Contact rate: definition, calculation and levers to reach more decision-makers

Contact rate is the share of contacts on a list where you managed to talk to the right person at least once. The formula: contacts reached, divided by contacts called, over the whole length of a campaign or follow-up sequence.

Do not confuse it with pickup rate, which counts calls where a human answers, whoever it is. Pickup rate measures a calling session. Contact rate measures a list and the way you work it.

Contact rate answers a simple question: of the contacts I was supposed to call, how many did I actually get on the phone?

Three things set it apart from other call metrics:

• It is counted per contact. A prospect reached on the fifth call counts once, just like one reached on the first try.

• It targets the right person. A screening assistant or a switchboard answering is not enough. The contact is reached when you talk to the person you targeted, or to someone who can decide in their place.

• It is measured over time. You look at it at the end of a full sequence, not after an hour of calls.

Wrong numbers, dead-end switchboards and people who never answer all stay in the calculation. That is what makes it a good picture of a campaign's real efficiency: it tells you how many conversations your list can actually produce.

The two numbers look alike, but they do not answer the same question.

An example to feel the gap: a switchboard that answers every call pushes pickup rate up, without changing contact rate at all if nobody ever puts you through to the person you want. The other way round, a hard-to-reach contact who finally answers on the sixth call barely moves pickup rate, but counts fully in contact rate.

The guide on pickup rate covers the first metric in detail. This one focuses on the second.

The formula: contacts reached at least once, divided by contacts called, over a period that covers your whole sequence.

Take an example calculation (fictional numbers for illustration, not a market average). A rep works a list of 400 contacts over three weeks:

• she makes 1,600 calls in total;

• a human answers 352 of them;

• by the end of the sequence, she has talked to the right person for 120 contacts;

• 40 numbers turned out to be wrong.

Her pickup rate is 352 ÷ 1,600 = 22%. Her contact rate is 120 ÷ 400 = 30%. Both numbers are right; they just do not describe the same thing.

In the same example, look at which attempt each contact was reached on:

In this example, stopping after two calls would have left 50 reachable contacts behind. That is why this breakdown is worth tracking on your own lists: it shows the attempt after which the effort no longer pays off.

Three rules to keep the number useful:

• Keep wrong numbers in the denominator, and count them separately too. Their share tells you how healthy the list is.

• Log an outcome on every call: right person, gatekeeper, voicemail, no answer, wrong number. Without it, you cannot tell who was reached.

• Compare complete sequences, on comparable segments. A half-worked list always shows a contact rate that is too low.

When the number is low, the cause is almost always one of these:

• Switchboard numbers instead of direct lines. The switchboard answers, but the person you want is in a meeting, on the road, or screened.

• A list that has aged. People change jobs and companies. A contact who left six months ago will never be reached.

• Poorly targeted contacts. Calling the CEO of a 3,000-person company about a topic they delegate is a sure way never to get them.

• Always the same time slot. A prospect with a team meeting every Tuesday at 10am will never answer on Tuesday at 10am.

• Too few attempts. Marking a contact unreachable after one or two calls throws away a good share of the people you would have reached.

• A single channel. A prospect who has never heard of you has little reason to answer an unexpected call.

A clean, enriched list

This is the first lever, by far. Before calling, remove duplicates, check formats and take out contacts who have left the company. After each call, flag wrong numbers and remove them right away. When a switchboard gives you the right name or line, log it in the CRM: the next call starts on a better footing.

The right type of number

A direct line or a work mobile leads to the person. A switchboard leads to a queue or a gatekeeper. If your list is mostly switchboards, plan a first call whose only goal is to get the right contact and their line, then call them directly.

The right contact

Check that the person you call is the one who owns the topic. In a large company, a team lead is often easier to reach than a member of the executive committee, and often more involved. Good targeting lifts contact rate as much as it lifts your meeting rate.

The right moments

Vary days and times from one attempt to the next. Early morning and late afternoon often work for decision-makers, but every audience has its own rhythm: the guide on the best time to call B2B prospects covers the slots to test.

Enough attempts, well spaced

A sequence over two to three weeks, with four to six calls at different times, gives busy contacts a chance without harassing anyone. The B2B phone prospecting guide suggests a sample sequence. After that, let your own numbers set the point where you stop.

Multichannel

A short email or LinkedIn message announcing your call helps the prospect recognize your name when the phone rings. When you reach voicemail, a twenty-second message (your name, why you are calling, when you will call back) sets up the next attempt, especially if an email with the same idea follows.

More attempts in the right slots

A parallel dialer will not make a prospect answer if they do not want to. What it does is dial several numbers at once (up to 5 with Flunter) and filter out voicemails, so you can make many more attempts in the slots that work. Over a given sequence, you get through all your attempts in less time, which leaves room for one more attempt on hard-to-reach contacts.

Contact rate is not a day-to-day number. Calculate it at the end of each sequence, list by list and segment by segment, then compare sequences with each other. You will quickly see which list sources deliver and which ones cost you days.

For that, every call needs an outcome and a date. Flunter's call reporting automatically captures every call, its duration and its disposition, with no data entry from reps. It shows the hours and days your prospects answer best and the segments that convert, and lets you compare reps, teams and campaigns. It also helps you spot changes worth watching early, such as a pickup rate dropping on a list.

Keep two numbers side by side: pickup rate to run your sessions, contact rate to judge your lists. If the first is good and the second is poor, your problem is the type of numbers or the targeting: you reach switchboards or the wrong people.