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October 21, 2025 - Articles

Forget Vanity Metrics – Here’s what’s actually working

After analyzing a full year of our newsletter data – 50 campaigns and over 400,000 sends – I’ve discovered some surprising patterns about what actually drives engagement.

Here’s what I found.

The Numbers

Here’s where we stand with the Email Love newsletter:

Started with 5,791 subscribers last October, now at 12,896 (more than doubled)
Average open rate around 41% (which is decent)
Average click rate about 4.8%
Average CTOR of 11.6% (this tells me the most about what you’re interested in)

But these averages don’t tell the real story.

The Metric That Tells Me the Most About You

I’ve realized that Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) tells me the most about what content actually resonates with you all. While I track multiple metrics, this one cuts through the noise and shows me what percentage of people who opened the email actually found something worth clicking.

The range we’ve seen is pretty wild:

Best newsletter: 26.2% CTOR
Worst newsletter: 5.86% CTOR

Same audience, same sender, same template, but a 4X difference in engagement. Clearly, you readers have a preference for the type of content you receive from me!

Our Top 5 vs. Bottom 5 Performing Campaigns

I dug into our best and worst-performing newsletters to see what made them so different:

Top 5 Newsletters (by CTOR):

1. “Oops I Did It Again” (June 19, 2025)
A transparent look at an embarrassing email mistake I made last week, with a breakdown of how Speechify handled their own recent email error. The email featured screenshots of both mistakes and a candid discussion of what went wrong, along with lessons learned.

Open rate: 39.25%
Click rate: 10.29%
Click to open rate: 26.21%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.27% (28 unsubscribes)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Email inspiration from Speechify’s recovery email (734 clicks)

2. “Don’t Forget the Footer” (October 1, 2025)
A deep dive into email footer design with 9 specific examples showcasing different approaches. The email highlighted creative ways brands are turning the typically boring footer area into an engaging part of their emails, with screenshots and analysis of each example.

Open rate: 42.8%
Click rate: 10.16%
Click to open rate: 23.74%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.25% (31 unsubscribes)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Email footer design gallery (1,040 clicks)

3. “Build a Newsletter With Me” (July 16, 2025)
A behind-the-scenes video showing exactly how I build the Email Love newsletter each week. I recorded my actual process, sharing the system I’ve developed over 89 consecutive weeks of sending, including the tools and tricks that have helped boost our open rates to over 40% and click-through rate to 5.6%.

Open rate: 41.39%
Click rate: 9.56%
Click to open rate: 23.11%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.27% (29 unsubscribes)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Full Email Peeps interview (784 clicks)

4. “Targeting Based on Domain Extension” (March 2025)
A simple but powerful targeting strategy I tested: segmenting subscribers by their email domain extensions (.org, .edu, .io) and sending them relevant content. The email shared the specific results of my experiment with nonprofits (.org domains) and included screenshots of the segment setup in MailerLite.

Open rate: 70.47%
Click rate: 13.0%
Click to open rate: 19%
Unsubscribe rate: <0.1% (1 unsubscribe)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Nonprofit email inspiration gallery (215+ clicks)

5. “My Favorite Emails of 2024” (December 2024)
A personal curation of my top 10 favorite emails from the 1,000+ I collected in 2024, highlighting what made each one special. I broke down why certain emails stood out, from Barkbox’s hilarious Valentine’s copy to Salesforce’s edgy animations, Patagonia’s sustainability messaging, and United Sodas’ colorful welcome emails.

Open rate: 42.1%
Click rate: 6.4%
Click to open rate: 15.3%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.2% (estimated)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: AI implementation ideas for email (290+ clicks)

Bottom 5 Newsletters (by CTOR):

1. “Email subscriber update” (May 28, 2025)
A celebratory announcement about reaching 10,000 subscribers with detailed subscriber data (open rates, click rates, geographical distribution) and growth strategies (social proof, pop-ups, daily curation, Google sign-in, and collections). The email included future plans like Email Love Trends, AI features, and in-person events.

Open rate: 44.03%
Click rate: 2.58%
Click to open rate: 5.86%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.38% (37 unsubscribes)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Preference center link (200 clicks)

2. “Using our subscriber data” (July 9, 2025)
A deep dive into our subscriber database, revealing what data we collect (geographic location, email domain types, ESP preferences, subscription anniversaries, names, companies) and how we’re planning to use it for better targeting. The email highlighted that most email marketers don’t fully utilize the data they have beyond basic open/click segmentation.

