Why 40% Open Rates Beat 5% Social Reach (And What To Do About It)

40% versus 5%. That's email open rates versus organic social reach. 

When I say I'd much rather have 40% of people open my emails, than 5% of people see stuff on social media, I'm not being dramatic.

I'm being a businesswoman who has looked at the data and made a very obvious decision.

And yet, most coaches and course creators spend the bulk of their time and energy on the channel that only reaches the 5%.

The reach problem nobody talks about honestly

Instagram's organic reach sits somewhere between 3% and 8% for most accounts. That means if you have 1,000 followers, somewhere between 30 and 80 people see your content on a good day.

You spend an hour filming, editing, writing a caption, formatting for stories, and posting at the optimal time. Eighty people see it.

Your email list? You write one email. Hit send. 40% open it. From a list of 1,000 that's 400 people reading your words in full, with no algorithm deciding whether it's worth showing them.

The numbers aren't boring.

When you realise that data is going to make you double or triple your sales, you start paying attention.

So why are so many people still betting on the 5%?

Mostly because that's what they were told to do. Post consistently. Stay visible. Show up every day. It's the advice that's everywhere, and it feels like progress, because creating content feels like work.

But busy and strategic are not the same thing.


What the quietly winning coaches are actually doing

There's a shift happening. It's not loud (the people doing it aren't announcing it), but more and more coaches are stepping back from the grind of daily organic social and putting that energy into two things instead: their email list and the lead magnet that grows it.

They're building lists. They're selling to those lists, consistently. And rather than trying to reach more people organically on social, they're using ads to do it.

I use ads for social media more than anything because I am specifying who I am speaking to, and that makes all the difference. I choose who sees it.

Organic social is a broadcast. You post, and whoever the algorithm decides to show it to sees it. You have no control over that.

Ads let you choose. You put a lead magnet in front of the exact person you want on your list. The right age, the right interests, the right stage of business. The cost per lead can be genuinely competitive and unlike organic posting, every single pound you spend is intentional.

You're not hoping the right person scrolls past. You're putting your business directly in front of them.


The one number to check on your lead magnet right now

If you're going to build your list — whether through ads, organic content, or both — your lead magnet landing page needs to be working.

The benchmark is 35%. For every 100 people who land on your lead magnet page, at least 35 should opt in.

Under that? Something needs looking at. Here are the most common culprits:

1. The headline isn't specific enough. "Free guide for coaches" tells me nothing. "The 3 Revenue Gaps Killing Your Sales" tells me exactly what I'm getting and whether it's for me. Specificity converts.

2. The messaging doesn't match the audience. If someone arrived from an Instagram post about email marketing and lands on a page about business mindset, there's a disconnect. The language on the landing page should mirror the language that brought them there.

3. The CTA is vague. "Download now" is fine. "Get the free checklist" is better. "Yes, send me the Email Marketing Checklist" is better still. Specificity in the button copy matters more than people think.

4. There's a broken link or a technical glitch. This sounds obvious, but I've seen it more times than I can count. Check it. Actually, go through the process from the page as a subscriber would. Make sure the thing actually arrives.

If your conversion rate is under 35%, the answer isn't more traffic. It's fixing the conversion before you send anyone else to it.


What this actually means for how you spend your time

This isn't an argument for abandoning Instagram. Social media has its place: community, visibility, warm audiences. I still show up there.

But if you're currently spending three or four hours a week creating organic social content and forty-five minutes on your email list, those priorities are the wrong way round.

Your email list is talking to people who chose to hear from you. They opted in. They gave you their email address. That's a very different level of intent than someone who followed you because they liked one post six months ago.

Sell to the people who raised their hands. Build the list that lets you do that. Use social media to drive people there, rather than treating it as the main event.

The coaches with consistent, predictable sales are not the loudest ones on Instagram. They're the ones who built their list, and they know their numbers.

Grab the Free Simple Email Marketing Checklist to help, it covers the foundations that actually move the needle from list to sales.