4 things to know from this article
- The average live coaching site scores 3.7 out of 10, and the median is 4.
- 86% fail the five-second test, which is the single biggest hole in the whole market.
- Two thirds show no proof at all, and 82% won't tell you a price.
- Technical health averages 9 out of 10, so almost nobody is losing marks on the build.
We scored 10,954 live coaching websites out of 10. The average came back at 3.7.
Thirteen scored as strong. Out of nearly eleven thousand.
In this article I'm showing you where those marks actually go, because it isn't where most coaches think. If you want the short version, four things separate the good sites from the poor ones and design isn't one of them.
That isn't a story about lazy coaches. Every one of those sites was built by somebody who knows their subject, and a fair few of them look lovely.
Where the marks actually go
Here's every criterion, averaged across all 10,954 sites.
| What we scored | Average out of 10 | Scoring zero |
|---|---|---|
| Technical health | 9.0 | 0.6% |
| Clear next step | 5.6 | 5.7% |
| Lead capture | 4.6 | 22.5% |
| Five-second read | 4.5 | 4.7% |
| Being specific | 4.4 | 0% |
| Offer clarity | 2.9 | 0% |
| Credibility | 2.7 | 8.3% |
| Story | 2.5 | 33.8% |
| Pricing shown | 1.8 | 82.3% |
| Proof | 1.5 | 66.5% |
Read that top line again. Technical health averages 9.
Almost nobody is losing this on the build. The sites load, they're secure, they work on a phone. Whatever you've been told about site speed, it isn't what's costing coaches work.
Everything underneath it is about what the page says.
The five-second test
Somebody lands on your homepage. Five seconds later, can they say what you do and who you do it for?
86% can't.
We count a pass as 7 out of 10 or better on that one check. Under that, a stranger has landed on your page and can't tell whether you're for them, so they go back to the search results and try the next coach.
That's the biggest single hole in the market, and it's got nothing to do with how good you are at the job.
Nobody will tell anybody what it costs
82% of coaching websites don't show a price anywhere.
Two thirds show no proof at all. No testimonial, no result, no number, nothing a stranger could check.
A third have no story on the page. No human, no reason why this person does this work.
So the average coaching homepage tells you what the coach does, doesn't show you it working, doesn't tell you who it's for, and won't say what it costs.
Is 3.7 harsh?
No, and I'd say so if it was. We're scoring one page against ten things a stranger needs from it, and most sites do about four of them.
Is the sample fair? It's 10,954 live sites out of a list of 12,294. The other 1,156 wouldn't load at all, and we left those out rather than scoring them zero and flattering the average.
Does a low score mean you're a bad coach? Not remotely. We only read the homepage. It says nothing about what happens once somebody's in the room with you, and the two aren't related.
Questions coaches ask about this
What does the five-second test actually measure?
Whether a stranger can say what you do and who you do it for, from your homepage alone, in five seconds. 86% of the 10,954 sites we scored couldn't pass it.
Is a low score a problem with my coaching?
No. The scoring only reads your homepage. It says nothing about how good you are in the room.
Why does the average sit at 3.7 and not lower?
Technical health. Nearly every site loads properly and works on a phone, which pulls the average up on its own. Take that one criterion out and the picture is a good deal worse.
How many sites were actually any good?
Thirteen scored strong, and 633 scored decent. That's 6% of the market between them. The other 94% came out weak or poor.