I Sent 170,555 Emails. Here’s What Actually Happened.
My open rate looks great. For a long time my click rate did not. Here is what the numbers taught me, what I kept, and what I threw out.
What my own email data actually says
Opens measure the subject line
My account opens at 39.58 percent. My newsletter opens at 55.28 percent. That number tells me the subject line worked. It tells me nothing else.
Clicks measure the offer
My account clicks at 2.34 percent. That is the number that tells me whether the email did a job. It is the one I read first now.
Story beats tactic
My best performing email is a story about losing everything and coming back. It clicked at 3.26 percent. Every tactical subject line I wrote came in far under that.
Short beats long
My three email field note sequences click between 30 and 55 percent. My long funnels click around 1.5 percent. Same list. Shorter wins.
What I changed after reading my own numbers
None of this required a new tool or a bigger list. It required reading the right column.
Read the click rate first
A high open rate feels like proof. It is not. I had emails opening near 40 percent that clicked at a quarter of one percent. Open the report and look at the second column before the first one.
Write subject lines like stories
My highest clicking email is a personal story with a plain subject line. My lowest is a polished description of what I built. People open to be told something happened, not to be told something exists.
Put one link high in the email
My newsletter opens at 55.28 percent and clicks at 2.15 percent. That gap is a link problem, not a writing problem. One link, near the top, pointing at one thing.
Keep sequences short and specific
Three emails about one topic outperform twelve emails about everything. My short field note sequences click ten to twenty times better than my long ones.
Give every sequence one job
If I cannot say in a sentence what a sequence is supposed to make someone do, it is not a sequence. It is a habit. I found several of those and turned them off.
Fix the welcome email first
It is the email the most people will ever receive from you. Mine was the worst performer in my whole account. Rewriting one email changed more than rewriting ten.
The 3-Bucket Business Field Notes
The simple way I run a one person business in three buckets so it keeps working without me chasing every shiny thing. Enter your email and I will send the field notes.
The tools I use
Some of the links below are affiliate links — if you sign up or buy through them I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only ever share tools I actually use.
Kit
Where my list lives. Every number on this page came out of the Kit dashboard, and the reporting is the reason I could find the problem at all.
Clicky
Real time site analytics that are easy to read. This is how I check whether an email actually sent anyone to a page.
From Idea to Income
How I take a simple idea and shape it into a product people actually buy, and how the email list is the thing that sells it.
- Pick an idea people are already looking for
- Build the product without overthinking it
- Use email and video to sell it on repeat
“Opens tell me the subject line worked. Clicks tell me the email did.“— Lori Ballen
Want help reading your own numbers?
In group coaching at Ballen Academy I walk through the systems I use to build a steady creator business, step by step, live every week. We look at real dashboards, not theory.
Join group coaching →The number that matters is the one you have been ignoring.
Join group coaching at Ballen Academy →Not ready to coach yet? Get Letters from Lori — my field notes on building a business that earns for the long haul.
Hey there! Just a quick heads-up: some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase (including through the Amazon Associates program), at no extra cost to you. Occasionally, products featured here are gifted by brands.
I also use AI tools to help research and create content for you! While I love sharing strategies to help you succeed, please remember that everyone's journey is unique—individual results vary, and there are no guarantees. Thanks so much for stopping by!
