Cold email vs Cold Call: Which Works Better For B2B Sales?
Are you struggling to choose between cold emails and cold calls for your cold outreach? The cold email vs cold call dilemma challenges everyone setting up their first outbound lead generation system.
As a sales leader, agency owner, or ambitious sales rep, you’re likely wondering which method will yield the best results for your team.
To give you a hint, both cold emails and cold calls have their merits in B2B sales and lead generation, but understanding when and how to use each can significantly impact your success rate.
In this article I will compare cold email vs cold call – find out the pros, cons of each channel, and how sustainable they are from the POV of cold outreach.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to leverage both cold emails and cold calls to supercharge your outbound sales strategy.
So, let’s start with the basics first.
What is a cold email?
A cold email is an unsolicited email sent to a prospect without prior contact. It’s an outboound approach to introducing your product or service to decision-makers in companies that might benefit from your offering.
Unlike cold calls, cold email campaigns allow you to reach out to multiple prospects simultaneously, making it a scalable option in the cold email vs cold call debate.
Pros of running cold email campaigns 👍🏼
- Scalability: You can send hundreds of personalized emails in one go, reaching more prospects than cold calling.
- Cost-effective: No need for expensive phone systems or call center setups.
- Non-intrusive: Recipients can read and respond at their convenience, unlike cold calls that may interrupt their work.
- Trackable: Easy to measure open rates, click-through rates, and responses, allowing for data-driven improvements.
- Customization: You can tailor your message to specific industries or roles, increasing relevance.
- Attachments: Easily include product brochures, case studies, or other supporting materials.
Cons of running cold email campaigns 👎🏼
- Low response rates: Average cold email response rates in B2B are often below 5%.
- Spam filters: Your carefully crafted message might never reach the inbox, especially if not properly optimized.
- Lack of personal touch: It’s harder to build rapport through text alone compared to a cold call.
- Delayed responses: Unlike cold calls, you might wait days or weeks for a reply.
- Email fatigue: Decision-makers receive numerous emails daily, making it challenging to stand out.
- Legal considerations: Must comply with anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM in the US or GDPR in Europe.
When weighing cold email vs cold call strategies, consider these pros and cons in the context of your specific B2B sales goals and target audience.
If you need more hands-on tips, strategies and information on cold emailing for B2B lead generation, check out Cold Email Masterclass.
Now let’s move on to the second channel in this cold email vs cold call debate.
What is a cold call?
A cold call is an unsolicited phone call to a prospect who hasn’t previously expressed interest in your product or service. It’s a direct approach to reach decision-makers in B2B companies and start a conversation about your offering.
In the cold email vs cold call comparison, cold calling provides immediate, personal interaction with prospects.
Pros of Cold calling prospects for sales outreach 👍🏼
- Immediate feedback: You get instant reactions and can adjust your pitch in real-time.
- Human connection: Voice-to-voice communication builds stronger relationships than text-based methods.
- Higher engagement: When you get through, you have the prospect’s full attention.
- Opportunity for deeper conversations: You can ask follow-up questions and provide detailed explanations.
- Bypass gatekeepers: With persistence, you can often reach decision-makers directly.
- Qualification on the spot: You can quickly determine if a prospect is a good fit for your offering.
Cons of Cold calling prospects for sales outreach 👎🏼
- Time-consuming: Sales reps can typically make only 30-40 cold calls per day, compared to sending hundreds of emails.
- Low connection rates: On average, it takes 8 cold call attempts to reach a prospect.
- Potential for negative reception: Some people find cold calls intrusive, which can harm your brand reputation.
- Higher cost: Cold calling requires more time and resources per prospect than cold emailing.
- Limited scalability: You can only call one prospect at a time, unlike mass email campaigns.
- Difficulty in tracking: It’s harder to measure and analyze cold call performance compared to email metrics.
When considering cold email vs cold call strategies, remember that cold calling can be more effective for complex B2B products or services that require detailed explanation.
