Check your numbers, STAT!
If you’re not already, you might want to start paying attention to your newsletter stats, because they can give you info that will help you make business decisions. (I leave your finances to you, go with God.)
Your email platform helpfully compiles analytics for you! So kind. But what do they mean? Here are the basics:
Number of subscribers
It’s good to know how many people are picking up what you’re putting down! 🎉🎉
This number tells you how your list-building strategies are working. It also shows you what your sales potential is - are you offering your services to 10 people or 1,000? The answer will affect the way you do business.
Open rate
This is a big one.
Let’s say you're hosting a workshop and you've got 200 people on your email list and a consistent 20% open rate. If you mention your workshop in a single email then only 40 people have learned about it. 😐
Whereas if you have a 50% open rate then 100 people now know that you're hosting a fabulous workshop on dried teabag art. 🤗
Having a big list with a low open rate sucks. Lots of people ignoring your mail? That’s not helping you at all.
But having a small list with a high open rate is great! A few highly captivated people can really boost your business.
This is a good time to note that the larger your list, the lower your open rate is likely to be. 😳
When you first start building your list, you’ve got fresh eyes, often belonging to people who already know and like you. 👋🏻 As time goes on, people may experience email fatigue; in other words they may feel like they’ve already absorbed your message, and it’s no longer worth it to them to read more.
This, of course, is a great reason to build your storytelling chops and really find your voice. Then they’ll want to read your emails no matter what’s in them. 🥳🥳
If you look into your stats you will see that some people almost always open your email, some people almost never do, and most are likely somewhere in the middle.
And here’s where I’m going to give you advice that you may find painful; but hear me out. 🎧
If there are people on your list who do not EVER open your emails, take them off your list. If they don’t read your message, they’re not going to buy from you. Let ‘em go.
Click rate
There are two types of click rates: the click-through rate and the click-to-open rate. The first counts the number of clicks as a percentage of how many people received the email. The second refers to the number of clicks as a percentage of people who opened the email. 🤔
More clicks is generally thought to express a higher engagement level; if people are opening your links you’ve got them interested in what you’re offering.
If no one is clicking then you may be highlighting stuff that’s not interesting to your audience. 🙀
You should be able to see a breakdown of which links got the most action, which can help with that analysis. 📊
Because - there are links and then there are links. The ones you really want people following are the ones that lead to offers, preferably paid offers.
So, if you’ve got a link to a tea-pouring contest that blew your mind and your readers don’t click on it, then maybe you’ve learned that only the most dedicated tea sports fans are going to go down that rabbit hole. ☕️
No big deal; you’re adding those links for zealots like yourself. They will appreciate them. 🙌
BUT. If you make an offer and nobody nibbles, then you might want to work on your marketing.
You may also see the total number of clicks, which to my mind is less interesting and often simply depends on how many links you’ve included to begin with.
Unsubscribes
Sad face. 💔
Except. I will continue to state that if someone is not into what you’re offering they’re better off far from your list!
Unread emails are more damaging to your business than unsubscribes. They can mess with your deliverability, they may cost you money, and they’re giving you false info about the actual size of your readership. 😬
Do not cry over these!
What can be helpful is to see trends in unsubscribes. Did a bunch of people dip from a single email? Maybe you expressed an unpopular opinion. That’s GOOD. It’s how you set yourself apart from the crowd.
On the other hand, maybe you inadvertently said something off-putting. Good to catch that now so you can avoid it in the future. 🫠
Do not try to be everything to everyone. It will make you crazy and it’s bad for business.
Replies
This is my favorite! And a super helpful barometer of how well you are engaging with your audience. If an email sent to 100 people garners 10 responses, you are dong something right.
If you're tracking this you can go back to the ones that have generated the most responses and see what made them so special.
This is also a feel-good metric. Which is wildly important if you're going to stick around for the long haul. On days when you're feeling like this is a lot of work for little reward, notice how many people were touched by something you wrote! You matter.
Okay! That’s your very basic analytics primer.