Chairside - internal - team review

Sending economics and outreach metrics, 3,000 to 300,000 emails a month

What the sending stack costs at each volume on Resend paid vs AWS SES direct, what that volume produces through our funnel, and the comps that set our prices. Not the investor deck: this one is for us to argue with.

The finding, stated first: sending cost is not the constraint at any volume we can reach. At 300,000 emails a month SES costs $30.00 while the review time for the drafts that volume generates costs $4,441 — roughly 148 times more. And the cheapest provider is the one whose terms forbid cold outreach.

1. What each sending option costs, and whether it is allowed

ProviderCost a month at 3,000 / 10,000 / 50,000 / 100,000 / 300,000What you getCold outreach
Resend $0 / $20 / $20 / $90 / $270 Free 3,000/mo and 100/day. Pro $20 for 50,000 with no daily cap. Scale $90 for 100,000. Overage $0.90/1,000. Dedicated IP $30/mo. marketing permitted
marketing mail is a supported use case (its AUP page is client-rendered and could not be read)
AWS SES (direct) $0.3 / $1 / $5 / $10 / $30 $0.10 per 1,000 a la carte. Sandbox 200/day and 1/sec until production access is granted. Dedicated IP $24.95/mo. cold outreach not allowed
AUP bans unsolicited mass email; Service Terms 15.4 allow suspension
Oracle OCI Email Delivery $0 / $0.6 / $4 / $8.25 / $25.25 First 3,000 emails a month free, then $0.085/1,000. Free-trial accounts 200/day; enterprise accounts 50,000/day. marketing permitted
no cold-outreach permission stated; SPF + DKIM required for limit increases
Mailboxes we own (Hostinger) $3.99 / $15.96 / $67.83 / $135.66 / $399 One mailbox per plan; $0.39-$1.99 promo, $2.99-$5.99 list. Uses ~100 sends a mailbox a day, which is the published ceiling for a warmed mailbox. cold outreach not allowed
terms ban unsolicited commercial or bulk messages
$0 $115 $229 $344 $4593,00010,00050,000100,000300,000Resend $270AWS SES (direct) $30Oracle OCI Email Delivery $25Mailboxes we own (Hostinger) $399Emails a month on a log axis, so the gaps are proportional. SES is the cheaper option from 3,001 emails onward; the free tier is the only place Resend wins on price, and it is the only one of the two whose terms allow this use.

2. What that volume produces

Emails a monthRepliesInterestedDrafts builtPaying clientsNew MRRReview labour
3,000 63 21 4.3 0.8 $154 $44
10,000 209 71 14 2.6 $515 $148
50,000 1,045 355 71 13 $2,574 $740
100,000 2,090 711 142 26 $5,147 $1,480
300,000 6,270 2,132 426 78 $15,442 $4,441

Base scenario: 2.09% reply, 34% of replies interested, 20% of those claim the site, 18.2% of claims convert to a plan, $199 a month. Review labour at 25 minutes a draft and $25 an hour.

Net on ResendNet on AWS SES
$0 $3k $6k $9k $13k $105 $105 $331 $350 $2k $2k $3k $3k $10k $10k3,00010,00050,000100,000300,000Base scenario. Net = monthly plan revenue won that month, minus review labour, minus payment fees, minus sending.

3. Where the money actually goes

$740review labour a month at 50,000 emails
20 dollarsResend cost at the same volume
$2,574new monthly revenue it produces

The business is the labour, not the sending. That is a direct consequence of removing the 25 dollar preview: every interested practice now costs a build with nothing collected, so the honest lever is making a draft cheaper to produce, not shopping for postage.

4. The comps that set our prices

WhoPublished priceNote
WixFree tier, then $17.77 / $29.77 / $39.77 / $159.77 a month, prepaid yearlyNo setup fee; free plan requires no card
Durable (AI builder)Free, then $25/mo Launch, $49/mo Grow; $22 / $41 on annualFree custom domain with any subscription
Hostinger website builder$2.99/mo on a 48-month prepay (renews $10.99)The floor of the market, bought with term length
Thryv (SMB platform)$255 / $299 / $646 / $881 / $1,475 a month bundles$250 one-time onboarding fee, 6-month initial term
LassoMD (dental agency)$750 / $1,250 / $1,500 / $2,000 a month, website includedNo build fee published; add-ons priced monthly
ProSites (dental)Not published - quote onlyPrice hidden behind a call, the norm among large dental vendors
Rosemont Media (dental)Build $3,500-$30,000+, then $1,000-$2,000/mo content2026 dental default is still a big one-off build
Webyking (dental analysis)Leased sites $50-$500 a month; one-off $3,200-$17,500Both models coexist; maintenance 10-20% of build a year
ADA guidanceBasic customised about $6,000; high end to $25,000Frames a site as a capital purchase
GoDaddy 10-K FY2025n/a - retention: about 85% a year, 90% beyond three yearsThe cited basis for churn in the model

Our $199 a month sits inside the leased-dental band (50 to 500 a month) and far below the dental agencies (750 to 2,000 a month with the site included). Thryv, the closest large analogue, charges a 250 dollar onboarding fee and a six-month minimum: if we want a commitment signal, the plan is the market-normal place to put it, not the preview.

5. Assumptions, and what is not measured

InputValueWhere it comes from
Reply rate2.09%Sales.co, replies per unique contact. Woodpecker's platform median is 1.5%.
Interested share of replies34%Sales.co, human replies only. Against all replies it is 14.1%, which is the conservative case.
Interested to claimed20%Our assumption. Research found no published figure for this step.
Claimed to paid18.2%First Page Sage, opt-in trial to paid. Requiring a card converts at 48.8% but starts far fewer trials.
Review labour a draft25 minOur assumption, priced at 25 dollars an hour. This is the dominant cost line in the model.
Monthly churn1.25%Derived from GoDaddy's FY2025 10-K: about 85% annual retention.
Payment fees2.9% + 30cStripe published US card pricing.
Two things we cannot source and should not pretend we can: no published figure exists for how many free drafts it takes per sale, and none exists for free-mockup outreach conversion. Both are marked NOT FOUND in the research rather than estimated, and both are measured by the same test: the first 50 sends.

6. Recommendation

Chairside internal review - GREA Technologies - 18 September 2026prices are published list prices, captured September 2026