Average Monthly Revenue per subscriber per month, the numbers

14 replies
People say the completely random $1 per subscriber per month is our target, but if I send 1 promo per week (IM niche), to a list that has simply opted in for my freebie, assuming a good open rate of 20%, and 20% CTR, and I promote a $50 product for 50% commission that converts at a decent 3%, on a 10,000 subscriber list:

10,000 x 0.2 x 0.2 x 0.03 x $25 x 4 weeks = 1200 per month

Revenue per subscriber = $0.12 which is a small fraction of what I should be getting, but the estimates I'm using e.g. open rates, CTR, conversion rate, are all decent. Are my estimates accurate? What can I do to increase revenue to get up to the $1 mark? What is even an acceptable revenue per subscriber for a regular guy like me? Of course I would settle for $0.50 to be honest! I'm actually aiming for $0.30, realistically. But if I can't get something like $0.50 then expansion of list via paid traffic would not be viable, even with a good front-end offer with the goal of paying for some of my advertising costs, because solo ads for example average around $1 CPL so it would take a few months to see any profit from that subscriber, and cold traffic like banner ads have a lot lower opt-in rates than solo ad traffic. So I'm just trying to see how this business model is even viable. I know I need to squeeze as much per subscriber as I can, but I can't send promos every day at risk of burning my list.

I've also heard stuff from reputable people on this forum like GeraldGigerl saying that a list of 100 proven buyers is worth more than a list of 10,000 people who opted in for your freebie, which means 100x. He mentions that a buyer is worth $5-$10 per month so by his calculations someone who just opted in for your freebie but hasn't bought anything yet, might be worth on average just $0.05 to $0.10 per month down the line. I don't quite understand because if the figures were this low, then email marketing would not be viable and nobody would be doing it (which is obviously not the case).

People say promote high ticket stuff, but conversions will lower and is it wise to promote high ticket items to a mostly freebie seekers list that hasn't yet even bought a $7 product from me let alone $500. Just feeling a bit discouraged at the moment :-O I know they're only estimates but I can't help but feel the $1 is surely unrealistic (at least for someone like me). However I have no idea what I should realistically aim for as a good standard. I know there are so many variables but just a ballpark figure/rough average would be nice.

Cheers,

J
#average #month #monthly #numbers #revenue #subscriber
  • Profile picture of the author Terry Kyle
    Hi Johnny,

    I use a PayPal add-on tool called Putler and that tracks average customer $ value in real-time plus loads of other useful information:

    Putler - Insightful Business Analytics for PayPal Merchants and Web Entrepreneurs

    If you are using Paypal, Putler is a must for working with real information, not ignorant guesswork (I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever).
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    • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
      Originally Posted by Terry Kyle View Post

      Hi Johnny,

      I use a PayPal add-on tool called Putler and that tracks average customer $ value in real-time plus loads of other useful information:

      Putler - Insightful Business Analytics for PayPal Merchants and Web Entrepreneurs

      If you are using Paypal, Putler is a must for working with real information, not ignorant guesswork (I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever).
      This is solid advice
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Terry Kyle View Post

      Hi Johnny,

      I use a PayPal add-on tool called Putler and that tracks average customer $ value in real-time plus loads of other useful information:

      Putler - Insightful Business Analytics for PayPal Merchants and Web Entrepreneurs

      If you are using Paypal, Putler is a must for working with real information, not ignorant guesswork (I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever).

      Been looking for something like this for a while, can't than you enough, mate.
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  • Profile picture of the author Confined To Life
    You would be better off with your own product. That way you don't lose half your earnings from square 1.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Originally Posted by johnnys229 View Post

      I don't quite understand because if the figures were this low, then email marketing would not be viable and nobody would be doing it (which is obviously not the case).

      People say promote high ticket stuff, but conversions will lower and is it wise to promote high ticket items to a mostly freebie seekers list that hasn't yet even bought a $7 product from me let alone $500.
      You should be able to increase average monthly revenue per subscriber by introducing additional relevant affiliate products to buyers. What I do is segment lists by product purchases, then promote incrementally higher end products to buyers after each marketing cycle.

      For example, buyers of a $7 affiliate product may be more receptive to a follow-up offer for your $50 product than would a new freebie subscriber. Building relationships through a series of transactions that consistently exceed buyer expectations is a powerful business continuity model. Email promotions of $500 (and incrementally much more) of affiliate products are not uncommon.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnnys229
    I was kind of looking for some ballpark figures that I should shoot for? (See my original question). I do know about Putler and of course I will use it, but I'm talking more about accurate averages/expectations for the average revenue per subscriber per month that came into your funnel by opting in for a freebie.
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  • Profile picture of the author cpwebsite
    If you can send an email every 5 days (6 a month) your income theoretically instantly goes from $1200/month to $1800. Also, if you can create your own niche related product for $50 you double your money instantly so not you'd be at $3600, or $0.36 / subscriber. Lastly, you need to work on increasing your open and CTR. These things are difficult, however they are all possible, so good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnnys229
    The problem is I have a limited amount of promo emails I send. If I mail 3 times a week, which is pretty much every other day, I have to do 2 content/value/relationship building emails and only have the slot for 1 promo email per week.

    Also the issue with my own product is the investment required in that, in terms of both time and money, beyond creating the product itself it's getting the sales page conversion rate to equal that of the $50 @50% affiliate offer, and then I would double money, minus the (considerable) expenses of product creation.

    I know there are a lot of variables involved but it would be good to know what a realistic figure per subscriber per month is for someone new to email marketing.
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by johnnys229 View Post

      If I mail 3 times a week, which is pretty much every other day, I have to do 2 content/value/relationship building emails and only have the slot for 1 promo email per week.
      EVERY EMAIL YOU SEND SHOULD BE A PROMO.