Suggested Reading: 23 Cold Calling Scripts for B2B – Elements & Examples
Cold emailing vs cold calling: What’s the difference between them?
Let’s break down the differences between cold emailing and cold calling in a practical, sales-focused manner:
| Aspects | Cold Email | Cold Calling |
| Reach | Can contact hundreds of prospects daily | Limited to 30-40 calls per day on average |
| Personalization | Can be personalized at scale using automation tools | Highly personalized, but time-consuming |
| Timing | Prospect can respond at their convenience | Requires catching the prospect at the right time |
| Information Delivery | Can include attachments, links, and detailed information | Limited to verbal communication, may require follow-up materials |
| Measurability | Easily trackable (open rates, click rates, response rates) | More challenging to track, requires manual logging |
| Compliances | Must adhere to email regulations (CAN-SPAM, GDPR) | Must comply with telemarketing laws and do-not-call lists |
| Gatekeepers | Can often bypass gatekeepers and reach decision-makers | May be screened by gatekeepers |
| Average sales cycle | Can be longer due to less personal interaction | Can be shorter if decision-maker is reached directly |
| Lead qualification | Requires additional steps to qualify leads | Can qualify leads in real-time during the conversation |
Cold email vs cold call – which one should you pick for sales outreach?
Now let’s compare these two channels to find out which you should choose for ideal sales outreach.
We will be comparing cold email vs cold call based on 6 important parameters such as –
- Lead generation potential
- ROI each channel is capable to generate
- Contact data accessibility
- Ease of channel set-up
- Execution scope and timing required
- From the POV of set-up cost
1. Cold email vs cold call – based on lead generation potential
Let’s help you understand which one maximizes your sales qualified lead generation between cold email and cold call.
We will take 100 prospects for this example.
Average sales qualified lead generation via cold email:
- Sent 100 cold emails
- 55-60% open rates
- 6-7% reply rate
- 40% positive response rate (we are counting positive replies as the final stage in the lead generation process)
| Sales leads generated via cold email = (1.3 – 1.7) So, it’s safe to assume that cold email gives you minimum 1.3% email to lead conversion ratio. |
Average sales qualified lead generation via cold calling:
- Called 100 prospects
- 15% connection rate. (20 people picked up the call)
- 1% positive response (which is considered the lowest)
| So, sales leads generated via cold calling = 0.15 So, it’s safe to conclude that cold calling gives you nearly 0.15% cold calling to lead conversion ration. |
Verdict ➡️ Cold email generates more leads than cold calling
2. Cold email vs cold call – based on ROI each channel generates
Let’s find out how much ROI both of these channels provide.
For testing this hypothesis, we are taking into account the sales opportunities created in the previous month by doing sales prospecting.
ROI from cold emailing
Cost of setting up cold email process:
| Salary of 1 sales rep | $4000 per month |
| Cost of the cold email software | $100 per month |
| Cost of the email service providers (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Zoho etc.) | $7-$9 per seat |
The total cost of setting up a cold email campaign should be around $4200.
Let’s look at the revenue part from cold email.
| Offer: $10,000 ACV (Annual Contract Value) |
| 1000 cold emails sent |
| 55% open rate = 550 emails opened |
| 5% reply rate = 27.5 replies |
| 30% positive replies = 8.25 meetings booked |
| 50% closing rate = 4.13 deals closed |
It is evident that for every 1000 prospect you reach, cold email can give you $41300 after spending around $4200 which is equivalent to the ROI of earning $9 per $1 spent.
ROI from cold calling
Cost of setting up cold calling
| Salary of 1 sales rep for calling & closing | $4,000 |
| Software licensing cost for cold calling | $1000 |
So, total cost of cold calling set-up is around $5,000.
Now, check out the revenue part of the cold calling.
| Offer: $10,000 ACV (Annual Contract Value) |
| 1200 cold calls done |
| 180 calls connected with the prospects |
| 1% meeting booked = 1.8 meetings |
| 50% deals closed = 0.9 deals |
For 1,200 prospects contacted, cold call can give you $9,000 for $5000 spent which a ROI of $1.8 per $1 spent.
