Cold Email ROI Calculator
Put in what you sell, how many people you email and the rate at each step to the sale. You get customers per month, cost per customer, ROI and the month the program pays back.
Replies that want to talk. Also called positive replies.
Both defaults come from SmartReach.io. Measured on agency senders who reply near 10%, well above the median.
Also called close rate.
Rounded to whole months in the 12-month view.
Everything cold email costs you each month, people included.
Month 1 is setup: it costs money and sends nothing.
What you keep after delivery costs. Profit and ROI use it.
Results
- New customers per month
- 0.24
- $4,378 booked a month
- Cost per customer
- $983
- $187 per call held
- ROI, first 12 months
- 1,121%
- on total cost of $2,868
- Payback
- Month 6
- Profit after 12 months: $21,213
0.24 new customers per month. Cost per customer: $983. ROI, first 12 months: 1,121%. Payback: Month 6.
First 12 months
- Cash collected
- Cost
- Payback, month 6
Show the 12 months as a table
| Month | New customers | Cash | Cost | Profit to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | $0 | $239 | -$239 |
| 2 | 0 | $0 | $239 | -$478 |
| 3 | 0 | $0 | $239 | -$717 |
| 4 | 0 | $0 | $239 | -$956 |
| 5 | 0.24 | $730 | $239 | -$465 |
| 6 | 0.24 | $1,459 | $239 | $755 |
| 7 | 0.24 | $2,189 | $239 | $2,705 |
| 8 | 0.24 | $2,919 | $239 | $5,385 |
| 9 | 0.24 | $3,649 | $239 | $8,795 |
| 10 | 0.24 | $4,378 | $239 | $12,934 |
| 11 | 0.24 | $4,378 | $239 | $17,073 |
| 12 | 0.24 | $4,378 | $239 | $21,213 |
Funnel per month
| Step | Rate | Per month | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leads | 2,000 | ||
| Replies | 0.74% | 14.8 | 0.04% |
| Interested replies | 20% | 2.96 | 1.09% |
| Calls booked | 50% | 1.48 | 2.73% |
| Calls held | 86.5% | 1.28 | 4.72% |
| Customers | 19% | 0.24 | 1.04% |
How the calculator works
Your offer
Each product has a price, a billing type and a share of new customers. A monthly product also has the months a customer stays.
The value of one customer is the sum of share times price times months. A one-time product counts one month. Shares are scaled to add up to 100.
Profit figures multiply that value by your gross margin.
The funnel
New leads per month go through five steps: replies, interested replies, calls booked, calls held and signed customers.
Each rate is a share of the step before it. Customers per month is leads times every rate in the chain.
In reverse mode you set a customer goal or a sales goal. The calculator divides the goal by the same chain to find the leads you need.
Cost
Monthly spend is everything cold email costs you each month, people included. It is the same every month.
With a setup month, month 1 costs the monthly spend and sends nothing. Leads start in month 2.
The 12 months
Deals sign a number of months after the call: the days you enter divided by 30, rounded.
One-time products pay in the month the deal signs. Monthly products pay every month from then on, for the months a customer stays. The chart stops at month 12.
Payback is the first month where cash collected, after margin, covers everything spent so far.
ROI and break-even
ROI takes the customers signed within 12 months at their full value after margin, subtracts the 12-month cost and divides by that cost. A monthly customer who signs late still counts at full value.
Cost per call held and cost per customer use a normal month, with no setup month and no lag.
The break-even rate for a step is the value that step needs, with every other input unchanged, for one month of customers to pay for one month of cost. Above 100 percent it reads Not reachable.
Sources
| Source | Published | What it measures | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smartlead, Cold email benchmarks | H1 2026 | Replies per contact emailed across 850M+ cold emails, by percentile | Reply rate: 0.74% (Median), 1.43% (Top 25%), 2.63% (Top 10%), 3.85% (Top 5%) |
| SmartReach.io, The State of Cold Email 2026 | Jul 23, 2026 | Agency cohort, 40M+ emails: roughly 1 in 5 replies is positive, about half of positives book a meeting | Interested replies: 20% (Roughly 1 in 5 replies)Interested replies that book a call: 50% (About half of interested replies) |
| RevenueHero, Ways to reduce no-show rates in sales calls | Aug 18, 2025 | No-show rate on booked sales meetings: median 13.5%, top 10% at 5.5% | Calls that happen: 86.5% (100% minus the 13.5% median no-show), 94.5% (Top 10%) |
| Ebsta x Pavilion, 2025 GTM Benchmarks | 2025 | New logo win rate and average new business sales cycle across 655K opportunities | Calls that become customers: 19% (New logo win rate)Days from call to signed deal: 91 days (Average new business cycle) |
Values without a source are starting points. Change them to match your numbers.
Questions
What is a good cold email reply rate?
Smartlead's benchmarks across more than 850 million cold emails put the median at 0.74% replies per contact. The top 25% of senders reach 1.43%, the top 10% reach 2.63% and the top 5% reach 3.85%.
How many replies turn into calls?
SmartReach.io's 2026 report on agency senders finds roughly 1 in 5 replies is interested and about half of those book a call. Those senders reply near 10%, well above the median, so treat these as upper marks.
What show rate should I expect on sales calls?
RevenueHero puts the median no-show rate at 13.5%, which is a median show rate of 86.5%. The top 10% show at 94.5%.
What close rate and sales cycle should I use?
Ebsta and Pavilion's 2025 benchmarks, across 655 thousand opportunities, put the new logo win rate at 19% and the average new business cycle at 91 days.
How does the calculator count ROI?
It takes the customers you sign in the first year, values each at its full value after margin and subtracts the total cost. Monthly products count in full even when part of the payment lands after the year. The chart shows cash as it arrives.
Why does the first month show cost and no customers?
Cold email needs a setup month before the first send. The calculator charges for it and sends nothing. Turn it off if you are already sending.
What does the break-even column mean?
It is the lowest value a step can take, with every other input unchanged, before a month of outreach stops paying for itself. Not reachable means even a perfect rate at that step would not cover the cost.
Can I plan backwards from a goal?
Yes. Set Start from to a customer goal or a sales goal. The calculator works out the leads you need each month and the cost per customer at that volume.
Want these numbers in your pipeline?
We build and run the cold email system behind them, from data to booked meetings.
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