When to give up on a cold email campaign.

If your campaign fails to reach the lead-to-meeting benchmark after rigorous testing, it’s time to pull the plug. 

Here’s how to decide:

Test Thoroughly: Ensure each messaging change has been tested on at least 200 leads across all key metrics—open rate, reply rate, positive reply rate, and lead-to-meeting conversion. 

Evaluate Results: If, after 3–5 complete iterations, improvements remain marginal and the numbers stay well below benchmarks, the campaign isn’t resonating with your audience. 

Reassess and Pivot: Document all learnings from your tests. Use these insights to refine your ICP research and messaging strategy for future campaigns rather than sinking more time into an underperforming approach.

Once you've decided to give up on a campaign, the best next move is to regroup and refocus. Go back to your list of campaign ideas and pick a new angle—ideally one that solves a different problem, highlights a different value prop, or targets a different persona. Use everything you learned from the failed campaign to inform your next test. And remember, every failed campaign is just one step closer to finding the one that works.