      Let's say you write a content and value email. At the end of it, you should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have a link for people to click. And every single link you send should have an ad or a buy button on whatever sits at the end of it.

      No matter WHAT you send or WHEN you send it, if the prospect can't give you money in three clicks after reading it, UR DOIN IT WRONG.

      Your open rate will be MUCH HIGHER. In the 40% range. Because not only is everything you send a promo, everything you send has value. Subject lines become a lot less important, because YOUR NAME means "open this email."

      Your click-thru rate will be MUCH HIGHER. In the 30% range. Because that is what people do with your emails: they read and they click. They ALWAYS read and click. The only reason you don't have a 100% here is that some people will open your email and not read it, whether because it's too long or because they don't care about the subject matter or whatever.

      Your conversion rate will be MUCH LOWER. More like 1% or so. Because you're sending them a LOT of offers - but you're not "hammering" them, because they don't feel like offers.

      But now you're mailing 30 offers a month.

      10,000 subscribers * 30 emails * 40% open * 30% CTR * 1% conversion * $1 commission = $3,600.

      Per. Dollar. Commission.

      $25 commission? $90,000.

      Promo at different price points. Go all over the map. Promo some $50 stuff at $25 commission, sure. But also get the occasional $1,500 product in there at a $350 commission. And sometimes a $5 product you sell yourself. And sometimes a $3 CPA offer. Variety is key. Some of your subscribers have no money at all, and some have fat bank accounts. If you only market to one side, you lose a lot of money you could be getting from the other.

      And this means you can make a lot better money from a lot smaller list.
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      • Profile picture of the author jorgesil
        [QUOTE=CDarklock;7429196]EVERY EMAIL YOU SEND SHOULD BE A PROMO.


        This is the best advice someone could give you.
        You've not built a list just to say you've xxxxx amount of subscribers
        you built a list to monetize.
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      • Profile picture of the author johnnys229
        Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

        EVERY EMAIL YOU SEND SHOULD BE A PROMO.

        Let's say you write a content and value email. At the end of it, you should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have a link for people to click. And every single link you send should have an ad or a buy button on whatever sits at the end of it.

        No matter WHAT you send or WHEN you send it, if the prospect can't give you money in three clicks after reading it, UR DOIN IT WRONG.

        Your open rate will be MUCH HIGHER. In the 40% range. Because not only is everything you send a promo, everything you send has value. Subject lines become a lot less important, because YOUR NAME means "open this email."

        Your click-thru rate will be MUCH HIGHER. In the 30% range. Because that is what people do with your emails: they read and they click. They ALWAYS read and click. The only reason you don't have a 100% here is that some people will open your email and not read it, whether because it's too long or because they don't care about the subject matter or whatever.

        Your conversion rate will be MUCH LOWER. More like 1% or so. Because you're sending them a LOT of offers - but you're not "hammering" them, because they don't feel like offers.

        But now you're mailing 30 offers a month.

        10,000 subscribers * 30 emails * 40% open * 30% CTR * 1% conversion * $1 commission = $3,600.

        Per. Dollar. Commission.

        $25 commission? $90,000.

        Promo at different price points. Go all over the map. Promo some $50 stuff at $25 commission, sure. But also get the occasional $1,500 product in there at a $350 commission. And sometimes a $5 product you sell yourself. And sometimes a $3 CPA offer. Variety is key. Some of your subscribers have no money at all, and some have fat bank accounts. If you only market to one side, you lose a lot of money you could be getting from the other.

        And this means you can make a lot better money from a lot smaller list.
        Wow, thankyou CDarklock for that excellent reply. Naturally it left my head spinning a bit so I have a few questions.

        A lot of your advice goes against the usual, 'Don't send emails every day, don't send excessive promos, build trust at first' etc. But it certainly makes sense given the numbers. If I send only 4 promos a month, I will be sunk. But 30 emails i.e. once per day, is very aggressive. How do you preserve your relationship with your list so that they trust you and maintain such very very high open rates and CTR, while being so aggressive with your emailing? I thought mailing every day would send open rates plummeting? Your sample with $25 means an earnings per lead of $9, which is almost unheard of.

        My second question is with regard to your different price points. Let's say I have a list that has only opted in for a freebie so far. Are you saying that I should just occasionally promote $1500 products to them anyway, just to change things up?

        Finally, I was wondering about the ratio of content/value emails (with subtle promo link at the end) to actual hard-sell promo emails - what proportions do you use?

        Ah, that post made me dizzy, so many people saying one thing, and others saying a completely different thing. But surely 'build a relationship and be nice' won't change my terrible earnings per lead numbers estimates so I am inclined to believe you CDarklock...
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  • Profile picture of the author TryBPO
    Hey OP,

    Really interesting discussion you've got going on here!

    I think CDarklock has given you the best advice so far, but I did want to mention a few things that concerned me and I thought might help you to point out. You'd mentioned things like:

    "I know I need to squeeze as much per subscriber as I can..."

    and it seems like your general tone leans WAY more towards the "optimization of earnings from subscribers" camp than it does the "I want to solve problems for my readers and provide them value" camp. You talk about it like it's an either/or and I'm not sure that's the case.

    Trust me, I'm not a "Kumbaya" marketer here...I'm all about getting paid...but there needs to be a balance. These are two totally separate hats you will wear that ultimately lead towards the same thing - Solving bigger problems for your audience, providing them more value, higher engagement, and more money for you.

    Don't bombard your subscribers/audience with what you think they might want, what's paying the most in affiliate commission, etc...start talking to them! Find out what they're struggling with, what they're looking for, etc. and start splitting them up into specific camps that will help you target their problems efficiently.

    Once you're coming from the perspective of truly helping...write your email. Then you can switch gears and look at optimizing your earnings.
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