What to measure in your first 90 days of outbound

In the first 90 days most people either measure nothing or measure everything. Four numbers are enough to know whether to continue, change the message, or change the audience.

Last updated 2026-07-22

1. Reply rate — is the message landing?

Of the people who received it, how many wrote back at all, including “no thanks”? This tests the message and the targeting together.

If it is near zero, the problem is almost never the send volume — it is that you are talking to the wrong people or about the wrong thing.

2. Positive reply rate — is it landing with the right people?

Replies that express interest, as a share of all replies. A healthy total reply rate with almost no positive replies usually means your targeting is right but your offer is not compelling, or vice versa.

3. Meetings or qualified conversations

The first number that connects to revenue. Track it weekly, not daily — outbound is lumpy and daily numbers will make you change things too fast.

4. Cost per qualified conversation

Everything you spent divided by conversations that were worth having. This is the number that tells you whether the channel can scale. Compare it to what one customer is worth to you, not to what it costs someone else.

What to ignore early on

Open rates are increasingly unreliable because of privacy features that pre-load images. Impressions and follower counts do not pay for anything. Do not optimise what you cannot connect to a conversation.

When to change what

Low replies: change audience or message. Good replies but no meetings: change the ask — make the next step smaller. Meetings but no deals: the problem has moved downstream, and it is no longer an outbound problem.

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