbound prospects or initiating net-new outbound conversations, we align our outreach to your ideal buyer’s journey, and your revenue goals.

Through our tiered service packages, we operate as an extension of your sales team. From sourcing high-fit leads to booking sales-qualified meetings, we help B2B brands scale smarter, faster, and more efficiently. 

It’s this combination of data-driven execution, human sales expertise, and AI-enhanced prospecting that drives long-term ROI for our clients, and keeps their email strategy from going stale.

Looking to Improve Your Email Marketing ROI? Let’s Talk.

If you’re not seeing the returns you’d expect from your email marketing—or if you’re unsure how outbound fits into your growth strategy—Martal Group is here to help.

We partner with B2B companies across tech, SaaS, professional services, and more to build scalable lead generation engines through strategic, omnichannel outreach. Whether you’re focused on booking meetings with net-new prospects or nurturing warm inbound leads through targeted cadences, our experienced sales teams and proven methodology deliver measurable results.

Our services include:

• Cold Emailing, Cold Calling & LinkedIn Lead Generation
• Appointment Setting & Outbound Sales Execution
• B2B Sales Training & Enablement through the Martal Academy
• Sales Outsourcing with On-Demand SDR and AE Support

These services are fully integrated, because sustainable growth requires more than a single channel. With us, you gain a dedicated sales partner and cold email marketing agency equipped to execute and optimize every stage of your outbound strategy.

Conclusion: Email ROI in 2025 and Beyond

The data is in: Email marketing remains a superstar in ROI for B2B organizations, whether through nurturing inbound leads or prospecting outbound. In 2025, the average ROI of email (~$40:1) dwarfs that of other channels, and inbound email programs especially shine with cost-efficient returns. Outbound emails show a positive ROI as well – albeit an ROI that requires patience and skill to unlock, given low response rates and heavier upfront costs.

For sales and marketing leaders, the implications are clear. To maximize marketing ROI: double down on email. Cultivate your inbound email list and keep delivering value to convert leads at a low cost. Simultaneously, strategically invest in outbound email to reach new markets, but do so with eyes open – success will come from quality over quantity, rigorous optimization, and a multi-touch approach. Use the benchmarks in this report as a yardstick to gauge your own performance. If your inbound campaigns aren’t yielding at least a 10x or 20x return, there may be untapped potential. If your cold outreach is falling short of the 1–5% reply range, experiment with the techniques outlined (or consider whether more targeted account-based outreach would serve you better).

Email marketing in 2025 continues to be both an art and science. The art is in crafting messages that resonate – be it a helpful piece of content to a subscriber or an intriguing sales pitch to a stranger. The science is in measuring what works, iterating, and adhering to deliverability and data-driven best practices. B2B leaders who master both sides will reap the rewards in the form of greater ROI across their marketing and sales efforts.

In the end, whether inbound or outbound, email is a channel that no B2B growth strategy can afford to ignore. It’s telling that even in the age of social media and AI chatbots, old-fashioned email still “prints money” in terms of ROI. So, sharpen your email strategy, invest in your team’s skills and tools, and watch the returns roll in. Here’s to making the rest of 2025 (and beyond) your highest-ROI email era yet!

👉 See a stronger ROI from your email efforts. Book a free consultation with us and discover how we can help your team generate more pipeline and revenue, with email.

References

1. Oberlo
2. PGM Solutions
3. 99firms
4. Invesp
5. Fit 4 Market
6. Responsify
7. Wikipedia
8. Yaguara
9. Martal – Cold Email Statistics
10. The Financial Brand
11. GMass
12. HubSpot
13. Infraforge