This is the first question I ask on pretty much every discovery call, because the answer tells you so much about where a brand's at. So essentially, here's how we read it.
the headline number
- Around 30% of total revenue from email is a healthy average while you're scaling.
- 20 to 30% is normal if you're acquiring aggressively. Paid is bringing in loads of new people, so email's share naturally looks smaller.
- 50 to 60% is normal if you've pulled back ad spend to focus on profit.
Here's the one that surprises people: meaningfully above 30% isn't automatically brilliant. Outside of FMCG, it can mean you're over-mailing the same existing audience and not bringing in enough new blood. Big email numbers on a shrinking customer base is a problem dressed up as a win.
the split underneath
We like to see roughly 50/50 between campaigns and flows. It proves email is pulling its weight on both the automation side and the active selling side. If it's all flows, nobody's actually selling. If it's all campaigns, you're leaving the always-on money on the table.
And then the warning sign I look for straight away: if a welcome flow's revenue is all landing on email one, the rest of that series isn't doing its job. A common baseline is around eight emails. If seven of them are passengers, that's low-hanging fruit.
the list itself
None of this matters if the list isn't growing. A sign-up form converting around 3% is decent for some industries, but aim for 5 to 10%. Double your submission rate and you double the number of people going through a high-converting welcome flow. It's the cheapest growth lever in the whole account.
"If it's not gaining you additional revenue, what's the point?"
Founder, Smiles Consulting