Email Coaching: What It Is & How To Offer It In Your Business

Have you heard of email coaching? Are you an introverted coach looking for ways to help others improve their lives, without having to turn into an extrovert to do so? Perhaps you’re just curious about alternative methods to sharing your coaching expertise online. 

Either way, if you’re looking for an out-of-the-box approach to coaching, you’re in the right place!

By the way, we’re Cass and Tee, the duo behind the website you are reading right now, certified life coaches, and entrepreneurs with over 20+ years of combined experience running online businesses. 

This website is our mission in life, and we’ve literally decided that we want to spend our lives helping YOU become the best coach you can be.

If you’re thinking about experimenting with offering email coaching, this post is going to talk you through everything you need to know about it and how it will help you grow your business. 

We’re going to look at what this kind of coaching entails, how it works, and how you can make it part of your client workflows.

Now, let’s dive in!

What Is Email Coaching?

Email coaching involves one on one sessions with your clients, but these are conducted exclusively by email. Meaning you do not talk to the client face to face, you write to each other.

Coaching of this type can be compared to regular coaching in many ways. Almost any coach can offer email coaching, although some kinds of coaching are better suited for it (such as business coaching, goal coaching, conflict resolution coaching, etc.)

Many coaches offer email coaching, and a lot of clients benefit from this. It is a preferred system for some, although it won’t be a best practice for everyone.

How Does Email Coaching Work?

It works in the same way that writing letters to your client would work, but on an instant basis. You write an email to the client, and they write one back. 

This usually follows an initial review, so you know where your client stands and what they require your help with. You’d then continue a chain of emails throughout the coaching period, just as you would with face-to-face sessions.

Instead of needing to schedule meetings with your clients, both parties can send emails when it suits them, at any time of the day or night. This can be a major win for coaches with busy personal lives!

What Type Of Clients Need Email Coaching?

Email coaching offers advantages to clients in many different circumstances. Face-to-face or even video appointments can be challenging for people for a whole host of reasons.

It’s is great for clients who have very busy schedules, and those on tight budgets who may not be able to afford standard coaching.

Clients who are introverted or prefer to put their thoughts down on paper before expressing them will also prefer this form of coaching. It can really help people with anxiety, who might not be able to access standard coaching.

How To Add Email Coaching To Your Business

You can easily add this to your business, alongside your existing model. All you have to do is modify your program slightly so that it works for digital written text instead of verbal appointments and to clearly communicate this to your clients.

This is usually reasonably easy to do, and makes your business that much more flexible. Look at the steps below for ideas on how to start offering email coaching as part of your business.

Step One: Choose Your Capacity

Think about how many emails you have the capacity to answer per month. Can clients send you unlimited emails, and how many will you respond to? 

It’s always a good idea to put limits in place, because if you don’t, you may find that you are getting emails every half hour from some clients, and you won’t be able to give them the experience they’re likely expecting.

It’s important to not let the email side of your business soak up all your time, so set some boundaries with your clients. If you don’t limit the emails that they can send you, you must at least limit how many replies you agree to offer on a weekly or monthly basis.

Step Two: Choose Your Coaching Tools

Think about which of your coaching tools can be used over email, and which you will have to adapt. You may find that some of your tools are not applicable to non-verbal appointments, but you will probably find that most are.

Review your support materials, worksheets, ebooks, example pages, explanations, quotes, etc., and decide which can be adapted to email coaching. 

Some may require no changes, while others might need adjusting to make them applicable. Make sure that they will work for email coaching, or you’ll end up with frustrated clients.

Step Three: Determine How To Track Results

Consider how you (and perhaps your clients) can track their progress. When you do face to face appointments, there are more opportunities to catch up on what has and hasn’t been done, but this can be harder over an email.

Think about how they can log progress and how you can review this:

• You may wish to ask them to send a “progress” email once per month saying how they feel things are going. 
• You might make an online document that both parties can edit. 
• You might create a goal sheet for each client so achievements can be ticked off.

Step Four: Price Your Email Coaching Package

Think about the costs. Your email coaching will probably need to cost less than face-to-face appointments, and it will incur lower costs for you too, because you can answer emails in your free time, and take on more clients than if you offer everyone physical appointments.

However, you need to make sure that you are still profiting from your email business, and not losing out. 

Don’t skip this step! It will take up time, even if emails are quicker than physical sessions, and you don’t want to find that it’s leaving you worse off financially.

Step Five: Choose An Email Software

Choose an email software that you can use and ensure it works well. You don’t want clients to have problems contacting you.

You may choose to opt for a paid-for one that allows you to use your business name in your email address. This can look more professional, although it is not strictly necessary. 

Make sure you can easily organize clients and keep records of everything, regardless of which service you use.

The Pros and Cons of Email Coaching

There are some great advantages and disadvantages to coaching via email. 

Pros of Email Coaching

• This is a very quick way to grow your business, because you can coach far more clients in this way.
• This method will allow you get more experience, more reviews, and more word of mouth recommendations.
• You can also coach from anywhere, at (almost) any time, so if you need to keep your schedule flexible and work from various different places, it’s a great option. 
• You will have extensive records of everything that is said during client sessions, which you can refer back to at any time.
• You’ll have the ability to think about any questions and do some research before thoughtfully answering is one of our favorite advantages that this method offers.

Cons Of Email Coaching

Of course, email coaching isn’t all perfect: 

• It can be hard to connect emotionally with someone that you never see. 
• Concepts can be more difficult to express when you can’t use tone of voice to enhance the meaning, and advice may be easily misinterpreted.
• It can also be tricky to add a “personal touch” to your coaching, and you will need to make sure you are keeping your response times low to keep your clients happy.

Final Thoughts – Email Coaching

Overall, email coaching is a great way to grow and expand your coaching business without having to dedicate huge amounts of time to it. Most of your material will still work, and you can take on far more clients than with face-to-face sessions.

If you’ve used email coaching to grow your coaching business, let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear about your experience.