Just one of our AI SDRs is currently sending 3,221 emails per month from one of our 3 AI SDR platforms. Six months ago, our human SDRs were sending between 75-285 emails per month per rep.
That’s a 11-40x increase in volume, with positive response rates that match or exceed what we were getting from human outbound.
10x the output, the same results. AI beats human. At least … for us, for outbound SDR activity.
Let’s break down what we’re seeing in real numbers.
The Data: Human SDRs vs. AI SDRs
Six months ago (Human SDRs):
- Volume range: 75-285 emails per rep per month
- Response rates varied significantly by lead warmth
- Manual effort required for segmentation, personalization, follow-up sequencing
Today (AI SDR):
- Volume: 3,221 emails per month from one platform
- Response rates: 5.54% to 12.13% depending on campaign warmth
- Zero manual effort once campaigns are configured
What’s Actually Working
The key insight here isn’t just about volume. It’s that positive response rates vary by how ‘warm’ leads already were — and this held true six months ago with human SDRs too.
Looking at our top performing campaigns:
SaaStr Europa Prior Year Attendees:
- 800 leads contacted
- 2,175 messages sent
- 137 responses
- 12.13% positive response rate
SaaStr London Known Website Visitors:
- 265 leads contacted
- 735 messages sent
- 33 responses
- 11.70% positive response rate
SaaStr Europa Earlier Prior Attendees (Batch 1 & 2):
- Combined ~880 leads
- Combined ~2,490 messages
- Combined 78 responses
- 5.54-5.66% positive response rate
The pattern is clear: Event attendees and known website visitors (warmer audiences) convert at 11-12%. Older event attendees (colder audiences) convert at 5.5%. This is exactly what we saw with human SDRs — response rates were always a function of lead quality, not who was doing the outreach.
The Real Unlock: 10x Volume at Consistent Quality
Here’s what matters: Our AI SDR maintains response rate quality while operating at 11-40x the volume of a human SDR.
The math on one human SDR:
- High performer: 285 emails/month
- Average response rate (warm leads): ~10%
- Responses per month: 28
The math on our AI SDR:
- Volume: 3,221 emails/month
- Average response rate (warm leads): ~10-12%
- Responses per month: 320-385
That’s not 10% more responses. That’s 11-13x more responses from the same lead pools.
What This Means for Your GTM Motion
If you’re still relying purely on human SDRs for outbound, you’re operating at 1/10th the scale you could be. And it’s not about replacing humans — it’s about redeploying them.
What AI SDRs should handle:
- High-volume outbound to segmented lists
- Multi-touch sequencing and follow-ups
- Initial qualification and response handling
- Lead scoring and prioritization
What human SDRs should focus on:
- Complex, high-value accounts requiring custom approaches
- Responding to high-intent conversations AI surfaces
- Refining messaging and campaign strategy
- Building relationships with responded leads
The companies winning in 2025 aren’t choosing between AI and humans. They’re using AI to multiply output while redeploying human talent to higher-leverage activities.
The Implementation Reality
This is just one of our platforms. The ongoing maintenance is maybe 2-3 hours per week reviewing performance and tweaking campaigns. The training and onboarding did take the better part of 30 days.
The hardest part isn’t the AI. It’s having clean lead lists, good segmentation, and messaging that actually resonates. But if you already have those things working with human SDRs, transitioning to AI-powered outbound is remarkably straightforward.
Nail the Pitch First, With Humans. Then Scale It With AI.
Response rates haven’t changed materially in six months. Our AI SDRs are as good as our humans at response rates. Not materially better, but basically the same. What changed is our ability to execute at 10x+ volume with the same quality bar. That’s the real story here.
If you’re not rolling out AI SDRs in your outbound motion, you’re giving competitors a 10x scaling advantage. It’s that simple.
What we’re seeing: AI multiplies execution capacity without degrading quality. The limiting factor is no longer human bandwidth — it’s lead quality and messaging resonance. That’s a much better problem to have.