Verdict ➡️ Cold email has a better ROI than cold calling
ROI of cold email can be easily increased as you start scaling your outreach process more. The best thing is you can scale it without hiring a large team and not incurring huge salaried expenses.
3. Cold email vs cold call based on access to contact data
For running cold email and cold calling information, you need prospect information such as email addresses and phone numbers. It’s easier to get prospect email addresses than finding accurate phone numbers of the decision makers of the businesses.
There are very few sources on the internet that gives you accurate, verified and updated contact number information for cold calling.
On the other hand, there are a lot of places to find email addresses for running cold email campaigns.
Verdict ➡️ Cold emailing wins for the ease of data accessibility.
To find prospect contact numbers and email addresses for sales outreach try Lead Finder by SmartReach.io.
Export the contact information to your cold calling and cold emailing campaigns in one-click.
4. Cold email vs cold call based on ease of set-up
Cold calling is easier to set-up and execute as compared to cold email.
Anyone who can speak on phone can start cold calling and can bring some positive results with consistency.
But for cold email, you need to have some knowledge about the email deliverability aspects and copywriting skills to bring some positive results from cold email campaigns.
Using a tool like SmartReach.io, you can set-up your cold calling campaigns with ease.
You can start dialing prospects one by one, analyze the calling sentiments, record the calls, monitor the metrics such as connection rates, calling duration and more.
Verdict ➡️ Cold calling wins for ease of set-up
5. Cold email vs cold call based on execution scope and timing
An effective cold email campaign takes more time to set-up but less time to scale.
For example, you will need to write well-though cold email copies with the right sequence gaps to yield positive results from the cold email campaigns.
Additionally, you will require strong knowledge of the email sending limits of the different email service providers (e.g., Gmail, Outlook,Yahoo) to scale your email outreach process effectively without getting flagged as SPAM.
But you only need one person with the right cold email knowledge to scale up an email campaign from sending 20 emails to 2000 emails.
That’s the biggest advantage of cold email in this cold emailing vs cold calling debate.
On the contrary, cold calling takes less time to set-up but more time and resources to scale effectively.
For example, with even an experienced single sales rep, you will not be able to scale up beyond 60-70 cold calls per day.
Cold calling is only brings leads when you do it on scale and when you are low on headcount cold calling is unlikely going to work as a channel.
Verdict ➡️ Cold email wins for taking less time to scale as a channel
6. Cold email vs cold call based on cost
As discussed during the ROI part of this cold email vs cold call debate, the set-up cost may initially be high for cold emailing with spendings on –
- Cold email automation software
- Email service providers
- Contact database software
- CRM etc. (not mandatory)
In the long-run cold email ROI overpowers the initial investment and give you a higher ROI.
For example, SmartReach.io users have reported upto 30% increase in their lead generation efforts with the cold email automation capabilities.
Now, coming to cold calling, you will need more headcount even with a cold calling software to scale up the cold calling outreach.
More headcount = more salary cost which may not be a good ROI indicator even for the long-term.
Verdict ➡️ Cold email is less expensive and and easy to scale on budget
So finally, based on all 6 parameters cold email as a channel wins for sales outreach.
If you are a 2-3 person start-up in the B2B space and starting a fresh outbound system, start with cold calling first.
It will validate your ICP quicker with faster positive and negative responses. You will arrive at quick conclusion on if you are targeting the right cohort of people.
Keep cold emailing as a long-term strategy. Try to optimize the campaigns and generate better results with every new campaign.
The best thing you can do is to go for an multichannel campaign approach. It consists of both cold emailing and cold calling for the best deliverability and more responses.
Using a sales engagement tool like SmartReach makes it easier for running cold email campaigns + cold calling campaigns from one platform.
- You can use AI to generate email sequences based on the prompts you provide ✅
- Export prospect contact information from SmartReach’s lead finder tool to your multichannel campaigns ✅
- Connect upto 25 sender emails and your email campaign is ready to shoot ✅
- Similarly, you can obtain a free international calling number and start calling from SmartReach directly ✅
Try running a multichannel campaign for FREE for 14-Days. (No credit card required)
How to use cold email + calling calling together to book more meetings?
