Emailing several contacts lifts replies by 93%
The Backlinko-Pitchbox analysis also found that contacting two or three relevant people at a target site, typically a writer, an editor, and a content strategist, nearly doubles aggregate reply rates against contacting a single person. The effect is partly redundancy and partly routing: the right person to action a request is rarely the most senior or most publicly visible, and broadcasting widens the chance of reaching them. The trade-off is volume of sends per opportunity, which raises the manual cost of campaigns. For high-value target sites, the lift justifies the extra send; for mass campaigns, single-contact remains the workable default.
Methodology: Backlinko and Pitchbox outreach analysis; aggregate reply rate when contacting two or three relevant people per site against a single contact. About LinkPanda.
How many contacts should you email per site?
The Backlinko and Pitchbox analysis found that contacting two or three relevant people at a target site, typically a writer, an editor and a content strategist, lifted aggregate replies by 93% against a single contact. Among outreach email statistics this is one of the largest single levers: the effect is partly redundancy and partly routing, since the right person to say yes is often not the first address you find. Keep outreach contacts per site at two or three rather than blasting the whole masthead. Baselines and stacking levers are on our reply rate page and follow-up data.
Who should the two or three contacts be?
Typically a writer, an editor and a content strategist, the roles most likely to either say yes or route the pitch to whoever can.
Why does emailing multiple contacts work?
Partly redundancy and partly routing: the right person to approve a placement is often not the first address you find on the site.
