Cold email agency for marketing agencies
Sales.co runs done-for-you cold email for marketing agencies, dev shops and creative studios that want more clients. An agency mostly writes to marketing leaders. Between March and August 2026, 49,416 people in marketing departments got a first cold email from campaigns on the Sales.co platform. At companies of up to 500 employees 0.44% replied positively. Above 500 employees, 3 of 12,530 did.
How marketing leaders answer cold email
The unit is the contact: one person who got a first cold email from one of 20 B2B campaigns on the Sales.co platform between March 6 and August 31, 2026, with replies counted up to October 9, 2026. The campaigns sold different products and services, so the tables show how these people answer B2B cold email in general. A positive reply is one where the person shows interest, asks a question, asks to be contacted later or refers a colleague.
| Recipients | Contacts | Replied in person | Positive reply | Positive rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All contacts in the 20 campaigns | 336,257 | 2,830 | 975 | 0.29% |
| Marketing department | 49,416 | 416 | 157 | 0.32% |
One campaign supplied 12,408 of the 49,416 marketing contacts (25%) and 35 of the 157 positive replies, a rate of 0.28%. The other 19 campaigns together got 122 from 37,008, or 0.33%.
By company size
| Employees at the recipient's company | Contacts | Replied in person | Positive reply | Positive rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | 5,121 | 72 | 25 | 0.49% |
| 11 to 50 | 12,646 | 174 | 68 | 0.54% |
| 51 to 200 | 10,462 | 87 | 38 | 0.36% |
| 201 to 500 | 4,637 | 34 | 14 | 0.30% |
| 501 to 1,000 | 4,791 | 16 | 2 | 0.04% |
| 1,001 to 5,000 | 5,693 | 5 | 1 | 0.02% |
| 5,001 and up | 2,046 | 0 | 0 | 0.00% |
| No size on file | 4,020 | 28 | 9 | 0.22% |
Below 200 staff the VP Marketing is usually the whole decision, and those are the sizes that answer: 0.54% at 11 to 50 employees and 0.36% at 51 to 200. From 501 employees up, 3 of 12,530 marketing contacts replied positively.
By the industry of the marketer's company
| Recipient's industry | Contacts | Replied in person | Positive reply | Positive rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software & SaaS | 10,140 | 85 | 37 | 0.36% |
| Healthcare & life sciences | 7,138 | 45 | 16 | 0.22% |
| Financial services | 6,904 | 48 | 15 | 0.22% |
| E-commerce & retail | 3,772 | 22 | 8 | 0.21% |
| IT services | 2,671 | 25 | 11 | 0.41% |
| Industrial & manufacturing | 2,589 | 20 | 6 | 0.23% |
| Real estate & construction | 2,400 | 33 | 20 | 0.83% |
| Nonprofit & public sector | 2,269 | 36 | 19 | 0.84% |
| Marketing & advertising | 2,132 | 10 | 2 | 0.09% |
| Other industries | 9,401 | 92 | 23 | 0.24% |
Marketers at other marketing and advertising companies replied positively 2 times out of 2,132. A marketing lead reads an agency's email as a sample of its work, which is why Sales.co writes one email per prospect and the agency signs off on the angles before anything sends.
Founders: the executive department at companies of up to 200 employees
| Employees at the recipient's company | Contacts | Replied in person | Positive reply | Positive rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | 64,896 | 896 | 322 | 0.50% |
| 11 to 50 | 64,830 | 538 | 178 | 0.27% |
| 51 to 200 | 28,487 | 162 | 61 | 0.21% |
Where a company has no marketing leader yet, the founder is the buyer. One campaign supplied 91,441 of the 158,213 contacts (58%) and 204 of the 561 positive replies, a rate of 0.22%. The other 18 campaigns together got 357 from 66,772, or 0.53%.
The numbers as a file: cold-email-marketing-agencies-2026.csv. The all-contact figures and the method are in the cold email conversion rate benchmarks.
Who Sales.co emails for an agency
| Segment | Who gets the email |
|---|---|
| VP Marketing and CMO | The default for retained work |
| Head of demand generation | Paid media, lifecycle and funnel work |
| Head of brand | Creative studios and design shops |
| Founders under 200 staff | The buyer where there is no marketing leader yet |
| Ecommerce owners | Performance shops; a Shopify or Amazon owner decides alone |
| Head of growth | Funded startups and larger ecommerce brands |
Sales.co works with the agency as the client. Reselling lead generation to an agency's own clients under its name is white-label work and not covered here. More on this vertical: the Sales.co marketing agencies page.
Lists the campaigns are built from
| List | Contacts | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS Companies | 52,000 | The most common agency target: a marketing team with a budget and a number. |
| Shopify Sellers | 120,000 | For performance and ecommerce agencies, and the largest list we hold. |
| Amazon Sellers | 85,000 | For marketplace and retail media work. The buyer is usually the owner. |
| Newly Funded Startups | 19,344 | A raise means a new marketing budget and often a first agency hire. |
| Series A Startups | 4,260 | Series A is where the first VP Marketing gets hired and starts buying. |
| Companies Using Capterra | 12,000 | Software vendors already paying for acquisition, so the budget question is settled. |
| Local Business Lists | 815,400 | For a regional agency selling to owner-operated businesses nearby. |
| Marketing Agencies | 47,900 | For anyone whose customer is another agency: white-label suppliers, production partners, freelancer networks. |
Where the list starts depends on the kind of client the agency wants more of.
A comparison of vendors for this vertical: best lead generation companies for consultants.
Sales.co plans
| Plan | Emails per month | Price | Setup fee | Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | Up to 10,000 | $2,000/mo | None | Month-to-month |
| 15,000 | Up to 15,000 | $2,500/mo | None | Month-to-month |
| 20,000 | Up to 20,000 | $3,000/mo | None | Month-to-month |
Add-ons on any plan: cold calls +$1,500/mo, ads +$1,000/mo, LinkedIn +$1,000/mo. Every plan includes both tracks, TAM Takeover and Intent Takeover. The fee covers strategy, list building, a unique email for every prospect, the sending domains and mailboxes, follow-up on every positive reply, a US account strategist and live dashboards. Sending starts within 7 days. Full pricing.
Questions
Does cold email work for a marketing agency?
At small and mid-size companies, yes: marketing contacts at companies of up to 500 employees replied positively 0.44% of the time (145 of 32,866), above the 0.29% across all contacts. Above 500 employees it was 3 of 12,530.
Should an agency email founders or marketing leaders?
Both answer at similar rates in this data. Marketing contacts: 0.32%. The executive department at companies of up to 200 employees: 0.35%.
What does it cost?
Sales.co charges $2,000/mo for up to 10,000 emails, $2,500 for 15,000 and $3,000 for 20,000, month-to-month with no setup fee.
How fast does a campaign start?
Sending starts within 7 days at Sales.co.
Reply data from the Sales.co sending platform, read October 9, 2026: first emails sent March 6 to August 31, 2026 in 20 campaigns. Targeting and list counts from the Sales.co marketing agencies page. Pricing from sales.co/pricing, October 9, 2026. Report a change: contact.
Other industries: fintech companies · IT services firms and MSPs · recruiters and staffing firms · manufacturers · seed-stage SaaS startups · cybersecurity companies · healthcare companies · logistics companies · software companies · professional services firms · consulting firms
Related: Conversion rate benchmarks · Best cold email agency for B2B · List building · Reply management · Domains and warmup