What Is Your Email List Worth? Revenue Per Subscriber and the Cost of Dead Addresses

A list's worth per subscriber is monthly email revenue divided by subscribers, and the fairer figure divides by the subscribers who can actually receive mail. The email list value calculator gives both, plus what the platform bill spends on addresses that cannot.

The formula

Unreachable addresses       = subscribers x unreachable share
Reachable subscribers       = subscribers - unreachable
Revenue per subscriber      = monthly revenue / subscribers
Revenue per reachable       = monthly revenue / reachable
Bill per contact            = platform bill / subscribers
Bill on unreachable         = bill per contact x unreachable   (x 12 for a year)
Net from email, per year    = (monthly revenue - platform bill) x 12

Worked example (made-up inputs)

These numbers are invented. They are not typical list sizes, revenue or unreachable shares. A list of 20,000 subscribers, 12% unreachable, $3,000 a month of revenue credited to email and a $150 monthly platform bill.

Figure	Working	Result
Unreachable	20,000 x 12%	2,400
Reachable	20,000 - 2,400	17,600
Revenue per subscriber	3,000 / 20,000	$0.15 a month
Revenue per reachable	3,000 / 17,600	$0.17 a month
Bill per contact	150 / 20,000	$0.0075 a month
Bill on unreachable	0.0075 x 2,400	$18.00 a month, $216.00 a year
Net from email	(3,000 - 150) x 12	$34,200 a year

What the numbers say

Revenue per reachable subscriber is the honest value of a live contact; revenue per subscriber is diluted by dead ones. The bill on unreachable addresses is usually small next to revenue, so the bigger cost of a dirty list is often deliverability, not the bill. See bounce rate thresholds by platform. Which revenue to credit to email is your call, so be consistent from month to month.

What this calculation cannot do

• Revenue credited to email is the number you enter. It does not track attribution.
• It assumes the bill scales with contacts. A flat plan makes that line meaningless.
• The unreachable share is only as good as the check behind it.
• It values the list today, not its growth or churn.

Find your unreachable share

Bounced and invalid addresses drop out of every number above: a contact that bounces never reads the email, so it can never reply or book. Verify the list before you load it. Upload it on the verify page: the first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card. Each address comes back valid, risky or invalid with a reason, and nothing is sent to anyone on the list. For larger or recurring lists, see bulk email verification, list cleaning and pricing.

Value your own list

Open the email list value calculator.