Open rate: 34.56%
Click rate: 2.26%
Click to open rate: 6.54%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.24% (26 unsubscribes)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Building smarter campaigns guide (186 clicks)

3. “Half-Yearly Email Love Review” (August 27, 2025) – 6.45% CTOR
A celebration of hitting 1 million pageviews with growth statistics (pageviews up 231%, unique visitors up 164%) and an interesting insight about ChatGPT becoming our 6th biggest referral source. The email included a link to our full mid-year update and open analytics dashboard, plus a question asking if subscribers were seeing AI impact their website traffic.

Open rate: 42.67%
Click rate: 2.75%
Click to open rate: 6.45%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.31% (36 unsubscribes)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Plausible analytics dashboard (138 clicks)

4. “Are You Ready for the Biggest Sale of the Year?” (September 2024)
A generic reminder about planning for Black Friday/Cyber Monday with a standard checklist of preparation tasks. The newsletter presented a list of common advice points without unique insights or specific examples of successful BFCM emails.

Open rate: 39.1%
Click rate: 2.8%
Click to open rate: 7.2%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.3%
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Black Friday planning guide (estimated 95 clicks)

5. “Email Design Best Practices” (February 2025)
A roundup of email design principles covering layout, typography, color usage, and mobile optimization. While comprehensive, the email presented widely-known advice that most marketers were already familiar with, lacking specific examples or unique perspectives that couldn’t be found elsewhere.

Open rate: 38.2%
Click rate: 2.92%
Click to open rate: 7.65%
Unsubscribe rate: 0.15% (14 unsubscribes)
Spam complaints: 0%
Top link: Email design resources (172 clicks)

What This Tells Us (Now That I’ve Seen The Actual Emails)

Looking at the actual emails alongside the metrics reveals some clear patterns:

Authenticity and transparency win big
My “Oops I Did It Again” email was where I got refreshingly honest about a mistake I made. I think it connected with readers because I was talking directly to them as a friend rather than trying to sound like a “marketing guru.” By contrast, my “1M Pageviews” email was transparent and shared interesting data, but ultimately telling people about our traffic milestone doesn’t actually help them in any way. It was more about us than about providing value to our readers.
Unique, actionable insights drive engagement
The domain extension targeting experiment I shared was something simple but powerful that people could immediately implement. It wasn’t theoretical advice—it was a real tactic with actual results. I wish I could come up with stuff like this every week, but it’s not always possible.
Your personal voice creates connection
When I write like I talk (“I’ve been trying…” or “Here’s what I found…”), engagement goes up. When I slip into more formal, instructional language (“marketers should…” or “best practices for…”), engagement tanks.

What I’m Changing Based on All This

After seeing these patterns in both the data and the actual emails, here are the three key changes I’m implementing:

Getting More Personal and Authentic
I’m ditching the polished marketing speak and professional distance. The data shows you want to hear from me, not some faceless brand. So I’m sharing more of my real thoughts, experiences, and even failures (like that email mistake that drove so much engagement). I’ll be including more behind-the-scenes content about how I actually work, the challenges I face, and the unconventional tactics I’m trying. No more hiding behind best practices or industry standards – you’ll get my unfiltered perspective, even when it goes against conventional wisdom.
Finding the Unexpected Angles
Everyone’s sharing the same general advice about email marketing. But you clearly respond to those unique insights that make you think, “Huh, I never thought of that before.” That domain extension experiment wasn’t rocket science, but it was something different that most people hadn’t considered. I’m committing to finding more of these unexpected angles – simple but powerful tactics that aren’t being discussed elsewhere. Rather than regurgitating what everyone already knows about email, I’ll be sharing the weird, surprising things I discover through my own experimentation.
Doubling Down on What Makes Email Love Different
I started Email Love to showcase real examples and provide insider perspectives, not to be another generic marketing advice blog. The data shows that’s exactly what you want too. So I’m leaning harder into that difference – more specific examples from real campaigns, more insider knowledge from actual practitioners (like that Steven Sayo interview), and fewer generic roundups of advice you can find anywhere. I want every newsletter to give you something you literally can’t get anywhere else – whether that’s a unique insight, an honest perspective, or access to someone else’s hard-earned wisdom.

The Biggest Surprise from a Year of Data

After looking at everything, here’s what shocked me the most: the content I thought would perform well (like my “Email Strategy Tips” and “1M Pageviews” milestone announcement) often bombed, while stuff I almost didn’t send (like my “Oops I Did It Again” mistake confession) were top performers.

I started this newsletter thinking other email marketers would want practical tips and strategies. But the data shows they actually engage more with content that surprises them, teaches them something new, or makes them feel connected to the human side of email marketing.

Maybe we’re all a bit tired of tactical advice and just want to be inspired again.

What About You?

What metrics do you actually look at for your campaigns? I track several, but I’m curious which ones you find most valuable.

Email me at [email protected] and tell me your “north star” metric. I’ll compile what I learn for a future newsletter.

Much love,
Andy

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @emaillove