What 209,667 emails actually produced

The problem

The motion was big, and there was no single view of what it produced per prospect. A response rate could look healthy while saying nothing about interest.

What we built

One workbook that pulls sends, prospects, responses, and opportunities together, with a column per month and the rates derived from the raw counts.

The rule that mattered most: response rate and positive response rate are two different numbers. They get reported separately, every month.

What it produced

Over six measured months:

• 209,667 emails to 68,422 new prospects, 3.06 emails each.
• 4,477 prospects responded. That's a 6.54 percent response rate.
• 97 of those responses were positive. That's 0.14 percent of prospects.
• 509 opportunities created.
• Monthly sends climbed from 11,705 to a peak of 62,108. Monthly opportunities climbed from 8 to a peak of 162 in the same month.

Look at the gap between 6.54 and 0.14. If you only report the first number, the program looks great. The other 4,380 responses weren't positive.

We publish the 0.14 because it's the real one. And yes, it's unflattering.

We also left one number out. The workbook shows a 1.08 percent open rate for the early months. Our campaign level data measured 13 to 32 percent in the same era. That's a tracking gap, not a real rate, so we don't use it.

What runs now

The engagement has ended.

Your scenario

If your outbound report shows one response rate, ask what share of it was positive. If nobody can answer, send us the report and we'll show you how we'd split it.

Related tools: Instantly, WhatConverts, Weekly Client Report, Month End Narrative

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Client names are always kept confidential at MMG, so they have been removed from this case study.

Published January 13, 2026

Last updated September 1, 2026