How long should a cold email be? We counted 150 B2B emails, 48 of them cold (2026)

Founders, owners and consultants: keep a cold email to about 125 words or less. We counted 150 B2B emails people pasted into FixMyEmail.ai, and 48 were cold. The middle cold email ran about 110 words. So most people are already close.

In about 3 in 10 of those cold emails, the sender wrote more than 150 words. But length wasn't the biggest gap I found. The cold emails were the shortest ones we counted, and the most about the sender.

Here's the count first. Then how I read it.

What did we find in 150 B2B emails?

FixMyEmail.ai is my free tool. You paste in an email and get back a rewrite.

We went through everything people pasted in from June 2025 to September 2026 and took out the junk, the practice tests and the emails to consumers. We kept 150 emails that owners, founders, consultants and other pros wrote to other businesses, to sell, follow up, promote or win someone back.

48 were labeled cold outreach, from 37 different senders. The rest were promotions, sales pushes, win-back emails, and 85 older ones with no type label. 48 is a small group, so I read the cold numbers as a first look.

What we counted (FixMyEmail.ai, June 2025 to Sept 2026)

"Median" just means the middle. Line up the 48 cold emails from shortest to longest, and the middle ones run about 110 words.

If you've ever rewritten a cold email four times, hit send, and then checked your inbox every hour for two days, you know the question that comes next. Was it too long? Too pushy? Too much about me? You tried and heard nothing, and you don't know why.

Before you cut a single word, look at the third row.

Who is your cold email about?

Here's the finding that stopped me. Across all 150, people wrote about 1.5 "you" for every "I," "we" or "our." In the 48 cold ones, that dropped to about 1.1. So for every 10 times a cold sender wrote "you," they wrote "I," "we" or "our" about 9 times.

Think about who reads a cold email. A stranger, the one person with the least reason to care about you. And that's where senders talked about themselves the most.

I get why. Writing to someone who's never heard of you, it feels rude not to explain who you are first. So the company paragraph goes in, and the reader's problem gets one line at the end.

I've spent 15 years in growth marketing, including my time at HubSpot. Here's what I learned leading demand marketing campaigns there: the work that got a response was the work where we partnered with people in the pursuit of what they wanted to accomplish. A stranger opening your cold email is asking one thing. What's in this for me?

Trim that email to 80 words and it's still about you. So how many words do you need?

How many words should a cold email be?

Aim for about 50 to 125 words. The team at Boomerang looked at more than 40 million emails its users sent, and people who wrote 50 to 125 words got a reply more than half the time (Boomerang, February 2016). Boomerang's team counted all kinds of email, not only cold ones, so I treat that range as a guide.

The 48 cold emails in our count sit inside it, with the middle one at about 110 words (FixMyEmail.ai, June 2025 to Sept 2026, 48 cold emails). Across all 150, the middle one ran about 130, just past it.

The cold senders who wrote more than 150 words, about 3 in 10, have work to do. That's a lot to ask of a stranger. But if you're already under 125 and still hearing nothing, keep going.

Should a cold email be short or long?

Keep it short. Just don't stop there.

Hunter's team looked at 34 million cold emails people sent through its tool from 2022 to 2024 (Hunter, April 2024). Senders who wrote 20 to 39 words got the highest average reply rate, 4.5%. But senders in every length band got between 3.4% and 4.5%, and senders who wrote 160 to 179 words did about as well as senders who wrote 60 to 79. Ziemek Bućko, who wrote up Hunter's study, calls word count "not a silver bullet."

So yes, I'd cut. Then I'd look hard at what's in the words you keep.

What should a cold email include?

Only about 1 in 20 senders told a client story. That's the biggest gap we found in all 150 B2B emails (FixMyEmail.ai, June 2025 to Sept 2026). Here's how they did on the rest.

1. 47% gave a number as proof. Nearly half had a result ready.
2. 4 in 10 never asked a question. In the cold ones, about 3 in 10. Boomerang's team found that people who asked 1 to 3 questions were 50% more likely to get a response than people who asked none (Boomerang, February 2016).
3. About 1 in 5 used a stock line. "I hope this email finds you well." "Just checking in." Every word you spend on one is a word you didn't spend on the reader.

The story gap is the one I'd close first. A number is a claim. A story is a picture the reader can see themselves in. Almost half had a number, and only about 1 in 20 said who got that result and what changed for them.

So what does closing that gap look like on one email?

