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Conversion benchmarks

Conversion rates for course creators

Course launches live and die on conversion at the sales page step. A typical course launch sees 30 to 50% open rate, 8 to 25% click rate to sales page, and 1 to 5% sales-page conversion. The 1 to 5% range varies wildly with price ($97 ~ 3 to 5%; $997 ~ 0.5 to 1.5%) and traffic source.

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TL;DR

TL;DR

As of , the short version is: Course launches live and die on conversion at the sales page step. A typical course launch sees 30 to 50% open rate, 8 to 25% click rate to sales page, and 1 to 5% sales-page conversion. The 1 to 5% range varies wildly with price ($97 ~ 3 to 5%; $997 ~ 0.5 to 1.5%) and traffic source.

Conversion rate for course creators TL;DR

TL;DR
Cohort
course creators
TL;DR
Course launches live and die on conversion at the sales page step. A typical course launch sees 30 to 50% open rate, 8 to 25% click rate to sales page, and 1 to 5% sales-page conversion. The 1 to 5% range varies wildly with price ($97 ~ 3 to 5%; $997 ~ 0.5 to 1.5%) and traffic source.
Good looks like
Open 35%+, CTR 12%+, sales page conversion 2%+, refund rate under 5%. The path from list to revenue is structurally healthy.
Broken looks like
Open under 25%, CTR under 5%, sales page conversion under 1%, refund rate over 10%. Either Wrong Person traffic or Weak Offer framing – the diagnostic identifies which.
Most common diagnosis
Weak Offer
Last verified
May 20, 2026

Funnel-stage directional ranges

All ranges are directional. They depend on traffic source, price point, audience warmth, and cohort tightness. Use them to position your own numbers honestly, not as universal targets.

  1. Stage 1

    Email open rate (launch)

    30% to 50%

    Engaged warm list. Below 30% is a deliverability or sender-name issue. Above 50% usually means a small, tightly-engaged list.

  2. Stage 2

    Email click-through to sales page

    8% to 25%

    Depends on subject + preview. Below 8% means subject is topic-shaped. Above 25% on a launch sequence usually means warm-warm audience.

  3. Stage 3

    Sales page → enrollment

    1% to 5%

    Heavily price-dependent. $97 mini-course: 3 to 5%. $497 cohort: 1.5 to 3%. $997 to $1,997: 0.5 to 1.5%. Above $1,997 typically needs a webinar funnel.

  4. Stage 4

    Refund rate post-purchase

    2% to 8%

    Healthy course refund rate. Below 2% usually means low-engagement buyers; above 8% means the sales page over-promised relative to the course's actual delivery.

What good vs. broken looks like

Good looks like

Open 35%+, CTR 12%+, sales page conversion 2%+, refund rate under 5%. The path from list to revenue is structurally healthy.

Broken looks like

Open under 25%, CTR under 5%, sales page conversion under 1%, refund rate over 10%. Either Wrong Person traffic or Weak Offer framing – the diagnostic identifies which.

Most common Brunson diagnosis for course creators

When course creators hit the diagnostic with flat numbers, the most-common label that comes back is Weak Offer. That doesn’t mean every flat-rate cohort lands there – it’s a directional priors signal worth checking first.

Questions course creators ask about conversion rates

Why is my sales page converting under 1%?

Almost always Weak Offer: the page sells the curriculum (modules, lessons) instead of the transformation (specific outcome by specific date). Course creators consistently underestimate how much the page underweights outcome vs. content.

Should I run a webinar or a sales page for my course?

Webinar above $497, sales page below. The math: webinar takes 60 to 90 minutes of attention, which justifies higher prices. Sales page captures scan-readers, which works for lower prices.

What's a healthy launch revenue benchmark?

$5K to $50K per launch is typical for course creators with 1K to 10K engaged subscribers, depending on price point. Above $50K usually means either a much larger audience or a much higher price point with proven conversion.

The full diagnostic for course creators
Built for course creators whose launch went quiet. The diagnostic labels what's broken on the sales page (Wrong Person, Weak Offer, or Weak Belief) and the Playbook walks you from that label to one paying enrollment.

How does your funnel actually compare?

Knowing the range doesn’t fix the funnel – running the read does. The free 90-second Launch Diagnostic checks your live page against the course creators pattern and labels what specifically is flat.

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