Analyzing Declining Email Reply Rates: Insights Needed

Andi D. · 2025-07-25T15:59:22.864Z

Hey gang, trying to wrap my head around this, new inboxes/campaign, all warmed up for 14 days. Really appreciate it if anyone has insights/thoughts on this Day 1: 16 replies/670 email send = 2.4% reply rate Day 2: 13 replies/1000 email send = 1.3% Day 3: 5 replies/693 email send = 0.7% Can visibly see the reply rate is on the drops day over day (including automated responses). Is this usually due the copy issue?

Analyzing Declining Email Reply Rates: Insights Needed | Clay

15 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Mike R.
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If you use Smartlead, uplifty.io tracks mailbox and domain health in realtime which rules out mailbox health which would then be a copy issue for the decline.
Mitch M.
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is day 3 the 3rd step in the campaign? Or is day 3 the 3rd time you sent out email 1 of the campaign?
Andi D.
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Mike R. thanks Mike! Will check out Uplifty. Mitch M. all step 1 email with variants/light customization with specific data points.
Mitch M.
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Was day 3 on a Friday? How many inboxes/domains? How many emails per day per domain?
Andi D.
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How did you know that 😂 ya 3rd email 1 was Friday (yesterday) Roughly 45 inbox, 3/domain, 20 daily warmups, 20 cold outreach emails Extremely heavy spin text (4-5 per line including subject title)
Andi D.
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Mitch M.
Andi D.
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But the thing is I didn’t even get any “out of office” auto-response on day 3, that’s most concerning
Mitch M.
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Was it all from the same data set?
Mitch M.
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And who is your inbox provider? Instantly?
Andi D.
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Yesir same batch of data. But all verified with Zerobounce/Leadmagic. Bounce rate is less than 3% in Instantly. Inboxes are from Zapmail (Gmail) + Instantly (Gmail)+ Maildoso (SMTP) Maildoso are 68 inbox sending at 10/inbox so counted it as 22. 15 from instantly and 30 from Zapmail
Mitch M.
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ok ive heard some concerning things about zapmail running on edu so that could be what's causing this. Instantly also runs mainly on edu which ends up flagging the IP of your panel much faster than legacy or straight to google
Mitch M.
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for the sake of not doxxing you, Im going to DM
Hasnain R.
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Dropping reply rates like that usually means your copy is burning out especially if you're hitting the same ICP with the same messaging. Could also be:
Sending too fast from new inboxes (even if warmed)
Hitting spam (check open rates & deliverability)
Low variation in messaging (Gmail filters catch on fast)
Try rotating copy daily add some GPT personalization and monitor open/click rates to spot spam issues.
Andi D.
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Hasnain R. ty Hasnain! Appreciate the insights man. Gonna pause the inbox for a few days and then add on additional campaigns and rotate per your recommendations!
Hasnain R.
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Andi D. Welcome! Smart move resting the inbox + rotating campaigns should help recover deliverability. Let me know if you hit any issues setting it up in Clay.

Mike R.
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If you use Smartlead, uplifty.io tracks mailbox and domain health in realtime which rules out mailbox health which would then be a copy issue for the decline.
Mitch M.
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is day 3 the 3rd step in the campaign? Or is day 3 the 3rd time you sent out email 1 of the campaign?
Andi D.
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Mike R. thanks Mike! Will check out Uplifty. Mitch M. all step 1 email with variants/light customization with specific data points.
Mitch M.
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Was day 3 on a Friday? How many inboxes/domains? How many emails per day per domain?
Andi D.
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How did you know that 😂 ya 3rd email 1 was Friday (yesterday) Roughly 45 inbox, 3/domain, 20 daily warmups, 20 cold outreach emails Extremely heavy spin text (4-5 per line including subject title)
Andi D.
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·
Mitch M.
Andi D.
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·
But the thing is I didn’t even get any “out of office” auto-response on day 3, that’s most concerning
Mitch M.
·
·
Was it all from the same data set?
Mitch M.
·
·
And who is your inbox provider? Instantly?
Andi D.
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Yesir same batch of data. But all verified with Zerobounce/Leadmagic. Bounce rate is less than 3% in Instantly. Inboxes are from Zapmail (Gmail) + Instantly (Gmail)+ Maildoso (SMTP) Maildoso are 68 inbox sending at 10/inbox so counted it as 22. 15 from instantly and 30 from Zapmail
Mitch M.
·
·
ok ive heard some concerning things about zapmail running on edu so that could be what's causing this. Instantly also runs mainly on edu which ends up flagging the IP of your panel much faster than legacy or straight to google
Mitch M.
·
·
for the sake of not doxxing you, Im going to DM
Hasnain R.
·
·
Dropping reply rates like that usually means your copy is burning out especially if you're hitting the same ICP with the same messaging. Could also be:
Sending too fast from new inboxes (even if warmed)
Hitting spam (check open rates & deliverability)
Low variation in messaging (Gmail filters catch on fast)
Try rotating copy daily add some GPT personalization and monitor open/click rates to spot spam issues.
Andi D.
·
·
Hasnain R. ty Hasnain! Appreciate the insights man. Gonna pause the inbox for a few days and then add on additional campaigns and rotate per your recommendations!
Hasnain R.
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Andi D. Welcome! Smart move resting the inbox + rotating campaigns should help recover deliverability. Let me know if you hit any issues setting it up in Clay.