Why are my cold emails not working?

I get cold emails like this too. One opened with "I have this new thing, and I think it would be great for you to see." I couldn't tell what was in it for me. It was about the company, not about me.

We can't see who replied, so I can't tell you why yours isn't working. But if I were fixing one of these emails, here's my order.

1. Cut the paragraph about your company. Keep the part about theirs.
2. End on one question they can answer in a line.
3. Swap your stock line for a client story. One or two sentences, with your number inside it.

Here's an example I wrote for this post. It's made up, and it's not one of the 150.

Before (about 75 words: "you" or "your" 4 times; "I," "my," "we," "our" or "us" 12 times):

After (about 60 words):

Same sender. Same offer. The first one is about Sam. The second is about Dana's month, and it ends with a question she can answer in five words.

Then read yours out loud. If you'd feel odd saying a line across a table, rewrite it the way you'd say it.

What can this count tell you, and what can't it?

We counted what people wrote. We didn't study what works.

• We have no reply data. We can't see who replied, so I can't tell you which habits get more replies. Every reply rate here comes from Boomerang or Hunter.
• Only 48 were labeled cold, from 37 senders. That's a small group. And 85 older emails had no label, so some of those may be cold too.
• People chose to paste these into a rewriter. They may write differently from people who don't.
• We counted proof numbers and client stories by hand, on all 150, not split out for the cold ones.
• Both outside studies come from companies that sell email tools. Boomerang's also counted all email, not only cold.

We'll count again as more emails come in, and we'll update this page when we do.

The short answer

Keep it to about 125 words. Write about them more than you. Ask one question. Then tell one client story.

If you've been staring at a cold email you're proud of and still hearing nothing back, you may not need to cut much at all. You may just need to add the part where the reader sees themselves in it.

FAQ

How long should a cold sales email be?

About 50 to 125 words. In 48 B2B cold emails pasted into FixMyEmail.ai between June 2025 and September 2026, the median was about 110 words, so most senders are already in range. In about 3 in 10, the sender wrote more than 150 words.

What is a good cold email word count?

Aim for 125 words or less. In Boomerang's 2016 study of more than 40 million emails, people who wrote 50 to 125 words got a reply more than half the time. In Hunter's 2024 study of 34 million cold emails, senders at every length got reply rates between 3.4% and 4.5%, so check what's in the words too.

Why do short cold emails still get ignored?

We can't see replies in our count, so I can't say for sure. But in the 48 cold emails we counted (FixMyEmail.ai, June 2025 to Sept 2026), senders wrote "I," "we" or "our" almost as often as "you," about 1.1 "you" for each one. A short email can still be all about the sender.

How should I end a cold email?

End on one clear question the reader can answer in a line. In our count of 150 B2B emails, 4 in 10 senders never asked a question at all, and about 3 in 10 of the cold ones didn't. Boomerang's team found that people who asked 1 to 3 questions were 50% more likely to get a response than people who asked none.

Can AI write my cold emails?

You can use AI to cut and tighten a draft. On FixMyEmail.ai, a free tool, you paste in your email, get a rewrite, and see what to change, and why. You still bring the part only you have: a client story in your own words.

About Sheri Otto

Sheri Otto has spent 15 years in growth marketing, including her time at HubSpot. She co-hosted HubSpot's first INBOUND webinar and is a HubSpot UNBOUND26 Insider. More about Sheri →

Sources

1. FixMyEmail.ai data, June 2025 to September 2026. 150 B2B emails that business owners, founders, consultants and other pros pasted into FixMyEmail.ai, written to other businesses to market, sell, follow up, promote, re-engage or convert. 48 were labeled cold outreach (37 senders); 85 older emails had no type label. Junk, practice and consumer emails removed first. Counted by Growth Lane Strategies; proof numbers and client stories counted by hand on all 150. No reply data. https://fixmyemail.ai/
2. Boomerang, "7 Tips for Getting More Responses to Your Emails (With Data!)," Alex Moore, February 12, 2016. More than 40 million emails of all types. https://blog.boomerangapp.com/2016/02/7-tips-for-getting-more-responses-to-your-emails-with-data/ (opened September 30, 2026)
3. Hunter, "What's the Best Word Count & Length for Cold Emails," Ziemek Bućko, April 26, 2024. 34 million cold emails sent through Hunter, 2022 to 2024. https://hunter.io/blog/cold-email-word-count (opened September 30, 2026)