What a list is worth
Email is the only channel here you own outright. It is also the one where coaches most often compare themselves against numbers from a completely different industry.
- Welcome email open rateBenchmark83.6%
- Automated sequence open rateBenchmark45.4%
- Automated sequence click rateBenchmark5.02%
- Newsletter open rateBenchmark40%
- Newsletter click rateBenchmark2.5%
The welcome email is the whole game
A welcome email opens at 83.6%. The rest of an automated sequence opens at 45.4%. Nothing else you send will ever get that attention again, which makes the first email the single highest-leverage asset in a coaching funnel.
Most coaches use it to say thank you and deliver a PDF. The ones who convert use it to set the frame: who you work with, what it costs, what happens next.
List size and revenue
- 0 to 500Revenue$0–$3,000
- 500 to 2,000Revenue$2,000–$8,000
- 2,000 to 5,000Revenue$5,000–$20,000
- 5,000 to 10,000Revenue$15,000–$50,000
- 10,000 and upRevenue$40,000–$200,000+
Read that table carefully
This is a correlation, and the direction of causation is not what the table implies. Coaches with 10,000 subscribers do not earn more because of the list. They have generally been publishing for years, have a clear niche, and have had time to build both the audience and the offer.
Buying your way to 10,000 subscribers does not produce $40,000 to $200,000. The report is explicit that meaningful course and list income typically requires an existing audience plus three to six months of production before anything sells.
Use the table to set expectations at your current size, not as a growth target to chase.