This is the best approach for B2B lead generation. I will be using SmartReach’s specific features
Here’s a practical approach to leverage both channels effectively:
#1 Start with a targeted cold email campaign
Begin by sending personalized cold emails to your prospect list.
Use Smartreach.io’s advanced personalization features such as Content AI, merge tags, custom column etc. to create emails that resonate with each recipient. With spintax, you can create dynamic content making each of your email copies unique, thus improving the deliverability.
This initial contact sets the stage for your outreach and allows prospects to engage on their own terms.
#2 Track email engagement meticulously
Use Smartreach.io’s real-time email tracking to monitor opens, clicks, and replies.
This data is crucial for identifying your most interested prospects and timing your follow-up calls effectively.
#3 Follow up with cold calls to engaged prospects
Now, call prospects who have shown interest in your emails but haven’t responded.
Smartreach.io’s integrated calling features allows you to seamlessly transition from email to call within the same platform, ensuring a cohesive outreach strategy.
#4 Use cold calling for high-value prospects
For your top-tier prospects, consider leading with a cold call.
These direct conversations can be more effective for complex offerings or when trying to reach C-level executives.
Follow up these calls with a personalized email summarizing your conversation.
#5 Create a multi-touch sequence
Develop a sequence that alternates between emails and calls.
Smartreach.io’s sequence builder can help you create and automate this process, ensuring consistent follow-ups without overwhelming your team.
#6 Personalize your approach based on prospect behavior
Use the data from your email campaigns to tailor your cold calls.
If a prospect has clicked on a specific resource in your email, reference this in your call to make the conversation more relevant and engaging.
#7 Optimize your timing of outreach
Analyze when your emails get the most engagement and when your calls are most likely to be answered.
Smartreach.io’s analytics can help you identify these optimal times, allowing you to schedule your outreach for maximum impact.
Read more: Importance Of Timing For Lead Generation Using Cold Emails
#8 Continuously refine your messaging
Use the feedback from both your emails and calls to improve your overall messaging.
Smartreach’s A/B testing features for emails can help you identify what resonates best with your audience, informing both your email and call scripts.
#9 Integrate with your CRM
Ensure all interactions, whether email or call, are logged in your CRM.
Smartreach.io offers seamless integration with popular CRMs, providing a complete view of your prospect’s journey and enabling better-informed follow-ups.
By implementing these strategies and using tools like Smartreach.io, you can create a multichannel approach to cold outreach that maximizes your lead generation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Are cold emails or cold calls better?
Neither cold emails nor cold calls are inherently superior. The best approach plan depends on one’s target audience, industry, and desired outcome. Cold emails excel at reaching a large audience efficiently, while cold calls offer immediate engagement and personalization. A multichannel strategy often yields the best results.
Q. What is the difference between cold text and cold call?
Cold texting involves sending unsolicited text messages to potential customers, while cold calling refers to unsolicited phone calls. Both are outbound sales tactics aimed at generating leads, but text messages offer asynchronous communication, allowing prospects to respond at their convenience, unlike immediate phone calls.
Q. What is a cold email?
A cold email is an unsolicited email sent to a potential customer or client without a prior relationship. It’s a marketing tactic aimed at generating leads and building relationships. Effective cold emails are personalized, value-focused, and offer clear benefits to the recipient.
Q. Why cold email is used?
Cold emails are used to reach a large audience efficiently and generate leads. They allow for targeted messaging, personalization, and scalability. Unlike cold calls, emails provide prospects with time to consider the offer and respond when convenient.
Q. What is cold calling?
Cold calling is an unsolicited way of contacting potential customers via phone to introduce a product or service. It’s a traditional sales technique that focuses on immediate conversation and persuasion. While effective in certain industries, cold calling faces challenges due to increasing call screening and consumer resistance.
